The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-02-01


economic affairs is predicted by a ia
nous British industrialst and finan-
cier, Sir E. Mackay Edgar. BIT, on his
return to England from his annual
visit to the United States. In his
judgment the American demand for
metals, cotton and oil is so Unsuitable
and so rapidly increasing, we read in
the London Daily Telegraph, that
world wide shortage of these COM
modities is inevitable. All countries
will be effected by it, but the United
States will suffer most of all, and he
tells us that there is bound to be "a
sharp halt in American progress" and
there may be something of a col
lapse" AS quoted in this newspaper
Sid Edward says further:
I'm all the years have known Am
erica, have never been so struck as
during the past two months by her
prOdigality. They have long been the
champion spends of the world but
now they are making all previous rec
ords in that line look silly. 1t is not
about, but everything-copper, cotton,
zinc lead, oil, timber-you can hardly
name one of the big staples of indus
try that they are not literally devour-
ing. 1t is an amazing spectacle. There |
you have ff5, GOO 600 people feverishly |
tearing from the earth its irreplacable !
wealth and using it TO maintain a |
-
dent in all human history It is this
terrible consuming power of America |
that is by all odds the biggest eco
nomic fact in the world of today. 1t
is terrible. because already it is out
running production. Before long. |
while the demand will be as voracious
as ever the supply will have run
short. Then there will be a smash.
Just think of this. In 1914 Am
erica produced about IS per cent of
the worlds output of cotton, OIL cop
per- lead and zinc. Her consumption
was at that time roughly So per cent
Of the total supplies Today, while
she is producing relatively the same,
her consumption of these commodities
amounts to over half of the worlds
otal output. Ten years hence she will
)e producing relatively less and con- h
iuming relatively more. She will be :
about half of the worlds s
output; she will be consuming some 8
hing like 70 per cent Of it. In other g
words, she will have to import. Is
you can not imagine America i'm +
PORTING cotton. Well, it is going to Z
Happen. Do you realize that America 4
S this year using in her own mills 4
bout 70 per cent of her cotton crop? n
sefore the war she used 20 per cent; b
ow she is using 10 per cent. The o
ime is clearly coming when there will C
e precious little left over for the rest
T the world. 1 don't think you are a
Ding to see very large cotton crops a
l the future. The southerners have e
ound that they do better with small b
rops fetching a high price. What n
lancashire is going TO do to obtain a,
le raw material of her hugs textile OF
ldustry. I honestly do not know" III
Turning to non-ferrous metals such m
3 copper, lead and zinc, Sir Edward 81
redicts that the American demand III
II them is going to be Colossal" and A
2 quotes zone of the heads of the lea
lblic utility industry" in the United
tates as saying that to meet the of
'owth of population about 1000. 0O0,- be
% a year win have TO be spent for co
e next ten years on electric railway, sa
yht and power services. Sir Edward er
,es on to say; e
Think what this means in the way pc
on-ferrous metals. Ten. too, there TIL
the growing demand-it has doubl- CO.
since 1s14-from Central and South be
nerica, and when Europe revives alb
e first things she will cIamor for Al