“ Under a price of $17 per unit, which tariff advocates think can be reached by means of a tariff of $10 per unit, it seems improbable that the United States can depend on a production of more than 3,000 tons per annum for the next three years. There are, of course, possibilities of a larger production and there are equal possibilities of a smaller. Should another great war take place, an event that is not beyond the range of imagination, the United States would probably begin by using tungsten at the rate of 20,000 tons of concentrates per annum. ”

“ England, too, and France, with their democratic traditions, tended to resist the overwhelming power of great business organizations, as leading to the destruction of equal opportunity and threatening the power of the state. It remained for Germany, pressing impudently toward the conquest of the world, to see the advantage of combining the powers of the state with those of business monopolies, as a means of regulating industry at home and overpowering other nations. ”

“ England, far behind, is in a way to overtake us with giant strides under her new system. In the basic necessities of coal and iron, the United States also leads. The second place in the steel industry, held by Germany, was presumably lost as a result of the war, and probably passes to England, already second in coal and with her iron industries in charge of a government-controlled syndicate for purposes of protection and expansion.
In copper, the United States is far away in the lead, with England a long second, and in lead, also, with half the world’s production, with England second. ”

“ Cheap power, high technical skill and knowledge, originality and boldness in experiment, excellence of organization, generous dealing with producers, an honest product honestly sold, good transportation facilities, and broad sane laws are the elements that will give control. The United States may have this control through reasonable effort, but selfish laws may still more easily wreck control of the larger part of the world’s trade, reduce our tungsten business to a provincial scope, and make the product high priced for all time. ”

“ England has gone farthest in this direction, and has reached and is reaching out aggressively into other countries to secure, through commercial control, backed where necessary by political pressure, a world empire of petroleum to serve her world-wide colonial empire. The United States, on the other hand, has dominated the world’s petroleum industry through her own vast resources, worked by interests which have grown without conscious governmental help or even in spite of governmental and popular opposition, and have reached out and secured footholds in other countries. ”

“ In the years before the war the force due in season to exercise control over the nitrate supply served only to stimulate the development of domestic potentialities, with the result that when the test came Germany’s proved actually to be the more advantageous equipment.
So it goes. Control over the nitrogen resources themselves is impossible. They are too universally available. Their only susceptibility to control is in the shaping of their development. This is too important a matter to be disregarded with impunity and left to develop without guidance. ”

“ The imperial policy of expansion and increasing political control has become a tradition and an instinct with Great Britain; she learned since the loss of her American colonies to give full autonomy to her more intelligent colonies, so that she strengthens her dominion thereby, and persistently goes on her way putting more and more of the earth under the British flag. The wealth and resources of the United States being so far greater than its necessities, foreign problems have resolved into occasional questions of self-protection ”

“ The immediate growth in the mining of coal for use at home, with consequent progress in steel and other industries, however, will be greatest in the United States, because of our gigantic resources. In the East, however, are indications of a development of China’s coal and the growth of attendant industries on a scale which may in time outstrip those of any country except America, and transfer the bulk of wealth and power to the two great civilizations, on either side of the Pacific—the newest, that of America, and the oldest, that of China and Japan. ”

“ In making ready for war, and finally in meeting its demands, has the world been building up a 50 per cent. over-production beyond the needs of peace? Offhand, the answer would seem to be in the affirmative, but the question is not one that can be answered offhand. Agriculture is capable of absorbing an indefinite amount of nitrogen, and the war has wrought a lasting change in the agricultural situation. The changed agricultural conditions make room for much, perhaps for all, of the increment to nitrogen production. ”

“ People do not make iron out of low-grade ores simply to use up the ores; and with an increasing coke cost and a narrowing export market it is a very serious question whether the bulk of these British carbonates will ever be used. The duration of the British steel industry will be fixed by its coal supply, and not by its supply of local ores; for so long as coke and markets justify it, ore can be imported to good advantage. If other conditions do not justify the importation of ore, they will certainly not justify the use of these hypothetical reserve tonnages. ”

“ One country stands pre-eminent as the world’s great producer of copper, and that is the United States, whose production was 60 per cent. of the total world output in 1917. Iron, coal, oil and copper are fundamental raw materials of which the United States produces more than any other country, but only in copper and in oil is the output greater than that of all other countries together. In copper this has been true since the early nineties. American copper, English gold, Russian platinum and Chilean nitrate are common phrases in world markets; as common as the commodities themselves. ”

“ In Germany the large mining companies generally own the coal rights. The only government that has mined coal on a commercial scale and for commercial purposes is Germany, and even there the government production covered only a small part of the total output of the German Empire. Mines of the Saar coal field and a group of mines in the Upper Silesian field owned by the Prussian government have been the only extensive state-operated mines of the world, and now, under the terms of the Treaty of Peace, the ownership of the Saar mines will pass to France. ”

“ The strength of Great Britain’s present position in the world’s petroleum affairs lies in a strong governmental policy and in the wide scope of British petroleum investments, embracing practically every country where petroleum is an important product and nearly every country where it is a product of potential importance. The general policy of the British Empire seems to be to control all oil development and restrict operations by foreign capital. ”

“ Commercial control, if different from political control, joins in a test of strength with it in periods of emergency or unrest, with the result that the stronger subdues the weaker. As regards governments that are strong and stable enough, the recent war has demonstrated that the elimination of foreign capital invested in a country is easy. ”

“ France is the only world power that possesses important resources of antimony within her boundaries. Including her Algerian mines, she is entirely independent of outside supply. Inasmuch as certain of the French deposits contain important amounts of gold, and the principal Algerian mine contains lead and zinc, the production of antimony in France will probably continue to be of some importance, and it is probable that she will continue to export antimony as before the war, though probably to a less extent. ”

“ In several countries state ownership of coal mines is established; as, for example, in parts of Prussia, Australia, Chile and Bulgaria. In others the undeveloped coal lands are still largely owned by the government, as in Alaska and the western United States. In some countries the government retains control of all mineral rights, simply leasing the property and granting a mining concession. Many governments have a department or administration of mines. In every country, of course, in an emergency, the sovereign state would exercise control of coal resources as fully as was necessary. ”

“ The unlimited mining and production of silver cannot be considered as an end in itself, as Spain found out in the days of the conquerors. But the present silver production is not in excess of the real needs. In fact there may be expected to be a great shortage of capital because of the great destructive effects of the world war. Silver production adds to the stock of money, increases confidence in financial conditions and furnishes, with and subsidiary to gold, a basis for credit. ”

“ Unless the United States adopts measures, such as Federal operation of the trunk pipe-lines, to limit the aggressions of foreign capital in this country, and erects a firm forward-looking governmental policy toward the protection of investments of its citizens in petroleum properties in other countries, particularly Latin-American countries, it may witness its commercial supremacy in petroleum affairs wane and disappear, while it is yet the largest political contributor to the world’s supply of petroleum. ”

“ Extension of commercial control by the dominant iron-producing nations to the ore reserves and to the iron industry of foreign countries, so establishing that commercial penumbra of empire which is so apt to deepen into actual sovereignty, is, however, much more marked in the case of iron than of coal, though less significant than in the case of oil. The control by ownership of great iron fields in South America by England and the United States, and the extension of Japanese control of iron-ore reserves in China, are the most significant features of this situation. ”

“ Fixation has been widely heralded of recent years as due not only to emancipate the world from its dependence upon the Chilean source, but to reduce materially the cost of nitrogenous fertilizer, hence the cost of food production, to the marked betterment of living conditions as well. In its promise of political and economic betterment in one, it has claimed the attention of all. However, the claim of special economic advantage coming from an industry barely, if at all, able to meet conditions even as they are, has been overdrawn. ”

“ To sum up, the production in Mexico at present is three-quarters American controlled (of which one-half may be assigned to group 3 and one-quarter to groups 2 and 4) , while the remaining one-quarter is French controlled. But present output and known reserves give no true picture of future possibilities. Mexico can become of first importance as a copper producer, ranking possibly second only to the United States or equaling Chile and Japan among the world’s producers. The natural resources are there and in the future will surely be developed much more extensively than ever before. ”

“ Moreover, the use of crude petroleum as fuel, especially for ships, is of the most vital importance in these days of greater competitive plans for expanding world-wide commerce, and establishing the strength and ready efficiency of navies. Great maritime nations must have, for their oil-burning ships, oil-bunkering stations under their own control in all parts of the world where they wish their commerce to dominate, and their navies to protect their interests efficiently. ”

“ The ownership or operative control of mines is a minor factor in the commercial control of the lead industry and in general is of importance only as determining the distribution of ore to smelters competing otherwise on nearly equal terms. Most of the large smelter interests engage in, or have subsidiaries engaged in, mining or have sufficient holdings in large mining companies to influence their smelting contracts. The actual basis of control of the industry is, therefore, often through combined ownership or control of mines and of reduction works. ”

“ No natural substance is so universally used, and so necessary to every individual, as coal, and hence every individual feels a natural right to it, and believes that it should be available at a minimum cost. This has resulted in several countries in the nationalization of the coal industry, as in parts of Chile, Bulgaria, Prussia, and Australia. In other countries, as in parts of the United States, the government retains the ownership of coal lands, leasing them to private operators. In England the present conditions point toward the nationalization of the coal industry. ”

“ True, lowered nitrogen costs tend to make for a lowering in the cost of foodstuffs, but so, for that matter, would a lowering in the cost of agricultural implements, and any arguments that apply in the case of nitrogen apply as equally for potash, for phosphate, for agricultural implements, for coal—in fact for industry in general. ”

“ Economic factors force the location of retort smelting plants in industrial districts adjacent to coal fields, the most important factors being availability and cost of fuel and labor, and proximity to a market for spelter. A lack of fuel and scarcity or high cost of labor has prevented smelting in some regions producing considerable ore. On the other hand, the smelting done in some countries has been entirely disproportionate to their ore output. The revival of nationalist sentiment as a result of the World War may make ownership and operative control a more important factor in the future. ”

“ The second great world supply of coal is likely to be that of China. To be sure, European production is large, but it will be divided among several powers. The main part of the world’s power and industry for the next century is so definitely located by the coal deposits (and by associated iron in most cases) that the part the United States should take in the world’s program is clear. Every precaution should be observed [44] to have the Chinese resources controlled by powers that will not abuse them to make the world “unsafe for democracy.” ”