The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-12-06

resource fifty years ago, when and
how did it become one since?
When the Roosevelt commission was
appointed, it was not even dreamed
that the rate of production of our
resources" would be anything like
what they are today and yet natural
resources" are being created far faster
than they are being utilized. The ad-
vance in civilization makes necessi-
ties, necessities make ideas necessary
as to the ways and means of secur-
ing them and those ideas put a value
into something that had no value pre-
viously and we have another resource.
The real resources of the country
are the ideas which put value and
utility into something that had no
utility and value before and we can
never depiete this resource, the brains
and ingenuity of mankind but rather
by the advances, we are making a
more fertile field for new ideas
Ideas are what make natural re-
source" If necessity had not created
a greater demand for copper more
varied uses of the metal, those of our
later copper mines would not have
been developed and would never have
become so called resources. If we
had no further demand for the red
metal today than we had a score Of
years ago. there would never have
been the necessity for the develop
ment of the porphyry coppers which
form such a large part of our assessed
valuation today. Ideas created a need
for more copper, ideas created the
ways and means of getting known but
refractory deposits economically into
metallic form and ideas may some
day create a satisfactory substitute
which will relegate copper back again
to the worthless class and something
else into the resource division.
The real value to the state comes
in the largest production OF called
resources while they are stiII in the
resource class and before they are
superseded by substitutes. Copper to-
day is a necessity to mankind the
development of the nation requires
The use of copper and it is today more
useful than ever before and possibly
sver will be, for with the necessity
developing for a substitute for cop
Der, an idea will come forth that will
'ring one and if we had curtailed our
production of copper until this idea
anne forth. the state would be poorer
hereby than by the production of its
esources which they are necessities.
What is said regarding copper ap-
lies equally well to any other com
1odity, timber, hydro electric power,
tc Hydro electric power is today
esource because we are at the height
its development. It is today more
valuable and more useful than ever
efore but we can see a day not far
istant when power from the sun or
ON the tides may supersede hydro
ectric power and make unnecessary
lie enormous expenditures for the
of white coal. It is not
of resources, to refrain
ON using them, the real waste comes
letting a resource lie idle when 1t
of most value.
Those who talk about the depicting
the natural resources fail to ap-
eciate that history records that
til the utilization of one resource.
cas- produce another resource that is
en- of greater value. In spite of the
ct that we have extracted our re-
Wces at a greater rate of speed
ar by year. we still have resources
eater than at any time in the
rld's history
rhe idea of taxing because the de-
ting of a resource is removing
alth permanently from the ground
state is not borne out in history
it is easily shown that 1t has in
past and will in the future create
ater resources and the wealth Of
state becomes greater. There is
lily no such thing as depicting
ural resource. Let's think It over
bit before using that expression
in The real natural resource Is
idea that makes something else
value.