The natural resources of any country may be divided into two broad
groups, which call for different treatment and give rise to very
different problems. There are, on the one hand, resources which are
exhaustible but which can be restored again; and on the other,
resources which, once exhausted, can never be replaced again by human
agency. Under the first head come the soil, the forests, the
fisheries, and even the water power, for all of these can be made to
yield steady returns to man for thousands of years, if used
intelligently. Under the second head belong coal, petroleum, natural
gas, and all the minerals; man may discover substitutes, he may
economize in the use of these substances, but he can never augment
their supply. In the previous section we considered some of the
problems that arise in the use of the soil in agriculture, and those
connected with our forests and fisheries. For the most part they had
to do with the intelligent use of these agencies and the restoration
or repair of the elements destroyed. In this section we are met by a
very different problem, namely, the conservation of a limited supply 20
of resources and their most economical application to the needs of
mankind.
We can distinguish two contrasting answers to this problem, one
careless and optimistic, and the other pessimistic and fearful of the
future. According to the former point of view we should not borrow
trouble of the future; man’s career has been one of constant progress;
when he has been confronted with a difficulty he has invariably met
it. Indeed necessity has been the most prolific mother of invention.
If our coal supplies are exhausted, man will devise means of utilizing
the heat of the sun, the force of the tides, the motion of the waves,
the stores of electrical energy in the air, all of which will yield
inexhaustible supplies of heat and energy. If our stores of iron
should fail, some enterprising inventor would surely discover a
practicable and commercially profitable method of extracting aluminum
from clay. New sources of raw materials will undoubtedly be discovered
before the old ones give out, and we may confidently expect that,
while the material bases of a high civilization may shift somewhat,
they will never crumble and fall.
The other school has sounded a louder note of alarm. At the present
rate of consumption the coal and iron deposits of Europe and America
must soon be exhausted. The supplies of copper, lead, and other metals
in favorable locations are also being consumed at an alarming rate,
and no other known supplies are in sight. Within the past century
scientific knowledge and engineering skill have combined to unlock the
storehouses of the geologic ages, and now like prodigals we are
dissipating our fortunes. To treat these exhaustible sources of supply
as permanent sources of income, without regard for the future, is
based upon unsound theory and must lead to reckless practice.
As so often in opposing counsels, there is an element of truth in each 21
of these contrasting points of view. But the safer plan is not to wait
until we have exhausted our natural resources before remedying the
evil, but to heed the warnings now. A long step in this direction was
taken in May, 1908, when a conference of the governors of all the
states, together with college and railroad presidents, business men
and others, was held at the White House upon invitation of President
Roosevelt. As a result of this gathering a National Conservation
Commission was appointed, which will make an exhaustive investigation
into the amount and rate of consumption of the natural resources of
the country and suggest measures for their better utilization and
preservation through national, state, and local action. In line with
this movement two other commissions have been established, one on
inland waterways and one on country life. As a result of the national
awakening we may expect to see a more rational use made of the gifts
of nature, and a better organization of our national life. Heretofore
the ideal of our business men has been to exploit, one might almost
say pillage, the stores of nature as rapidly as possible; it was a
pioneer stage of industry, inevitable but wasteful. From now on the
new conception must be the restoration where possible of exhausted
elements, as of the soil and the forests, and the careful use of the
non-renewable stores of wealth so that at least we shall not make them
engines of destruction, as in the case of floods and devastation
occasioned by careless hydraulic mining in the West. Let us now turn
to a more detailed consideration of the separate items in our
inventory of national wealth.
Our modern civilization may be said to rest upon coal, for upon its
possession depends man’s ability to utilize most of the other items of
his wealth. Passing over its utility as a fuel to heat our houses,
without coal it would be impossible to smelt the iron needed in all
our industries, to drive the machinery, to run our locomotives or 22
steamboats, or in a word to carry on the manifold activities of our
industrial life. According to the United States Geological Survey
there are 335,000 square miles of coal-bearing strata in this country,
but the larger part of it is too thin or impure to be useful for
industrial purposes; it serves in many localities however as domestic
fuel, as in the case of the lignite deposits of the Northwest. An
estimate of Professor Tarr places the coal-producing area in the
United States at not over 50,000 square miles. At the present rate of
consumption--over 350,000,000 tons in 1905--it has been estimated that
the anthracite coal deposits will last for only fifty years longer,
while we have only enough bituminous coal for one hundred years.
The large deposits of coal in England and their early development gave
that country a great advantage over Europe. But as long ago as 1861
Professor Jevons, a noted English economist, sounded a note of alarm:
he prophesied that because of the superior size and character of the
coal deposits of America, industrial supremacy must inevitably pass to
this country. His prediction has already been verified in the case of
coal and iron production, and will probably soon prove true of
textiles also. The coal deposits of the United States are thirty-seven
times as great as those of England, but at the present rate of mining
are threatened with exhaustion at no distant date. It has been
estimated that there are in China coal deposits capable of supplying
the world with fuel for another thousand years. But such estimates
are, in the present state of our knowledge about China, the merest
guesses, and if true would seem to point rather to the future
industrial supremacy of that country in the world’s markets.
Two-thirds of the coal mined in the United States is obtained from the
Appalachian field, extending from New York to Alabama, Pennsylvania
being the largest coal-producing state in the Union. In the iron and
steel industries most of the coal is coked, as it is better for 23
blast-furnace use in this form, giving greater heat and containing
less sulphur or other injurious substances than coal. Owing to the
smaller bulk and cost of transporting ore, most of the iron and steel
industries are situated in the vicinity of the coal supply, as in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, etc.
Petroleum or coal-oil is closely allied to coal in its origin and
distribution and must be classed with it as a most important product,
not only for industrial uses, but also because of the contributions it
has made to the comforts of living. In its production the United
States ranks first, being closely followed by Russia; together these
two countries furnish over 90 per cent of the world’s supply of
petroleum. Enormous economies have been effected in its production and
distribution, which is done by piping the crude oil underground to the
refineries. For illuminating purposes it is the cheapest form of
artificial light; as a fuel it is supplanting coal, where the latter
is dear or its cost of carriage high, as on ocean steamers. Finally,
the construction of light and convenient gasoline motors has given it
great importance as a source of motive power. Natural gas is closely
related to petroleum, but the supply has been so reduced by rapid and
reckless use that it has but a limited economic outlook and is of
local significance only.
Of all the metals iron must be considered the most useful for man, far
surpassing the so-called precious metals in economic importance. Its
great value is so evident that its production and use have often been
taken as a criterion of the material progress of a community. Iron is
the only metal that can be welded, and is accordingly of great
significance, whether in making strong machinery, as the shafts of
ocean steamships or the framework of a twenty-story building, or, in
the form of steel, the most delicate surgical instruments or watch
springs. Judged by the test of iron ore production the United States 24
ranks high, for it turns out about four-fifths of the world’s supply;
all of this is used for domestic consumption, in its own blast
furnaces, though much of it is afterwards exported in the form of pig
iron or structural iron or steel. Though iron is universally
distributed throughout creation, it must occur in large beds or
deposits before it can be profitably mined. “The most favorable
situation of an iron ore for profitable extraction is near good coking
coal for smelting and limestone for a flux, as in the Birmingham
district of Alabama; and in such a situation even low-grade ores can
be worked profitably. Unless this is the case, iron ore cannot be
extensively mined excepting under conditions of great abundance and
economical methods of transportation, as in the Lake Superior
district, where thick and remarkably uniform beds of good ore occur in
such a position that water transportation to the market is possible.
Where these conditions do not exist, iron-mining is feasible only on a
small scale for the local market. Thus, in the Rocky Mountains there
are almost inexhaustible supplies of iron, often of a high grade,
which are at present of no value whatsoever.”[1]
The most wonderful iron-mining region in the United States and
probably in the world lies in the northern part of Michigan and
Minnesota, where five ranges or lines of hills contain immense
deposits. These lie so near the surface that they can be dug out of
open pits at a cost of from 10 to 50 cents a ton, against $1 a ton in
a shaft or underground mine. Three-quarters of the iron ore produced
in the United States is mined in this district. Its proximity to the
lake ports makes possible its transportation to the iron and steel
manufacturing centers at very low rates. Machinery has been applied on
an immense scale to the work of mining, loading and unloading the ore.
Steam shovels scoop up the ore from the open pit, filling cars at the 25
rate of almost one a minute; the work of loading this into the ore
ships at the ports is equally expeditious, only about two hours being
required to load an ore ship of 6,000 tons, while the work of
unloading is performed for the most part by an endless chain of
buckets and traveling cranes. By these means an ultra-intensive
exploitation of these magnificent deposits is taking place and it is a
question whether they will not soon be exhausted. “But the Americans,”
writes Professor Leroy-Beaulieu, a friendly but keen critic of our
industrial development, “relying on the constant good-will of nature,
are confident that they will discover either new and productive ranges
in this district, or rich deposits in other districts.”
The precious metals have received more than their fair share of
attention, for the industrial progress of the world is much less
dependent upon their presence in large and easily obtained quantities
than it is upon the more common metals. Nevertheless they are of
importance both in the arts and especially because of their use as
money. In their production the United States stands second, being
surpassed in the output of gold by the Transvaal in Africa and in that
of silver by Mexico. The production of these metals has always in the
world’s history proceeded spasmodically, and a speculative spirit has
usually been present. More recently, however, scientific geological
knowledge and improved metallurgical methods are removing the industry
of gold and silver mining from a gambling venture to a legitimate
industry. The practical problem at present confronting American
gold-mining companies is to reduce expenses, some of the principal
bearings having for some years shown signs of exhaustion, as for
instance in the Cripple Creek district of Colorado. There is always a
chance however that new gold fields may be discovered to make good the
exhaustion of the old. In the case of silver, on the other hand, the
metal is found in such abundance that the present rate of production 26
seems almost indefinitely assured; a slight increase of the price or
improvements in the art of extracting the metal will at any time bring
enlarged supplies on the market. Africa, Australia, and the United
States produce almost all the world’s supply of gold, Colorado being
the leading state in the last-named country. Mexico and the United
States together produce over two-thirds of the world’s silver, the
leading rank in this country being held by Montana.
Among the other metals copper is by far the most important. In
primitive civilizations, before the art of smelting iron had been
discovered, copper was indispensable as it was so easily malleable; in
Homeric times, for instance, armor, utensils, money, etc., were made
of copper or alloys of copper (bronze and brass). After an eclipse of
some centuries copper has again risen to the front rank by reason of
its qualities as a conductor of electricity. The new use of
electricity to transmit power and the development of electrical
industries has greatly increased the demand for this metal and has
caused a great expansion in its production. Here again the United
States holds first rank, contributing over half of the world’s copper
supply. As in the case of iron the northern peninsula of Michigan is
the most important center of copper production, with Montana a close
second and Arizona contributing most of the remainder. Like petroleum,
copper production is controlled by a small number of operators, five
mining companies alone furnishing one-half of the American supply. It
is far from being monopolized, however, as petroleum is, for new and
rich supplies lie just on the margin of profitable working and will
always be brought into the market whenever the price is artificially
raised. One reason for American pre-eminence, aside from the rich
stores of the metal, lies in the progress made in the art of refining
it by the electrolytic process, considerable foreign ore being brought
here to be treated by this method.
Nature has not blessed the United States so abundantly with the minor 27
metals, lead, zinc, and aluminum, while almost all the tin used here
has to be imported.
It is apparent from even this brief and hasty survey of the mineral
resources of the United States, comprising those extractive industries
which once exhausted can never be restored by man, that this country
is wonderfully well equipped with the material means of civilization.
Minerals and metals are remarkably abundant and accessible. The
wonderful material progress of the United States during the nineteenth
century is abundantly explained by this fact, though due credit must
also be given to the enterprise, industry, and genius of those who
developed these natural resources. The industrial supremacy of the
American nation seems well assured, founded on such a stable material
basis. We of this country have been rather inclined to boast of our
industrial progress and our material bigness, whereas it must now be
apparent that we owe much, if not most, to the bounty of nature. We
should therefore see to it, in a proper spirit of humility and
thoughtfulness, that we do not waste our heritage, but hand it on as
nearly undiminished as possible to our children.
There is one other asset in our national wealth which has already
contributed much to our progress, and is destined to play an even more
important role in the future--and that is our water power. In colonial
days, before the invention of the steam engine and the use of coal,
this was of prime importance and determined the location of many a
town, most of them being located at the “fall line” of the rivers,
where water power was obtainable. With the invention of the steam
engine and the use of steam as a motive power, industry became less
dependent upon water power and moved away from the rivers to the
vicinity of coal mines. Now again has come another swing of the
pendulum, and with the rise of electricity as a motive power and the
harnessing of our streams and waterfalls for the creation of 28
electrical energy, we are beginning to value more highly this source
of power. Here again we find the United States wonderfully blessed as
compared with other countries. “It is probable,” says Shaler, “that,
measured in horse power or by manufactured products, the energy
derived from the streams of this country is already more valuable than
those of all other lands put together.” The total amount of direct
water power used by manufacturing establishments in 1900 was 1,727,000
horsepower.
Prior to 1890 the largest use of water power was in its direct
application to machinery at the immediate point of development. Since
that time, however, the use of electricity as an agency whereby the
energy developed by falling water can be transformed and applied to
the driving of machinery has entirely changed the conditions under
which the power of our streams can be utilized. The practical
possibility of transmitting electrical power over long distances--for
example, over 200 miles from the Sierras to San Francisco--has removed
the necessity of building factories immediately adjacent to water
powers, but permits its utilization where most convenient and often
where the lack of coal has made the use of steam power impracticable.
The best-known example of the development and transmission of
electrical energy for industrial purposes is the case of Niagara
Falls, but more striking illustrations may be found on the Pacific
coast, while the existence of enormous opportunities on the Atlantic
seaboard give brilliant promise for the future of manufacturing in
this region. So valuable indeed are these sources of power now seen to
be that there is danger that their control may be monopolized by a few
shrewd and far-sighted individuals before the general public awakes to
a realization of their importance. It has recently been asserted in a
reputable magazine that there is a “water power trust” already
organized for this purpose. The opportunities for wealth-getting have
hitherto been so great in this country, and the great task of the 29
American people has thus far been so exclusively the task of
developing its wonderful natural resources, that we have grown
careless of our common rights and have permitted the monopolization by
private individuals of a number of limited resources of this
character. One of the great practical problems of the future is that
of securing the growing value of these natural monopolies to the whole
people, without at the same time retarding the energy and industrial
development of the American people.