Evening star., 1939-07-09


States and British merchant marines
will begin criss-crossing the Atlantic
with cargoeS of cotton and rubber carry
ing out the terms of an international
bargain which is believed to be unique
in modern history.
The United States Senate has ap-
proved the terms of an agreement by
which this country will trade the British
500 900 bales of our surplus cotton for
175000,000 pounds of rubber. vital war;
time military necessity for which we are
dependent very largely upon imports
Only approval by the International Rub
ber Control Commission and solution of
few technical details yet stand in the
way before actual movement of these
commodities can begin.
This deal, helpful to both the British
and ourselves, marks the first major
effort by this country to insure that we
will have on hand in the event of
hostllitles supplies of materials which
are needed to fght modern war and
which are not produced in adequate
quantities here. 1t is a program which
has been urged upon the Government
by the War Department and by spe-
cialists for some years. The impetus of
political storms in Europe was needed,
however, to set it in motion
Personal Element Less Important.
In the long, epic story of the man
at arms the element of personal valor
has decreased in importance in sWaying
the scales OF victory and that of prosaic,
material preparation has increased as
war has become more complicated When
Greek and Trojan heroes fought on the
plains of Troy, only steel and wood and
skilled armorer were needed to supply
the weapons. Victory depended upon
physical strength and skill.
Today, by contrast, the Waging of war
has become a highly complex business.
Victory depends not so much upon per-
sonal bravery-al although the morale and
skill of fighters is still important-as
upon technical preparation, money, ships
to carry needed supplies-and, above all,
upon adequate stores of the scores of
raw materials which are needed to keep
modern armies in motion. The War De-
partment today is the worlds greatest
of more than 1900 separate articles.
Naturally the same facts hold true
for all other military powers. Hence
there is today wild scramble for
control of raw materials
Mines Bureau Presented Study.
The House Military Affairs Commit
tee recently held a series of hearings
to obtain facts upon which to base leg
islatlon necessary to build up American
reserves of strategic raw materials. In
the course of these hearings the United
States Bureau of Mines presented
scientific study of the distribution
among the various world powers of the
mineral sinews of war. 1t indicates,
almost as Importantly as Army and
Navy statistics, the fighting ability of
nations.
According to this study there are
% minerals-l2 metals and l6 nom
metals-Which are vital to the conduct
of modern war. These are aluminium,
antimony, chromite, copper, iron, lead,
manganese, mercury, nickel, tin, tung-
stem and zinc, among the metals, and
spar, graphite, gypsum, magneslte, mica,
nitrates, petroleum, phosphates, potash,
pyrites, sulphur and tale, among the
non-metals
The bureau, upon the basis of wide
research, broke down the distribution
of these vital commodities among the
worlds major powers into four cate
gories: Minerals available for export,
minerals adequate to meet domestic
demands without appreciable excess or
deficiency, minerals inadequate to meet
domestic demands or so located or of
such grade as to require draft on for
eign sources and minerals for which
the country depends almost entirely
upon foreign sources
Countries having supplies of mineral
falling within the first two categories,
of course, are alone able to wage war
without the necessity of looking abroad
for it.
Britain Most Self Sufficient
Great Britain, because of it's world
vide empire, ranging in climate from
torrid swamps to frozen tundra leads
the world in mineral self lf-sufficiency,
having adequate supplies of 81 of the
% essentials although the transporta-
ton of these minerals from OUTLYING
possessions to Europe would depend upon
the ability of the British Navy to keep
sea lanes OPEN. The Italian Empire
ranks second with 13 of the requisite
minerals: the United States third with
IL; Japan fourth with 9; France fifth
with 8, and Germany sixth with 6. No
estimate is made for Soviet Russia,
which ranks very high in mineral pro-
duction.
: The minerals in which the United
States is sufficient, either in do
mestic supplies or those found in it's
possessions, are aluminium, copper, zinc,
coal, petroleum, phosphates, sulphur,
iron, lead, asbestos. gypsum and potash.