The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-01-12
Preparedness Of U.s.. Industry
Regarded as Key to Security

staff for increasing the army per-
sonnet by 5000 men and providing
equipment for an initial war force
of 100000 officers and men. The
United States is building six new
IS, 000-ton battleships. largest ever
used by this country, a new air.
craft carrier, new heavy cruiser,
three light cruisers, 16 submarines,
40 destroyers and other auxiliary
craft. These are to be finished prod
ucts. But the ramifications of pre-
paredness are infinite; materials
are basic requirements for war in
dustries as for any other industry.
1t is generally assumed that the
United States is so rich in natural
resources that it can supply its own
industry with no great trouble-that
we are prepared, in fact, for any
supply emergency. This assumption
is no more correct than the public
belief that the army, although
small. is well furnished with mod
ern weapons and equipment, or that
industry is prepared to supply i'm
mediately the additional weapons
and equipment which would be re-
quired in an emergency.
AS matter of fact the war de-
partment has listed 81 strategic"
war materials for which the United
States today depends wholly or part
ly upon foreign imports. And, in
the event of a general European
war, these imports might well be
cut off; even trade lines between
the United States and our South
American neighbors might be sew
cred.
What Was the Cyclops' Fate?
This danger is no mere theory,
but well supported by fact. There
was, during the World war, the clas-
sic case of the collier Cyclops, which
set out from Brazil one day with
10000 tons of manganese bound for
the United States. That boat never
reached its destination, and neither
it nor any of its 800 passengers were
ever heard from again. Perhaps it
encountered German U-boat, per-
AAoRo q 4A444lCy liz O1lG hl1OWS WILL
certainty. And manganese is listed
by the war department as strategic
material number one; IA pounds of
this material are essential for the
manufacture of every ton of steel
and there is no known substitute.
Today the United States produces
domestically less than per cent of
its manganese requirements. More
than third of the manganese i'm
ports to this country come from
Russia; other sources are British
India, the Gold Coast of Africa and
Brazil. When and if war comes
the seas will no longer be free; the
Russian and Indian sources of man.
ganese would almost Immediately
be cut off from us, and the Gold
Coast is 1900 miles away. The Bra
lillian source was once cut off as
we have seen, and may be again.
While the United States has man.
ganese ore resources in 20 states,
they are largely undeveloped. I'm
der the stimulus of war from 1914
to 1918, domestic output jumped
from 2,635 tons to 05,869 tons, but
production fell off again in 1919 and
has remained almost negligible
ever since.
Processing methods have since
been developed, one of the most eff
fective of which has been applied
to the production of ore from the
Cuban deposits of the Cuban-Ameri-
can Manganese company The army
sees the Cuban ores as an impor-
tant reserve since shipments from
that country would not be subject to
interruption in an emergency.
Miller-Case Plan Up.
Both army and navy are strongly
behind plan to build up a stock
pile of million tons of processed
manganese ore and opinion is grow
ing for the removal of manganese
from the list of commodities on
which tariffs were reduced by re-
ciprocal trade agreements with for
eign nations. This plan is embodied
in the Miller bill introduced at the
last congress and the Miller-Case
concurrent resolution. 1t is antici-
pated that the plan will be presented
again to congress at the session
just starting.
Important point in the prepared
ness program SO far initiated is the
plan to provide reserves of strate-
gic war materials, and doubtless
congress will reconsider as part of
general industrial mobilization
plan legislation which was first in
troduced last spring seeking author
ization for the army and navy to ac-
quire, over four-year period, $780,
100000 worth of essential minerals,
and providing that domestic pro-
ducers be favored in these pur-
chases.
If this plan is reconsidered, and
adopted in its present or an amend
ed form, an important step will
have been taken in assuring for the
United States continued supplies of
materials on the list of which man.
ganese is only one Others are chro-
MUM, mica, quinine, tungsten, aIu-
minum, antimony, coconut shells
FUSED for carbon filters in gas
Masks, tin, wool, coffee, silk, hides,
sisal, nickel, opium, mercury, To-
dine, optical glass, manila fiber and
rubber.
Non-spectacular objective of this
plan, as explained by Sen. Ebert
D. Thomas of Utah, chairman of
the Senate Military Affairs Commit
tee, is to obtain a sounder type of
"raw materials insurance" than can
be attained by simple stock-piling
foreign purchases of ores-a pro-
cedure which would not solve the