Chapter XXXII: Who Owns the Earth? (1)

BY J. E. SPURR

Let us glance over the preceding studies one by one and see what salient features each one contains.

THE FUEL MINERALS

=Petroleum= is of the utmost present importance and its future importance will be even greater. Recently 98 per cent. of the world’s production has been contributed by the following countries in this general order of importance: The United States, Russia, Mexico, Dutch East Indies, Roumania, India, Persia, and Galicia. It is believed that the region around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will be of increasing importance, as will also the Persian and Mesopotamian fields.

United States capital is supreme in the commercial control of the petroleum industry in the Western Hemisphere; while British and British-Dutch interests easily dominate the petroleum situation in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Commercial control of petroleum is determined mainly through ownership by operating companies of lands, leases, or concessions. State ownership is rare, although in Argentina the petroleum industry is owned and operated by the state. The British government controls by direct ownership of a majority of the voting stock, the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., which gives it a monopoly of the Persian field, through the concession of an area of 500 square miles from Persia to the company, and closes the field to the enterprise of the United States or other nations; moreover through ramifications of this company, the British government is extending its hold to other parts of the world.

In the _United States_ the commercial control of the petroleum industry is in the hands of the “Standard Oil Group.” British and British-Dutch companies in the United States control a production of about 11,000,000 barrels a year, out of a total of 335,000,000. In the important region of Mexico, which now takes second place in production, the commercial control is entirely in the hands of foreigners: American interests control 65 per cent. and British and Dutch interests 32 per cent.

In the Eastern Hemisphere, the productive field of the _Dutch East Indies_ is under absolute control of British-Dutch interests, the Royal Dutch-Shell Syndicate. Prospecting licenses and concessions are granted only to Dutch subjects and to Dutch companies, and this, with the economic monopoly of the controlling British-Dutch interests, prevents foreign enterprise.

The absolute and exclusive control of the great oil fields of _Persia_ and _Mesopotamia_ by the British government will be confirmed and extended by the extension of the British Empire over those portions of the Turkish Empire which she won by force of arms.

In _Russia_ the commercial control of the great petroleum industry seems to be British, the predominant interests being British, Franco-British, and British-Dutch (Royal Dutch-Shell Syndicate). The principal producing areas in Russia are or were till recently under British military control.

The production of _India_ (Burma) is entirely in British hands.

“The general policy of the British Empire seems to be to control all oil development and restrict operations by foreign capital.” Such restrictions by government regulations exist in Australia, Canada, India, Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, Trinidad and other colonies.

In the oil industry, then, we have a remarkable and striking division of the world’s wealth between the two great Anglo-Saxon nations, America and Great Britain. No mineral lends itself so readily as oil to transportation and hence to commercial control. According to the present production, American interests are largely in excess. However, the British control of the great fields of the Eastern Hemisphere, many of them only partly developed, together with her growing hold in the Western Hemisphere, indicates the likelihood that the British grip of the world’s oil resources and production may in the future become predominant.

Striking phases of the situation are that in the case of Great Britain the government and the oil monopolies are united, so that to all intents and purposes the control being obtained is by the British government direct; while in the United States the control is in the hands of purely commercial interests, operating without the control, assistance, or sympathy of the government. American companies may not own and operate oil lands in the British Empire, in the French possessions, or the Dutch colonies, but there are no American restrictions on foreign ownership or operation.

The policy of Great Britain, furnishing her petroleum and oil bunkering stations all over the world, and assuring her control of the seas, will further immensely increase her already extensive world domination.

The United States has no such program of imperial expansion, but she has her Monroe Doctrine, which is to a mild degree an assumed protectorate over the Western Hemisphere.

=Coal.=--Next let us take up coal, among the most important of all minerals--source of power, light, and heat, and smelter of iron and other metals. Here again, as in oil, we find the United States wonderfully endowed by nature. She is credited with reserves of 3,527,000 million tons out of a total 7,909,000 million in the world, or practically half of the whole world’s supply. As the world’s coal reserves are large, the high-grade varieties, so situated as to have cheap transportation, are of most immediate importance. Great Britain has such coal close to seaboard, and so, until the war, controlled the export trade all over the world. The industries of America leave her little coal for export, and her coal is farther from seaboard. The efforts of Germany before the war to build up a coal-export trade were hindered by the long rail haul; and these deposits are now being handed over to France. Besides France, Great Britain, and the United States, only Canada, Australia, and China have sufficient reserves for extensive export trade. Of these countries, China is the one most likely to increase exports, on account of nearness to the coast, and good quality of coal.

Although the coals of the United States are not so close to the coast as in England, they not only constitute by far the largest reserves, as above stated, but are also most immediately available, owing to their shallow depth and the good railway transportation facilities.

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. In France the coal lands belong to the government, which gives concessions for their operation, and receives a royalty or rental and a percentage of the net earnings of the operator.

Although the United States is pre-eminent among the world’s nationalities as regards coal, England has the advantage of having adequate supplies scattered all over the world, in her colonies of Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, and Borneo.

Unlike petroleum, coal is a mineral which does not lend itself readily to control by commercial combination. The mining and marketing of coal is a simple matter, requiring relatively little skill or equipment, so that it is a business open to everybody; and the vast extent of coal lands assures a multitude of owners. Therefore the effect of the control of coal on the world’s commerce and history is almost entirely a matter of political control. Organization among producers exists in various countries, as in the case of the anthracite industry of the United States, but this does not as a rule extend to a central ownership, nor does it usually extend to foreign countries.

In coal, then, as well as in petroleum, we find the two dominating nations are the great Anglo-Saxon powers, England and the United States. The United States mines about 40 per cent., or two-fifths of the world’s annual production, while the British Isles have produced one-fifth of the production, making them second only to the United States. In neither case have the respective governments in the past attempted to control the mining and the sale of coal, but in England, at least, it is likely that some form of joint control, participated in by the government and the miners, will come.

The methods of mining necessary for maximum production of British coal mines during the war resulted in putting the mines in such poor condition that it will be a year or two before they can supply all of the former British export trade. The demands of British workmen for shorter hours (resulting in decreased production) will hinder still further a resumption of large exports. One of the important phases of this, to England and America alike, is the South American trade. England has always supplied this market, but the United States will probably do so for the present, and should take care to do so if she desires South American trade, and on the commercial theory of the Monroe Doctrine. Up till recently, the United States has exported by sea only about 4 per cent. of her production, whereas England sent out 25 per cent. Our own expanding industries have provided an ample market.

Aside from America and England, there is no dominating factor in the future control of the coal industry in the lands surrounding the Atlantic Ocean. Germany was a strong factor before the war, but the loss to France of the Saar coal district, and the possible loss, to Poland, of the Dombrova field, in Silesia, will deprive her of her importance; and the division among several nations of these resources will prevent any one of them from becoming a world’s factor in the coal trade.

In the lands about the Pacific Ocean, however, the most important future factor is the coal fields of China. No country except the United States has larger reserves of high-grade coal ready for development and not far from ocean transport. It is likely that the Japanese may attempt this development and the fostering of an export trade in the Orient. The high-grade coals of the United States are remote from the Pacific Ocean, and could only be available for Pacific trade by the long route of the Panama Canal. It is not unlikely, therefore, that Chinese coal may in the future be supplied to our own Pacific ports by the Japanese at a less price than American coal can be put there, and that through this development Japan may be able to dominate the Pacific trade, as England has dominated that of the Atlantic and the Pacific in the past.

THE STEEL AND FERRO-ALLOY MINERALS

=Iron.=--The iron supplies for the world’s consumption have been obtained principally from four countries: the United States, Germany, France, and Great Britain. More than one-third of the total production has come from the United States, and of the American output about 85 per cent. has come from the Lake Superior district, which alone produces annually over 30 per cent. of the world’s total. Next in importance to the United States have been Germany and France, and about 80 per cent. of the production of these two countries has come from the Lorraine fields on the border. The annual output of these fields has been 25 per cent. of the world’s production, or nearly as much as the Lake Superior district.

Linked with the coal industry as it is, no world-wide or even national monopolies of iron ore have been attempted. The greatest single commercial organization in the world is the United States Steel Corporation, with a total annual capacity (in 1913) of over 17 million tons of pig iron, or about half of the total American production. But this organization is not a monopoly, and there are a large number of powerful independent companies. In France and Germany no dominating organizations have been noted. In England up to the time of the war the iron industry was controlled by middlemen, and the manufacturers were insufficiently organized. To meet this condition (page 86) the British Board of Trade Committee advised a consolidation of iron interests.

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. In France, even before the war, Germany controlled over one-third of the iron and steel business. With the passing of German Lorraine to France, it is likely that much German capital will remain.

Japan has an iron and steel industry which, although small as compared with that of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, and the other leading iron and steel manufacturing countries, is rapidly expanding. Blast furnaces, steel-making furnaces, and steel mills are being erected in Japan and in Korea, Manchuria, and China by Japanese interests. Japan is still very far from supplying her own consumption of iron and steel, which is a million and a half tons annually.

In brief, as regards the world’s iron and steel, the United States has a greatly preponderant position, which it will tend to increase, with the desirable tendency of drawing North and South America more closely together. In Europe, France and Germany are oddly yoked in the control of the second greatest steel industry in the world. In the future great arena of the Pacific, Japan is patiently building up her steel industry, with far-reaching Oriental vision. Coal mines and an iron blast furnace are included in the German “rights” recently acquired by Japan. Will Japan return Shantung? Did Germany return Alsace Lorraine? In her forward-looking plans, Japan has two national rivals--England and America. She has a vast fertile field to work in, except for these (especially England)--all of eastern Asia. She has a great disorganized nation which is no longer a rival--but a field whereon to feed and grow stronger--Siberia and Russia.

In the train of steel, and next after the problems of coal and iron, come a number of less-known and less-abundant metals--the ferro-alloys, metals that alloy with iron to make steels of special hardness or toughness, or with some other special quality. Relatively inconspicuous as they are, they are indispensable in the industries.

=Manganese.=--Manganese is far more than a ferro-alloy. It is essential in the manufacture of all open-hearth process and Bessemer process steel, which make up 99 per cent. of the total United States production, for it acts as a remover of the carbon which makes the difference in quality between steel and cast iron. For this purpose it is mixed with the iron in the form of alloys. One of these is high in manganese--ferromanganese--and one low--spiegeleisen.

The principal manganese fields are those of Russia, India, and Brazil, which are so large and readily available for exploitation and transportation to markets that there is little prospect that they will be displaced as the principal sources of the world’s supply for many years. In contrast with the situation regarding other important minerals, most manganese deposits throughout the world are owned by residents of the countries in which they occur. This is due to the superficial and irregular character of the oxide deposits (the only ones as a rule of high enough grade to find a market) and the simple nature of the mining and washing of ores, which does not require much capital.

The United States is poorly provided with high-grade manganese ores, and hence has always been and will always be a heavy importer. Previous to the war, the supplies were mostly drawn from Russia and India; and during the war from Brazil, in addition to an increased domestic production under the stimulus of high war prices. England, France, and Germany--in fact the whole industrial world--have the same sources of supply. There is little necessity of sharp competition, leading to commercial combinations, or of strict governmental control, since the productive capacity of the principal deposits is very large, and far exceeds the world’s demand for steel making.

=Chromite.=--Next in importance in the ferro-alloy group of metals is chromium, found in nature on a commercial scale only as the oxide _chromite_. Chrome is used extensively in the steel industry and the leather industry--in the former for making a specially tough steel (and also a refractory lining for iron furnaces); in the latter, for tanning.

Chromite is found in many countries, but in most (as in the United States and Canada) in small and scattered deposits, easily exhausted. The largest and most important sources of supply are in the French colony of New Caledonia, in the South Pacific; in Rhodesia, in Africa; in Asia Minor; and in the Ural Mountains, Russia. Up to 1830 the Ural region supplied the world’s chromium; from 1830 to 1870, the Eastern United States (Maryland and Pennsylvania) became the chief source; from 1870 to about 1900 the scene of chief activity shifted to Asia Minor; and since then New Caledonian and Rhodesian ores have occupied the world’s markets. New Caledonian ore is produced with cheap labor, and the deposits are near the coast; and the Rhodesian deposits are large and rich. High prices during the war, due to lack of shipping, brought about a great increase of production in the Pacific States of the United States; but with a return to normal conditions this region cannot survive competition, unless especially protected by legislation.

In normal times, the United States consumes more than one-third of the world’s annual consumption of chromite, but depends upon foreign sources--Rhodesia and New Caledonia. During the war, deposits of limited extent in Brazil and Cuba were drawn on, as well as Canadian and domestic ores. So far as developed, however, the Western Hemisphere is relatively poor in chromite deposits. The chrome industry in the United States is highly centralized, the Electrometallurgical Company having an almost absolute monopoly of the ferrochrome industry, and being probably the largest producers of ferrochrome in the world, and the Mutual Chemical Company having a great preponderance in the chemical chrome industry.

The chromite supply of the world is therefore at present essentially a monopoly controlled by British-French capital, and the great supplies occur in the colonies of England and France.

=Nickel.=--The position of nickel is rather unusual, in that workable deposits are rarely met with, and deposits of great importance are confined to a few places. The only really commercially important deposits are those of Sudbury, in Canada, and of New Caledonia; although small deposits of workable ore have been mined in Norway, and nickeliferous and chromiferous iron ore occurs in Cuba.

The deposits of Sudbury are relatively far more important than those of any other field. Therefore Great Britain (through Canada) possesses by all means the largest and most important nickel deposits, amounting practically to an exclusive control. Previously American capital exerted a dominant commercial control over the nickel industry, through its ownership of the largest ore reserves and its control of smelting and refining plants in the United States. One of these American companies has also the second largest holdings in New Caledonia. The British government plainly has taken means to overcome this commercial domination. A large company has gone into business at Sudbury, in which the British government has the controlling interest. The government has also brought about the transfer of the refining operations of the International Nickel Company from New Jersey to Ontario, so that the entire industry will be confined to Canada.

=Tungsten.=--The greatest tungsten-producing region is that of eastern Asia; the region of the United States and Mexico second; that of Bolivia and neighboring countries in South America third; and fourth comes the province of Portugal, Spain, and Italy. There seem to be no very large and concentrated tungsten deposits; and nearly all of those worked give signs of being easily exhausted. There may be therefore a world tungsten shortage in the future. Possibly Bolivia will prove to be the most durable field.

As to the commercial control, it is entirely in British hands, and this through the active policy of the British government. Actual control is obtained through the ferrotungsten makers, to whom the ores go for treatment. On this basis the commercial control in 1917 was: British 14,606 tons; American 9,479 tons; Japanese 1,165 tons; French 1,057 tons; and Germany 360 tons.

American capital controls the tungsten deposits within its own borders and in Mexico, and is largely interested in Bolivia and China. Before the war Germany controlled probably half the tungsten output, the other half being divided among the United States, England and France. At the present time, the control through ownership of mines and smelters is as follows: Great Britain 54 per cent.; United States 35 per cent.; Japan 4 per cent.; France 4 per cent.; and Germany 1 per cent.

=Vanadium.=--Vanadium is an important ferro-alloy metal. Vanadium steel has great toughness and torsional strength, and is used in automobile parts, gun barrels, and the like. Chromium-vanadium steels have an extensive market.

The largest and most important deposits of vanadium in the world are in Peru, and until recently were controlled by the American Vanadium Company (an American firm), which has a concession from the Peruvian government. Otherwise the most important deposits are found in southwest Colorado, and were till very lately controlled by the Primos Chemical Company, of Pennsylvania. The American Vanadium Company had an absolute world monopoly of vanadium products and ferrovanadium, until the entrance into the field of the Primos company. Quite recently the holdings of both these companies have been taken over by the Vanadium Corporation, allied to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

=Antimony.=--Antimony has a relatively restricted use in peace-time, but war creates (for the manufacture of shrapnel) a vastly increased demand. Under normal circumstances the supply is far in excess of the demand. China has long been the most important source of supply, and is likely so to continue. France and Algeria are also producers, as is Mexico; and other countries produce under the stimulus of high prices. The United States, as well as Canada, has relatively small reserves and normally small production. In the early part of the European war, however, in 1915 and 1916, countries like Bolivia, Mexico, Australia, the United States, Peru, Burma, and Spain contributed important amounts; but none of these will be important factors at the usual low prices.

Prior to the war, England was the chief antimony-smelting center of the world. Ores from all over the world were there treated, and the British brands were considered purer than others, and virtually monopolized the world’s markets, including those of the United States. During the great demand in 1915 and 1916, British interests completely controlled the Bolivian industry. Until 1914 one of the principal English companies held contracts for the production of the Wah Chang Company, the most important antimony producers in China; but in 1914 this company established an independent selling agency in the United States. This tends to transfer the control of the antimony market from England to China. With all her vast mineral resources, China has been able to obtain an important position in the world’s markets with regard to but few metals. Of these antimony is the most striking example. Since 1908 over 50 per cent. of the world’s total antimony production has come from China.

=Molybdenum.=--The use of molybdenum in steel making is as yet almost in the experimental stage, but it is likely to become important. It is valuable in electric work.

Up to about 1916 practically all the molybdenum ore (molybdenite, a sulphide of molybdenum) came from Australia and Norway. Shortly after the opening of the war, the molybdenite in Canada became prominent; and later the United States came to the fore as a producer. At present the United States can probably produce as much if not more molybdenum than all the rest of the world put together, principally from the great newly discovered deposits at Climax, Colorado. Before this development, Great Britain was the largest producer, in Australia and Canada. Both the British and the Canadian governments have been much interested in the development of the Canadian molybdenum, and the Canadian government has built a mill for the concentration of the ores. Prior to the war, the German-controlled American Metal Company, a branch of the German “metal octopus,” obtained, through a subsidiary, a large share in the control of the Climax deposits; and the Primos Chemical Company, which had strong German connections before the war, produced ferromolybdenum from ore from its own mine at Empire, Colorado. This, together with the great interest taken by Germany and German capital in molybdenum elsewhere, led to the rumor of attempted German control of American molybdenum.

=Uranium.=--Uranium is valuable for the manufacture of special steel, although only used in small quantities. It is of extraordinary interest on account of its association with radium, both being obtained principally from the minerals carnotite and uraninite (including pitchblende). Radium is used in medicine, and for luminous paint. The only regions which have yet produced large amounts of radium and uranium on a commercial scale are in the United States and Austria. At the present time the United States is producing several times as much as all other countries combined.

=Zirconium.=--Zirconium is used in electric lighting, and experiments have been made with zirconium steel. During the war it was at one time thought to be of unusual value as a ferro-alloy. Zirconium occurs in nature as the mixed oxide and silicate, baddeleyite, and as the silicate zircon. The baddeleyite deposits, having a higher percentage of zirconium, will probably become the chief source of the metal. It occurs in commercial quantities only in Brazil. Zircon deposits are found in Brazil, and also in India; and a deposit of minor note occurs in the United States (Florida).

=Thorium and Mesothorium.=--With zirconium must be considered monazite, a mineral which is the source of thorium and mesothorium. Thorium nitrate is used in the manufacture of Welsbach mantles for gas burners; mesothorium is a by-product of its manufacture from monazite, and is a radioactive substance used as a substitute for radium in making luminous paints and for therapeutic purposes. The zircon minerals and monazite typically occur together in river or beach sands. Like the zirconium minerals, monazite comes mainly from Brazil and India; although it has in the past been mined successfully in the United States, the industry is now extinct.

The thorium nitrate industry of the United States is closely controlled by two companies, the American Welsbach Company, and the Lindsay Light Company. During the war they furnished thorium nitrate also to England and France, thus exercising a world-wide control.

THE MAJOR NON-FERROUS METALS

=Copper.=--The United States stands out predominantly as the world’s great copper producer, producing in 1917 60 per cent. of the world’s output. No other country produces one-sixth as much as the United States. American capital controls (in part through control of refining) 78 per cent. of the world’s production.

Germany has been one of the largest consumers of copper, though not a large producer. Because of this, German interests have in the past secured a considerable control over copper supplies, as well as those of lead, zinc, and other metals, through refining and selling contracts with mining companies. Such control does not as a rule extend to ownership of mines or smelters. Thus for many years companies affiliated with the great German Metal Combine (Metallgeselschaft) were influential in the copper business of the United States. There were three of these companies in the United States, the American Metal Company, L. Vogelstein & Co., and Beer-Sondheimer & Co. Recently the first two have consolidated; and all were Americanized during the war.

The commercial control of the copper in the world, as based on ownership of mines, is, in even figures: United States capital, 69 per cent. (entirely in the Western Hemisphere); British capital, 13 per cent. (in both hemispheres, but mainly in the Eastern); Japanese, 8 per cent. (entirely domestic); German, 6 per cent.; and French, 2 per cent. It will be noted that of the present production three-quarters comes from the Western Hemisphere (North and South America) and only one-quarter from the rest of the world. It is probable that this is a fair index of the relative wealth. The future production of South America will probably increase more rapidly than that of North America, which was earlier developed. It is necessary for the permanent control of the copper situation by the United States that American capital should continue to be foremost in the development of South America.

=Lead.=--The United States is the largest producer of lead in the world and has large resources. Next to the United States, in the order named, come Australia, Spain, Germany, and Mexico. Three powers--the United States, British Empire, and Spain--produce 76 per cent. of the total; and of these the United States and Great Britain produce 60 per cent.

The most striking feature about the lead industry is the fact that as the German system of far-reaching commercial control under government auspices--through smelting, refining, and selling--was destroyed, this system was at once adopted by the British and French. In other words, they found that the German plan had been so effective that they not only blocked it permanently so far as their own countries were concerned, but organized similar commercial-political combinations which should not only take care of all their own lead business, but, like the German organization, should reach out into other countries. The German combination still remains active outside the territory of the former Allies.

Of all the great lead-producing powers the United States is the only one which does not possess a government-controlled lead monopoly. Threatened commercial world monopolies of lead, as of other minerals, have therefore, through the revival of nationalistic spirit due to the war, given place to national-commercial monopolies by three powers (Germany, France, and Great Britain), each intended to become as world-wide as possible, and thus competitive with each other and with the purely commercial organizations of the American lead industry. In England this movement has taken the form of a British Metals Corporation (covering not only lead but other metals). The British Treasury is represented on the Board of Directors.

In France, the nationalist movement has resulted in the formation of consortiums or trade monopolies for each industry, organized under government auspices. That of the mineral industry is the Société Minerais et Metaux. The official announcement states that this society is organized under the auspices of the French government, in order to group the French metal producers, operating both at home and abroad, into a co-operative association for the purchase and sale of metallurgical products.

In America, the principal commercial factor is the American Smelting & Refining Co., dominating the market through its control of reduction plants, although it controls directly only one-third the production.

=Zinc.=--Zinc and lead are commonly associated in mineral deposits, so that their geological and geographical distribution is nearly identical. Of the world’s production of zinc, the United States produces 35 per cent., Germany 25 per cent., Australia 15 per cent., and Italy 5 per cent.

Up to the outbreak of the war in 1914, the position of zinc was extreme among the metals, in that political control or state sovereignty exercised only a minor effect upon the industry. “Economic factors,” says our author, “made ineffective any control not international in scope. A very large percentage of the zinc ores of the world were transported from the country of production to another for treatment, in some cases even being re-exported.” During the war, however, political control was largely invoked to strengthen and restore commercial control to the chief belligerent nations. This movement was particularly marked in the British Empire, where there now exists, as above noted in the paragraphs discussing lead, a joint political and commercial control. Alien interests were eliminated by government action, and the government retained a share in the control through interests in marketing organizations or financial participation in treatment works.

In the zinc industry, as in that of its closely associated metals, copper and lead, the ownership or control of reduction plants, and more particularly marketing organizations, have been more important in determining commercial control than state sovereignty or commercial ownership of mines. In recent years the marketing organizations became world-wide and completely dominated the industry. The ambition of German commercial interests to control the metal markets and resources of the world was more nearly realized in the case of zinc than of any other metal.

In France, as noted above in the case of lead, a government-controlled metal marketing organization has been formed for the same purpose--protection and advantage in competition. However, British domination of the European zinc industry seems certain. Only the American industry remains untouched by close organization under government auspices. Should Germany lose Silesia, she will probably become a small factor in the zinc industry. With so many doors closed in her face by the British and French political and commercial combinations, there should be governmental precautions taken by the American Government that she should not re-establish herself in the United States, nor so far as possible (following out to its logical conclusion the Monroe Doctrine) in the rest of North and South America.

Note that in the zinc industry, as well as in every other industry, Japan is rapidly expanding, and having reached the limit of her own resources, her field of growth is in Korea, China, and Siberia. Japan’s present zinc-smelting capacity is greater than her domestic consumption, and much greater than the domestic ore supply; and ore is imported from China, Siberia, Indo-China, and Australia.

=Tin.=--Tin belongs to a group of minerals that are classifiable together by the fact that they are not of widespread distribution, but are found in really commercial quantity only on a few spots of the globe, and yet are absolutely necessary for our industrial civilization. Such also are chromium, platinum, potash salts, nitrates, and nickel. Of this political-commercial group, tin is an important member. It is noteworthy of this group that the United States is not the lucky holder of the first prize in any of these cases. In the case of chromium, it is mainly the French and British colonies, of platinum it is Russia and Colombia, of potash salts it is Germany, of nitrates it is Chili, of nickel again the British and French colonies, and in the case of tin it is southeastern Asia and Bolivia.

The United States produces less than one-fifth of 1 per cent. of its requirements, and its control of foreign tin resources through mine ownership is negligible. On the other hand, the United States consumes over half the tin of the world, and is the largest manufacturer and distributor of tin products. The tin-mining and smelting industry of the world is dominated by Great Britain.

Tin is used in the manufacture of tin plate, in solder, brass, and many other essential uses, and no satisfactory substitute is available. In war as well as peace, tin cans are as necessary as rifles. Aluminum is the most likely possible substitute for tin in containers, and the United States controls the aluminum industry. About 68 per cent. of the tin is produced at present from southeastern Asia and neighboring islands, 21 per cent. from Bolivia, 4 per cent. from Nigeria and South Africa, and 3 per cent. from England. The Bolivian production will probably tend to increase.

=Mercury.=--Mercury, or quicksilver, is a mineral of some importance, although by far not in the class of the last four discussed above. It is useful for drugs and chemicals; as a detonator for high explosives; as a pigment; for treating gold and silver ores; and for many other uses. The greatest quicksilver deposits in the world are in Spain. The United States comes second. The important Idria mine, near Trieste, formerly Austrian, but at last accounts in possession of Italy, takes third place. The production from the rest of the world is small. Spain, Italy, and the United States, therefore, divide the production and the control through state sovereignty. The great mine of Spain, the Almaden (the greatest in the world), is also owned and worked by the Spanish government. The Spanish government contracts, on the basis of competitive proposals, with the successful bidder for the sale of quicksilver for a term of ten years. For a number of successive periods, the contract has been awarded to the Rothschilds of London. By this arrangement the market is controlled in London; and during the war the sale was taken over by the British government. The control of the marketing of the product of this mine enables those in control to fix the price of quicksilver in the world’s markets.

=Aluminum.=--An important metal at present, and one bound to be eventually still more important, is aluminum. While one of the principal constituents of all rocks, in the form of silicates, its release from that combination is so difficult that it has not been solved on a commercial scale. Since there is much more aluminum than iron in the earth’s compounds, however, there will never be a shortage, if cost is disregarded. Commercial aluminum is manufactured from the oxide, bauxite. Bauxite is also used directly as an abrasive and also as a refractory. The largest bauxite deposits are controlled politically by the United States and France, with the British Empire in a favorable prospective position. The aluminum works of the world are controlled by Great Britain, France, and Germany, and also Switzerland, Italy, and Norway. The aluminum industry of the United States and Canada is practically in the hands of one company, the Aluminum Company of America, which also holds interests in South America and other countries. The French producers of aluminum have effected a central organization through the incorporation of a selling company, L’Aluminium Française. The British Aluminium Company is the sole producer in England, and controls the Irish deposits.

THE NON-METALLIC MINERALS

=Emery and Corundum.=--Abrasives are essential and important in the industries. Chief, perhaps, in the group of natural abrasives are emery and corundum, which are superior in hardness to other abrasives such as quartz, tripoli, garnet, and pumice. They are used in grinding and polishing metals--chiefly iron and steel--and glass. Commercially important deposits of emery and corundum are located in the Appalachian region of the United States, on the islands of the Grecian Archipelago (especially Naxos), in Asia Minor, India, Madagascar, and South Africa. There is little control other than that inherent in state sovereignty.

=Magnesite.=--Magnesite is a mineral of some importance, used mainly in metallurgical operations and as a refractory material for lining furnaces; also for the manufacture of a cement for flooring. Magnesite is not a rare mineral, and deposits are widespread. Productive and commercial deposits are located in the United States (California and Washington), Canada, Mexico (Lower California), Venezuela, Austria, Germany, Spain, Greece, and other countries. Not rare enough to be the subject of great combinations, the interesting international feature of the trade is that which centers in the United States. Until recently large magnesite deposits were not known in the United States, but in the last few years vast deposits have been developed in California and Oregon. Previous to the war, the deposits of Austria were mainly drawn on by consumers in the Eastern United States, and during the war Canadian magnesite was mainly used. American firms own considerable interests in the deposits in Austria, and probably in some of those in Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.

=Graphite.=--Graphite is used for crucibles for steel and brass making, for foundry facings, pencils, shoe polish, as a lubricant, etc. Crystalline graphite only is used for crucibles. The supply of this for American consumption was one of the problems of the war. Of the crystalline graphite deposits, it is believed that those of the French colony of Madagascar will, on account of their richness--if competition is free--supplant American and German deposits; the deposits of Ceylon are regarded as on the wane. Amorphous graphite will probably come from Austria, Mexico and Korea. The deposits of the United States are extensive but of low grade.

=Mica.=--Mica is an essential mineral, especially in electrical work. One of the commonest minerals of nearly all rocks, it becomes valuable only when it occurs in crystals or sheets of large size, which are of comparatively rare occurrence, being found only in certain pegmatite dikes. India, Canada, and the United States produce about 98 per cent. of the sheet mica of the world. Brazil, Argentina, and the former German East Africa are becoming important. India produces 65 per cent. of the total world production; the United States only 15 per cent. Brazilian mica is expected to be of much greater importance in the future than in the past, although India will doubtless retain its position as the most important producer.

The British Empire controls 75 per cent. of the sheet-mica production. Before the war, Germany had obtained a large measure of commercial control in Indian mines, and by virtue of her dominant position in the electrical industry, threatened to control the mica market of the world. The United States is now the largest consumer; but as the important development of the electrical industry in England during the war places it in the position formerly occupied by Germany and Austria, it requires a larger supply of the mica from India, and this may lead to a permanent British control. London is the distributing center for Indian mica, and London prices regulate the market. During the war Indian mica was controlled by the British government and allotted to the Allied nations at fixed prices. A permanent British monopoly of the mica market can probably best be obviated by the development of the Brazilian field by American electrical manufacturers.

=Asbestos.=--Asbestos is an essential mineral, on account of its incombustibility and insulating qualities, together with its fibrous structure, which enables it to be spun or woven into ropes and fabrics; and on this account it has a wide and varied use. There are mineralogically three kinds of asbestos--chrysotile, crocidolite, and anthophyllite--the last being, as a rule, of non-spinning quality. Chrysotile is the most valuable commercially: crocidolite, or blue asbestos, will not bear high temperature like the other varieties, and on account of its low fusibility is useful for electric welding. Therefore, the main asbestos problem centers about the deposits of high-grade chrysotile, especially as the supplies of anthophyllite asbestos are abundant, and with its restricted uses, ample for an indefinite period. The most important deposits of chrysotile asbestos are in Quebec, Canada, but large deposits are also worked in Russia and Rhodesia.

The United States is by far the largest manufacturer of asbestos products in the world, but produces only a small fraction of the necessary materials. The presence of the deposits in Canada, however, provides the American industry with an ample supply. British companies hold exclusive control of the production of South Africa, Australasia, and Italy: of these, South Africa includes the Rhodesian deposits of chrysotile, which are among the most important in the world. Altogether, the British Empire is in a dominating position, controlling about 88 per cent. of the annual asbestos production of the world and approximately 70 per cent. of the estimated reserves. Canada is in the lead of all countries, supplying about 85 per cent. of the world’s production. Should the British policy as to other mineral industries be carried out in the case of asbestos we may expect action on the part of the British or Canadian government to transfer the center of asbestos manufacture from the United States to Canada or England.

THE FERTILIZER MINERALS

We have above touched on four great groups of minerals--the fuel minerals, the steel and ferro-alloy minerals, the major non-ferrous minerals, and the non-metallic minerals. Next comes a group by itself--the fertilizer minerals or elementary substances, chief among which are phosphate rock, potash, nitrates, and sulphur and sulphuric acid. All of these appear essential to the re-invigorating of the soil as successive crops are removed, and so to securing a permanency of its original productivity.

=Phosphate Rock.=--Phosphate rock is a natural substance which is used mainly as an ingredient of fertilizers, being finely ground and used directly. Large quantities are also used for making phosphoric acid and phosphorus, the latter being used in matches, etc. Phosphate rock is a bedded or sedimentary deposit containing phosphate of lime; phosphate of lime also occurs as nodules in stream beds. Another type of deposit commonly classed as phosphate rock is the porous coral or limestone of tropical islands, permeated with phosphate leached from guano. The phosphate rock deposits of present commercial importance are located in the United States, Algeria, Tunis, and Egypt, the United States possessing by far the largest reserves. The United States has also the largest industry of production. Politically the principal deposits are controlled by the United States, France (Tunis and Algeria) and Great Britain (Egypt). The commercial control of the deposits of the United States is mainly in the hands of Americans, although German and French interests own some of the hard-rock deposits. The deposits of Algeria and Tunis are controlled by two companies, one British and the other Italian. Germany will be without a source of supply under her own control now that her colonies have been forfeited.

From the above it will be seen that there is no probability of a world control or monopoly of phosphates. The United States is in a position to command the market unless nationalistic legislation in the various countries is enacted to protect and advance their own industries.

=Potash.=--Potash is a most important fertilizer, over 90 per cent. of all potash used being so employed, the remainder going into the manufacture of explosives and glass, and into the chemical industry.

Up to 1914 practically all the world’s supply of potash came from the great natural rock-salt deposits of Stassfurt, Germany. Next in importance come the deposits of Alsace, containing sufficient to supply the world’s present demands for 300 years. Large undeveloped deposits exist in northeastern Spain. Germany made active practical use of her natural potash wealth in erecting a government monopoly, which supplied the world. This advantage was made much of in her plans for further political and commercial conquest, and in the writings of the vainglorious Teutons. In potash, they openly boasted, they had an all-powerful commercial weapon which would oblige other nations to supply in exchange raw materials such as Germany needed, as cotton and copper from the United States. With her political collapse, however, her commercial potash monopoly has also gone. The vast deposits of Alsatian potash have gone to France, and while German potash may still perhaps be produced and sold more cheaply, the Alsatian deposits will act as a check. A commercial combination between the two, and including the Spanish deposits, is, however, not at all out of the question. Potash is one of the commonest elements in the earth, and in the United States there is an abundant supply but it is largely in the form of silicates, and so more difficult and expensive to extract than from the soluble natural salts of Germany.

=Nitrates.=--Nitrates are essential in an extraordinary degree, in various ways: as fertilizer, and so essential to food and life; as the source of ammonia, and therefore necessary to the modern system of food refrigeration; as an essential ingredient in explosives, and thus indispensable for the national defense. Just as potash is one of the commonest elements of the earth, so nitrogen is one of the commonest elements of the air, of which it constitutes four-fifths. It should not, therefore, be hard to get; but to isolate it and catch it in usable form--in technical terms, to “fix” it--is difficult, slow and expensive. Nature has not done much toward “fixing” nitrogen in her mineral supplies; and although it is constantly being “fixed” in animal and vegetable organisms, it is largely soon returned to the atmosphere as ammonia or in other forms, or, being in the form of soluble salts, is leached from the soil and carried away, either to be transformed again to the atmosphere, or, rarely, to be accumulated under arid conditions by evaporation into mineral deposits. For some hitherto unexplained reason, only in Chili have mineral deposits of importance thus been formed; and the Chilean deposits have till lately supplied the world, giving Chile even a far more exclusive position as regards nitrates than was held by Germany as regards potash; but there has never been any monopolistic control of the Chilean nitrate supply. Besides this mineral source, and the obtaining of nitrogen from the air by fixation, important sources of fertilizer nitrogen are contained in organic matter--refuse vegetable or animal remains, or animal excreta--and also from coal, as a by-product of coke manufacture.

Previous to the war, Germany anticipated being deprived of Chilean nitrate by developing fixation and by-product processes, through which she supplied herself during the war. Other countries have not been so thorough. During the war, the danger of the United States being cut off from supplies of Chilean nitrates by the German submarine campaign, led to the Government projecting and starting four large and expensive plants for nitrogen fixation. They were unfinished when the war closed.

About five-eighths or less of the nitrogen consumed has been from various organic sources, including the by-production from coke making. By-product nitrogen in the United States is estimated at around one-eighth of the entire supply. The remaining three-eighths has been furnished largely by Chilean nitrates.

THE PRECIOUS METALS

=Gold.=--In the group of precious metals, gold is of the most importance, mainly as the time-honored and unreplaceable measure of value and medium of exchange. This position it has sometimes shared with silver, but no country has ever refused to thus recognize gold.

Gold is found all over the world, but the British Empire produces 60 per cent. of it, while the United States produces 20 per cent. Political and commercial control are nearly identical in the case of gold, which is easily reduced to the metal state and thenceforth passes current, requiring no selling agencies. Due to the commerce brought on by the war, the United States now has a larger gold reserve than any other nation.

=Silver.=--“Silver,” says our author, “is used both for money and in the arts, the former use being the more important and more essential. In some countries, especially those producing silver in large amounts, it is the money standard, either alone or with gold. In other countries on a gold standard silver is used for subsidiary coinage. In India and China it is used for the settlement of foreign trade exchange balances.”

In countries with elaborate financial systems, where paper currency is freely accepted, as in the United States and Europe, it is not such an essential money metal; but in other countries it directly replaces and conserves gold. On this account silver is not an article of luxury, but an essential. The coinage of silver increased in Europe as the war progressed, and was essential in bringing supplies from the Far East to the battle fronts. While the normal annual silver production is around 159,000,000 ounces, the demand during 1918 exceeded 500,000,000 ounces. Silver production adds to the stock of money, increases confidence in financial conditions, and furnishes, with and subsidiary to gold, a basis for credit. About half of the world’s silver output is as a by-product of the production of other metals, notably lead and copper; and accordingly the production of silver is largely independent of the price.

Of the world’s total silver production, over 80 per cent. comes from the mines of the Western Hemisphere. For many years Mexico was the leading producer, until all its industries became disorganized by revolution. The United States, always a close second, is now in a leading position. Canada, Central America, and South America are important. In the Eastern Hemisphere, Australia is the leading producer.

The principal silver deposits of the world are controlled politically by the United States, Mexico, and Great Britain, these three controlling 85 per cent. of the total production in 1913.

=Platinum.=--Platinum is controlled chiefly by Russia, being produced otherwise in important quantity only in Colombia. American interests predominate in Colombia. Before the war there was an interlocking of the interests of the platinum refiners of the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, with the German influence very marked.

(_Facing page 540_)

POLITICAL CONTROL (TERRITORIAL)

IRON 1913
191,978,750 Short Tons
UNITED STATES 37% BRITISH EMPIRE 11% FRANCE 14% LORRAINE 10% REST OF
GERMANY 6% AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 3% SPAIN 6% RUSSIA 5% ALL OTHERS 6%

COAL 1913
1,478,000,000 Short Tons
UNITED STATES 39% BRITISH EMPIRE 26% FRANCE 3% GERMANY 21% AUST.-
HUNGARY 4% ALL OTHERS 7%

PETROLEUM 1917
502,980,600 Barrels
UNITED STATES 67% BRIT. EMP. 2% RUSSIA 14% MEXICO 11% ALL OTHERS 6%

COPPER 1917
1,604,472 Short Tons
UNITED STATES 60% BRIT. EMP. 8% JAPAN 8% CHILE 5% CENTRAL POWERS 3%
ALL OTHERS 13%

ZINC 1913
1,095,686 Short Tons
UNITED STATES 32% BRITISH EMPIRE 6% FRANCE 7% BELGIUM 30% GERMANY 28%
ALL OTHERS 7%

PIG LEAD[191]
1,371,900 Short Tons
UNITED STATES 45% BRITISH EMPIRE 13% FRANCE 2% SPAIN 11% GERMANY 14%
AUST.-HUNGARY 2% ALL OTHERS 13%

GOLD 1917
425,486,400 Dollars
UNITED STATES 19% BRITISH EMPIRE 64% RUSSIA 4% JAPAN 2% ALL OTHERS 11%

SILVER 1913
223,127,000 Ounces
UNITED STATES 30% BRITISH EMPIRE 23% CENTRAL POWERS 3% MEXICO 32% ALL
OTHERS 12%

NICKEL 1913
32,016 Short Tons BRITISH EMPIRE 85% FRANCE 11% HUNGARY 2% ALL OTHERS
2%