XXX. SILVER…

XXX. SILVER

BY F. W. PAINE

USES OF SILVER

The chief and essential use of silver is as money. This form of consumption takes place mainly in India and China, where silver serves as a basis for the settlement of foreign exchange balances. In China, silver is the money standard of the country. In India a gold standard is used, but from time immemorial the natives have hoarded silver and invested their savings in silver coins and ornaments rather than making use of banks, bonds or other securities. Silver is used for subsidiary coinage in all countries, but such coins in Europe and the United States can normally be replaced to a considerable extent by paper, as they circulate at more than their intrinsic value. In Mexico, Peru, and other silver-producing countries silver money is extensively used.

A large amount of silver is used in the arts. To a small degree such consumption is for photographic or chemical work but mainly for the production of jewelry and luxurious household wares. The use of silver jewelry in India is intimately related to silver hoards, the bank balance of the natives. Such hoards are now mainly coin, however, because coin has become of more stable value than ornaments since India adopted the gold standard. Before 1914 it was estimated by the Director of the United States Mint that two-thirds of the new silver annually produced went into the arts. In 1912, however, coinage absorbed over half of the 224,310,000 ounces produced by the world. During the war the payment by the Allies for goods purchased in the Orient diverted enormous stores of silver to India and China. In Europe greater amounts of silver coin were needed under war conditions. Moreover, the large issues of paper money make corresponding increases in the number of silver coins desirable. In 1915 only 20 per cent. of the world’s silver was used in the arts; in 1916, 15 per cent. was so used, the balance being coined.

The importance of silver for essential uses during the war is best indicated by the fact that old dead stocks of silver coin, United States dollars in the Treasury, Manila dollars, etc., had to be called into service. A stage not reached was the melting down of silver plate and ornaments. This stage was reached in Germany in the case of gold and probably of silver, just as the United States had begun to adopt such a program to obtain platinum. During 1916 our exports of silver exceeded $210,000,000, surpassing by $58,000,000 the total copper exports for the same period.

As long as the centuries-old customs of India and China fail to change, silver must be considered as ranking with gold as an essential money metal of intranational and international trade.

The large use of silver in the arts, in the period 1900 to 1914, a use naturally considered as entirely a luxury, leads to emphasis upon the non-essential character of silver consumption as a whole. When the European war broke out, prices for silver, in common with most metals and other commodities, declined. But silver did not increase in price a few months later, as did base metals. It was not until the end of 1915 that silver sold as high as before the war, and during the early part of the war it sold so low that producers felt discouraged and regarded silver as, in the main, an article of luxury.

On the other side is the fact that coinage of silver in Europe increased tremendously in 1914 and 1915, although it did not seem to offset fully the curtailment in manufacture of silverware and jewelry. This need for coinage continued during the war at an accelerated rate, just as did the demands for munitions and men. The “silver bullet” was important in Europe, but still more essential in bringing supplies from the Far East to the battle fronts. This fact is confirmed by the advance in the price of silver to substantially twice the pre-war quotation, and had a price not then been fixed the advance would probably have been greater. The normal annual silver production of the world is around 159,000,000 ounces, whereas the actual demand for silver during 1918 exceeded 500,000,000 ounces.

All silver used in the arts by no means represents consumption in luxuries. Silver enters the essential chemical and photographic industries to a considerable degree. At least one-third of the silver consumed in the arts before the war represented jewelry used in India, and this use is much more a form of investment by the natives than it is in Europe and the United States.

The United States Treasury Department has been much concerned over the declining output of gold. Priorities during the war were granted to the gold industry to place it in the position of a preferred war industry. Silver cannot be considered as being in a different position, although silver producers received priorities more as producers of base metals and gold than of silver alone.

The credit and finance of the world is greatly helped by maximum gold production, but of little less importance is a large supply of silver, for although gold has become the general standard of money, silver is still, as throughout man’s history, one of the two precious or money metals. It is at least a crutch to aid gold.

In many parts of the world silver ranks equal with or as more important than gold for a money standard. Elsewhere, in countries where paper currency is freely accepted by sellers, it is not an essential money metal, e.g., in the United States. However, silver with gold helps to support the credit and standing of paper money in Europe today, and in countries with less elaborate financial systems it directly replaces and so conserves gold.

Silver then is considered to be an essential metal of the world’s finance, trade, and industry. It belongs with the group of vital mineral raw materials and can not be classed with diamonds or other non-essential mineral products.

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. In the immediate future a maximum silver production may be of as great or greater importance to the world than ever before.

GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION

About one-half of the silver output of the world is obtained as a by-product in the winning of other metals, notably lead and copper. Such production comes from deposits of all geologic ages. The silver obtained from high-grade silver ores associated with minor amounts of gold or base metals is now derived chiefly from Tertiary deposits. Pre-Cambrian deposits are of some importance, e.g. Cobalt, Ontario; but the Tertiary is the great source of silver ores.

The Mexican mines, which are by far the most important as producers of silver ores, are associated with Tertiary volcanic rocks. A similar association occurs to the south, in Central America, Peru, and Bolivia. The deposits of the United States, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and Montana, occur under similar conditions. This is also true of the chief worked-out deposits of recent silver-mining history--the Comstock Lode.

A great deal of silver has been mined in Europe in the past, chiefly from rich silver deposits which are now largely exhausted. Geologic conditions here are obscure, because the mining was completed so long ago.

In the future, Mexico and the Rocky Mountain-Andes Cordillera will be the chief region for the mining of rich silver ores. The pre-Cambrian areas of Canada may continue to be of some importance.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

A generalized table of normal outputs is as follows:

TABLE 69.--PRESENT NORMAL OUTPUT OF SILVER

----------------------------+----------+---------------+------------- Country |By-product|Straight silver| | silver | deposits | Notes ----------------------------+----------+---------------+------------- Western Hemisphere: | | | Mexico and Central America|12,000,000| 60,000,000 |Tertiary Peru and Bolivia |10,000,000| 5,000,000 |Tertiary Chile | 2,000,000| ...|Miscellaneous United States | ...| 23,000,000 |Tertiary United States lead ores |24,000,000| ...|Miscellaneous United States copper ores |23,000,000| ...|Miscellaneous Canada | ... | 21,000,000 |Pre-Cambrian Canada | 4,000,000| ...|Miscellaneous +----------+---------------+ Total Western Hemisphere|75,000,000| 109,000,000 | Eastern Hemisphere: | | | Spain | ...| 4,500,000 | Austria and Turkey | ...| 3,000,000 | India | 5,000,000| ...|Burma Australia |16,000,000| ...|Broken Hill Japan | 7,000,000| ...| Miscellaneous | 2,000,000| 1,500,000 | +----------+---------------+ Total Eastern Hemisphere|30,000,000| 9,000,000 | ----------------------------+----------+---------------+-------------

SUMMARY

Total output, Percentage of ounces total output Rich silver mines 118,000,000 53 By-product silver 105,000,000 47 ----------- --- Total 223,000,000 100

Mexico, the great center for rich silver mines, is now producing less than one-half of its normal output, due to the unsettled political and social conditions. In 1907 the Mexican production declined to 31,000,000 ounces, a loss of over 50 per cent. Consequently in 1917 the world’s silver output was only 170,000,000 ounces; and of this amount more than one-half was derived as a by-product in refining other metals.

A striking feature of the distribution of silver deposits is the large number of great producing areas in Mexico and the western United States. An argentiferous metallographic province is thus indicated; and is well shown in the following table:

TABLE 70.--GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SILVER DEPOSITS, BY REGIONS

-----------------------+---------------------+-------------+---------- |Proportion from Rocky| Normal |Percentage | Mountain-Andes | output | of world Region | region | (ounces) | total -----------------------+---------------------+-------------+---------- 1. Rocky Mountain-Andes| | | Region: | | | United States |99 per cent. of total| 70,000,000 | Mexico | All | 70,000,000 | Central America | All | 2,000,000 | Peru and Bolivia | All | 15,000,000 | Chile | All | 2,000,000 | Canada |16 per cent. of total| 4,000,000 | | +-------------+ Total | ... | 163,000,000 | 73 2. Cobalt, Ontario | ... | 21,000,000 | 9.45 3. India and Australia | | | (2 mines) | ... | 21,000,000 | 9.45 4. Japan | ... | 7,000,000 | 3.1 5. Miscellaneous | ... | 11,000,000 | 5.0 | +-------------+---------- Total for world | ... | 223,000,000 | 100.00 -----------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------

The relative geologic age of silver deposits is exhibited in the tabulation below:

----------------------------------+-------------+----------+---------- | Probable | Future | |future output|percentage| Present | (ounces) |of total |proportion ----------------------------------+-------------+----------+---------- Tertiary | 170,000,000 | 76 | 73.0 Japanese copper (largely Tertiary)| 5,000,000 | 2 | 3.1 India and Australia (age of | | | deposits not stated) | 25,000,000 | 11 | 9.45 Pre-Cambrian | 15,000,000 | 7 | 9.45 Unknown | 10,000,000 | 4 | 5.0 +-------------+----------+---------- Total | 225,000,000 | 100 | 100.0 ----------------------------------+-------------+----------+----------

Examination of the above data shows that by far the greater part of the world’s silver occurs in the great petrographic and metallographic province which forms a bordering zone around the Pacific Ocean, and is most productive in the western Cordilleras of North and South America.

CHANGES IN KNOWN GEO GRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Decreases may occur in Cobalt (Ontario) and in Japan; in Cobalt because of exhaustion of ore, in Japan because of lower output of copper and lead if prices of these metals fall. The Rocky Mountain-Andes output should be maintained relatively at the proportion shown above--Mexico being back to normal in this assumption. This Rocky Mountain-Andes production is all, or substantially all, associated with Tertiary igneous rocks.

The above figures allow in part for the increase in Indian output from the new Burma mines.

CHANGES IN PRACTICE

It is doubtful if silver production will be materially increased in the next few years by improvement in metallurgy, milling, or mining methods. Silver production is perhaps unique in that a great part of the output, produced as a by-product, comes on the market at a rate determined more by the volume of lead and copper production than by current quotations for silver. Also rich silver mines when discovered can be operated at a large profit per ounce. However, high prices for silver will stimulate that part of the production which comes from silver mines proper.

The world’s production increased over one-third during the period of 1904 to 1913. At the same time prices had declined even below the 1893-1894 figures. The increased output was due to production from the United States and from Canada.

Independent of price, the Cobalt discovery poured silver on the market. Independent of price, the increased lead and copper of the United States poured by-product silver on the market.

It seems clear that discoveries of new silver deposits or enlarged and improved base-metal mining operations are the factors that will influence silver output. Changes in methods of silver recovery and even changed silver prices have no tremendous effect. Even the big drop in silver prices in the early nineties was accompanied by no decrease in silver production. Instead there was an increase.

POLITICAL CONTROL

The silver output of the world is divided among the various political groups as shown in Table 71:

TABLE 71.--PRODUCTION OF SILVER IN 1917 AND 1913

------------------------------+----------------+-----------+---------- | 1917 | 1913 | 1913 | production |production |percentage Country | (ounces) | (ounces) | of total ------------------------------+----------------+-----------+---------- United States | 71,740,000 | 66,801,000| 30.0 British Empire (chiefly Canada| | | and Australia) | 34,001,000 | 50,429,000| 22.6 France | 235,000 | 521,000| 0.2 Italy | 450,000 | 424,000| 0.2 +----------------+-----------+---------- |106,426,000 |118,175,000| 53.0 Japan | 6,922,000 | 4,716,000| 2.1 Peru | 11,000,000 | 8,351,000| 3.7 Central America | 2,369,000 | 2,135,000| 1.0 Bolivia | 2,434,000 | 2,410,000| 1.1 Russia, Greece, etc. | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000| 0.4 Mexico | 31,214,000 | 70,704,000| 31.7 Chile | 1,673,000 | 2,000,000| 0.9 Spain | 4,500,000 | 4,232,000| 1.9 Germany, Austria | 1,500,000 plus| 7,195,000| 3.2 Turkey | | 1,509,000| 0.7 Miscellaneous | 1,700,000 | 700,000| 0.3 +----------------+-----------+---------- Total |170,038,000 |223,126,000| 100.00 ------------------------------+----------------+-----------+----------

COMMERCIAL CONTROL

=Through Ownership of Mines.=--The production of silver in the United States is all controlled by United States capital. One-third is controlled by lead-mining interests, one-third by copper-mining interests, and the remaining third by silver miners. Moreover, United States capital owns Mexican mining property normally capable of producing over half of that country’s output. Central American production and the by-product silver of Peru are similarly controlled. About one-quarter of the Canadian production comes from properties owned in the United States. In all, the capital of the United States controls over half of the yearly output of silver throughout the world.

Most of the Canadian and all of the Australian, Indian, and African silver is controlled by British capital, as is one-quarter of the Mexican production and some from Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. In all, Great Britain controls a third of the world’s output.

Germany probably controls close to 10 per cent. of the world’s silver production. A part of this is produced locally, but the main German control is in Mexico, the mines owned by Mexicans being taken as, in the main, German properties.

Mines owned by Japanese, Spanish, French, or Chilean capital are responsible for substantially all the remaining 5 per cent. of the world’s silver output.

FINANCIAL CONTROL THROUGH OWNERSHIP OF MINES

Capital 1913 output, percentage controlled United States 52 British 33 German 10 Japanese 2 Spanish 2 French, etc. 1 --- 100

=Through Ownership of Reduction Plants.=--As would be expected from the geographic location of the silver deposits, the United States and Mexico are the centers of silver smelting and refining. Important silver-smelting interests are as follows

Company Situation of smelters

The American Smelting & Refining Co. United States and Mexico The United States S., R. & M. Co. United States and Mexico The International Smelting Co. United States Anaconda Copper Mining Co. United States Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. Canada Compañia Metalurgica Mexicana. Mexico Compañia Metalurgica de Torreon. Mexico Compañia Minera de Peñoles. Mexico

Through ownership of reduction plants, the United States exercises control over a somewhat larger share of the world’s silver than it does through mine ownership. Much of the Canadian and Mexican as well as most of the South and Central American silver production enters the United States either as refined bullion or as ore and base bullion.

It is estimated that control through reduction plants is about as follows:

United States, ⁴⁄₇; Mexico, ¹⁄₇; Canada, ¹⁄₁₄; Europe and Asia, ³⁄₁₄.

As regards silver, this type of control is not at all powerful. Silver-bearing materials can bear a high transportation charge as soon as the first process of freeing from gangue has been completed. Consequently, ownership of mines, rather than of reduction plants, is the vital factor of control over silver resources, so far as production is concerned.

=Through Trade Combinations.=--The world’s output of silver is controlled by the London market. To a small extent this may be due to a trade combination; to a large extent it is due to the relations of the London market with consumers.

Four firms form the London silver market. Silver prices are fixed daily in London, and this “fixed” quotation controls the price of the metal in every important financial center throughout the world.

There are three refineries in London that handle practically the whole of the silver bullion that comes on the London market. No silver can be bought or sold in London unless assayed by one of the four official assayers to the Mint, Bank of England, etc. Silver treated by the London refineries and certain bars from European government refineries are exceptions to this rule.

The London refineries produce silver of the fineness ⁹⁹⁶⁄₁₀₀₀ to suit the Indian market. Other silver current in the London market has a fineness of ⁹⁹⁹⁄₁₀₀₀.

In the words of Benjamin White: “The care taken to safeguard the reputation of the London silver market, the high standing of the firms that comprise it, and the confidence built up by the methods and practices adopted to protect the interests of buyer and seller alike, provide a strong guarantee that in the future, as well as in the past, silver will find its business center in London.”

=Through Relations with Consumers--England’s Control of Silver.=--As already indicated, India and China are the great consumers of silver. For the five years preceding 1914, fully 40 per cent. of the world’s silver output was shipped from London to those two countries, which, with a combined population of over 700,000,000, represent the buying side of the world’s silver market, just as North America represents the selling side.

Since 1914 the capacity of these countries to absorb silver has steadily increased and in 1918 it was mainly a question of where the silver could be obtained. Current production was inadequate to meet the demands, and old stocks of the precious metal were of necessity put on the market.

The world’s silver business consists in getting the metal from the Americas to the East. Why send it via London, exposing the precious metal to greater marine hazards and losing interest while in transit? The main reason is that the chief trade of China and India with western nations is with England, and the great banking houses that finance this trade are in London. These banks purchase silver in London to adjust exchange balances. Funds to purchase such silver usually originate in London, whether from bills on London, loans from London banks or in other ways. In addition, London has been the center of the world’s finance and foreign trade, and also the center from which the mail steamers, the swiftest and cheapest routes to the principal consumers of silver, have radiated.

When the submarine became a menace the United States shipped silver direct from San Francisco to India and China. A large part of the United States production was thus diverted from London, and in 1918 exports of silver from London were far below normal. However, the officials of the American Smelting & Refining Co., refiners of over one-third of the world’s silver output, say that they do not expect these conditions to continue. The established business of the London silver trade, and, of more importance, the relationship between commercial London and the silver-consuming countries, will no doubt quickly re-establish the normal status of London--importer of American silver, exporter of the silver needed in the Far East.

The American refiner or silver producer is glad to have a steady and broad market for his silver, such as is furnished by the four London firms. Smelting interests and mines are able to dispose of their product through London; otherwise they would have to deal with brokers or banks in the Far East. The London firms keep in close touch with the big bullion dealers of Bombay, Calcutta, and other cities, which are the centers from which silver is distributed throughout India. Silver for the Indian imperial coinage, however, is purchased in London by the government.

=Through the Pittman Act in the United States.=--The above silver trade flow-sheet has recently (1920) been materially changed by the program of the Government of the United States to purchase domestic silver at $1 an ounce. If the world price for silver remains below this figure, all American silver will be absorbed by the Government for about four years, or until the 207,000,000 ounces specified in the Pittman Act are bought. If silver, however, should rise above $1 the flow to market as sketched above would be resumed.

=Position of China and Japan.=--Chinese foreign exchange rates depend to a large extent on the price of silver. All importers or exporters dealing with China must deal in the silver market. Although copper “cash” is the basis of Chinese currency, silver is the standard legal tender for transactions involving large amounts, and weights of silver are used as units. Fineness and weight of Chinese coins are manipulated so that coins issued by the silver-producing states, e.g., Mexican dollars (two varieties), British dollars, Spanish dollars, etc., are prized by the Chinese because they are uniform in value.

Japan produces considerable silver, a great deal coming from her electrolytic copper refineries. Gold is the money standard and silver is not used extensively in the arts. Consequently Japan produces more than enough silver to satisfy local consumption. The government is alive to the importance of silver in connection with all dealings with China. In 1918, Japanese banks bought up Chinese silver supplies, paying prices in excess of all other traders. It is believed that American silver has been flowing into Japan via China and that Japan seeks to control the Chinese silver market. A large silver reserve is being built up in Japan. On account of the international importance of the whole Chinese problem, Japanese activity in silver should be noted.

SUMMARY

Silver 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. Normally about two-thirds of the silver produced annually is used in the arts, mainly for the manufacture of jewelry and luxurious household wares, though some is consumed in the photographic, chemical, and other essential industries. During the war more silver went into coinage and less into the arts than formerly, as the large issues of paper money made corresponding increases in the number of silver coins desirable. Large amounts have been exported to the Far East. The war has shown that silver should still be considered an essential metal of the world’s finance and trade, despite the increasing amounts consumed in non-essential uses.

About one-half of the silver output of the world is obtained as a secondary product in the mining of other metals, notably lead and copper, from deposits of all geologic ages. The high-grade silver ores are derived chiefly from Tertiary deposits, and it is probable that in the future Mexico and the Rocky Mountain-Andes region will be the chief sources of ores of this type.

Of the total world silver production over 80 per cent. comes from the mines of the Western Hemisphere. For many years Mexico was the leading silver-producing country of the world, but the unsettled political conditions have so interfered with mining operations that the production for 1917 was less than a half of that for 1911 or 1912. The United States, a close second to Mexico in pre-revolutionary years, now occupies the leading position. Canada and Central and South American countries also produce important quantities of silver. In the Eastern Hemisphere, Australia is the leading silver producer. Smaller amounts are contributed by Spain, Austria, Turkey, India, and Japan.

Changes in practice of silver recovery and even silver prices have little influence on silver production. It will be stimulated rather by discoveries of new silver deposits or by enlarged and improved base-metal milling operations.

The principal silver deposits of the world are controlled politically by the United States, Mexico, and Great Britain, the three nations controlling about 85 per cent. of the total production in 1913. United States capital controls the entire silver output of the United States, and mines producing half of the Mexican output, one-fourth of the Canadian output, and much of that of the Central and South American countries, in all something over one-half of the world’s normal silver production. Great Britain controls probably one-third of the world production, chiefly in Canada, Australia, India, Africa, and Mexico. German capital owns probably one-tenth, located partly in Germany but mainly in Mexico. The remaining silver deposits of the world are owned by Japanese, Spanish, and French capital. Ownership of reduction plants is not a powerful form of control in the case of silver. The United States owns about four-sevenths of the total smelting and refining capacity of the world, the remaining three-sevenths being controlled largely by German, British, and Mexican capital.

Although the greater part of the silver produced each year comes from North and South America, the world’s silver market is located in London because of the close relations between English business interests and India and China, the chief consumers of the metal.

The United States Government, however, will (1920) purchase all American silver offered at $1 per ounce, up to 207,000,000 ounces.

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XXXI. PLATINUM

BY JAMES. M. HILL

USES OF PLATINUM

In past discussion of the uses of platinum some confusion has resulted from the lack of appreciation that all commercial platinum is not the pure metal. The pure metal is required for chemical work of all sorts, but for other uses the iridium alloys are used. Electrical platinum contains 15 to 50 per cent. iridium, but averages 25 per cent., and jeweler’s platinum carries about 10 per cent. iridium. Palladium, another of the platinum group metals, is also of importance, chiefly in the form of palladium-gold alloys, which can be used to replace platinum in the dental and jewelry industries. Rhodium, one of the rarer elements of crude platinum, has a limited use in electrical pyrometers. Osmium and ruthenium, the remaining members of the platinum group, appear to have little use, though osmium, when properly used, can be employed as a substitute of iridium to harden platinum alloys.

The essential uses of platinum metals are in the chemical and electrical industries, and probably the dental industry should be classed as essential. Pure platinum is required in the chemical industry for catalysers in the manufacture of sulphuric acid (about 75,000 ounces now in use in the United States) and in the manufacture of nitric acid from ammonia. For the sulphuric-acid industry, platinum chloride is the primary material containing platinum. Asbestos or anhydrous magnesium sulphate soaked in platinum chloride, and then baked to drive off the chlorine, forms what is known as “contact mass,” which is charged into the chambers of contact acid plants. Very fine-mesh platinum gauze is used for the catalyser in nitric-acid plants. Some gauze used for this purpose has a reinforcing edge of platinum-iridium wire. Pure platinum utensils of various kinds, including crucibles, dishes, tongs, and triangles, are required in every chemical laboratory. It is possible to substitute palladium-gold alloys, or even gold, nickel, nichrome, and silica, for some utensils, but no substitutes have yet been found which will entirely replace platinum chemical ware.

Platinum-iridium alloys have been used extensively by the electrical industry, but substitutes are constantly being developed. Tungsten, molybdenum, and nickel-chrome alloys are the principal substitutes used so far, but their use has not done away with the necessity of platinum in the industry. The principal use of platinum-iridium alloys in electrical work is in contact points, and the proportion of iridium necessary in the alloys is directly dependent on the intensity of the current passing through the contacts and the speed at which the contacts move. Probably the largest consumption of platinum alloy is in the manufacture of telephone and telegraph equipment, including sending and receiving instruments, switch boards and relays. There is also a large consumption of platinum for contacts in magnetos used for various kinds of internal-combustion engines. Automobile makers are, however, developing starting systems that do not require platinum, so we can hope for a lessening future demand from that quarter.

Platinum has an important use in dentistry, though in emergencies palladium-gold alloys have been used as substitutes. Seemingly, however, the substitutes are not entirely satisfactory, and it may be necessary to go back to platinum for certain dental uses. The chief uses are for pins for crown work, pins for fastening artificial teeth to plates, and foil for making molds of cavities in which to bake porcelain fillings. For the time being, the palladium-gold substitutes can be used and perhaps they will be developed so that the use of pure platinum in the future may not be necessary.

The non-essential use of platinum metals is in jewelry, and it seems certain that this misuse of platinum metals must be stopped in order that industrial development may continue. It is estimated that for a number of years 50 per cent. of the platinum consumed in the world went into jewelry. A large part of platinum-mounted jewelry is in private ownership, and as the value of the metal in a jewel is approximately 35 per cent. of the total cost, it is evident that it would be difficult, if not impossible, in case of necessity to recover more than a small proportion of the large quantity of platinum that is in the form of jewelry.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The relative importance of the platinum-producing countries of the world can best be judged by the past output, which is shown in the following table,[181] and graphically in the chart.

[181] HILL, J. M.: “Platinum and Allied Metals,” U. S. Geol. Survey, “Mineral Resources, 1916,” Pt. 1, 1917, p. 3.

The platinum field of Russia is in the Ural Mountains, north of Ekaterinburg. In Colombia, South America, the chief production of platinum has come from the headwater streams of the San Juan River, which enters the Pacific near Buena Ventura; some platinum is found in the upper reaches of the Atrato River, which enters the Caribbean Sea near the east end of Panama. A small amount of platinum and osmiridium has come from New South Wales and some osmiridium from Tasmania. Some of the placers in southwestern Oregon and northern California carry platinum as well as gold. Platinum has recently been determined in concentrates from several localities in Alaska and Canada, and is known in some placers in Borneo and India.

TABLE 72.--ESTIMATED WORLD’S PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PLATINUM, 1909-1917

(In troy ounces)

----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Country | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | ----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Borneo and Sumatra | 500| 200| ...| ...| 200| Canada | 30| 30| 30| 30| 50| New South Wales and Tasmania| 440| 332| 470| 778| 1,500| Russia |264,000|275,000|300,000|300,000|250,000| United States | 672| 390| 628| 721| 483| +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Totals |271,642|285,952|313,128|313,529|267,233| ----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

----------------------------+-------+-------+------+------ Country | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 ----------------------------+-------+-------+------+------ Borneo and Sumatra | [182]| [182]| [182]| [182] Canada | 30| 100| 60| 80 New South Wales and Tasmania| 1,248| 303| 222| [182] Russia |241,200|124,000|63,000|50,000 United States | 570| 742| 750| 605 +-------+-------+------+------ Totals |260,548|143,145|89,932|82,685 ----------------------------+-------+-------+------+------

[182] No basis for estimate.

GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLATINUM

Practically all of the platinum metals produced in the world to date have been derived from placer deposits, though a little platinum and palladium have been obtained as a by-product from the electrolytic refining of copper and nickel matte.

The platinum placers of the world are so definitely related to intrusive basic igneous rocks, including pyroxenites, peridotites and dunites, that there is practically no question of the origin of the metal. In fact, in British Columbia, Spain, and Russia platinum has been found in place in these types of rocks, and it is reported that owing to the great value of platinum at present, a project is on foot to crush and wash certain of the bodies of dunite in Russia.

Platinum is not found in all placers derived from basic rocks, but so far as known it is rarely found in placers derived from other types of rocks. Prospecting for platinum placers therefore resolves itself first into a search for deposits of gravel derived in a large part from pyroxenite, peridotite, and dunite. Chromite is a characteristic heavy constituent of platinum sands and in some deposits can be recovered as a by-product in mining. Olivine is also present in considerable amounts. Magnetite and ilmenite are ordinarily present in the concentrates from platinum placers, but are more characteristic of placers in which gold is the most valuable constituent.

A large amount of prospecting has been done in Russia and Spain, based on the theory of origin outlined above. Much of this prospecting has been successful in locating platiniferous placers, but many of these recent discoveries do not seem to be of commercial worth. It is not possible to foretell whether placers derived from basic igneous rocks will be productive. The most that can be told is that certain placers derived from these rocks hold the greatest promise for the searcher for platinum. Platinum is such a rare metal and is found in such small quantities in its mother rock that it is necessary to have certain physiographic conditions present to predicate commercial deposits. Most important of these conditions is extremely prolonged or very rapid weathering of the primary deposits. In the Russian field, rock-weathering has been in progress for great geologic time; on the other hand, in Colombia, South America, the period of weathering seems to have been relatively short, but so rapid that the same result has been obtained.

Ordinarily, platinum is not found in commercial quantities in gravels that have not been reconcentrated, and the richer deposits of the world seem to be the results of repeated reconcentrations of platinum-bearing material. Crude or placer platinum is not pure metal, but contains, besides other metals of the platinum group, more or less iron, nickel, and copper. Russian crude platinum is ordinarily sold on the assumption that it contains 83 per cent. platinum metals; Colombian crude, 85 per cent. platinum metals. Some placer platinum, so-called, carries a large proportion of osmiridium. Thus the Oregon and California crude platinum carries from 25 to 45 per cent. iridium, and Tasmanian platinum is really nearly pure osmiridium.

The following analyses of Russian,[183] Colombian,[184] and American[184] platinum serve to illustrate the wide divergence of metal content of crude platinum.

TABLE 73.--ANALYSES OF CRUDE PLATINUM FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD

--------------------------------------+-------------------- North America[183] | South America[183] --------+------+------+------+--------+------+--------+---- | Cali-| Cali-| |British |Colom-|Colom-|Colom- |fornia|fornia|Oregon|Columbia| bia | bia | bia --------+------+------+------+--------+------+------+------ Pt. | 85.50| 63.30| 51.45| 72.07 | 86.20| 86.16| 80.00 Ir. | 1.05| 0.70| 0.40| 1.14 | 0.85| 1.09| 1.55 Rh. | 1.00| 1.80| 0.65| 2.57 | 1.40| 2.16| 2.50 Pd. | 0.60| 0.10| 0.15| 0.19 | 0.50| 0.35| 1.00 Os. | ...| ...| ...| ... | ...| 0.97| Io₃[186]| 1.10| 22.55| 27.30| 10.51 | 0.95| 1.19| 1.40 Au. | 0.80| 0.30| 0.85| ... | 1.00| ...| 1.50 Fe. | 6.75| 6.40| 4.30| 8.59 | 7.80| 8.03| 7.20 Cu. | 1.40| 4.25| 2.15| 3.39 | 0.60| 0.40| 0.65 Sand. | 2.95| ...| 3.00| 1.69 | 0.40| ...| 4.35 --------+------+------+------+--------+------+------+------ |101.15| 99.40|100.25| 100.15 |100.25|100.35|100.15 --------+------+------+------+--------+------+------+------

-----------------------------------------+ Oceania[185] | --------+------+--------+---------+------+ |Borneo|N. S. W.|Australia|Taguil| | | |Tasmania?| | --------+------+--------+---------+------+ Pt. | 82.60| 75.90 | 61.40 | 76.16| Ir. | 0.66| 1.30 | 1.10 | 2.68| Rh. | ...| 1.30 | 1.85 | 0.54| Pd. | ...| Trace | 1.80 | 0.27| Os. | | | | | Io₃[186]| 3.80| 9.30 | 26.00 | 1.50| Au. | 0.20| ... | 1.20 | ...| Fe. | 10.67| 10.15 | 4.55 | 14.72| Cu. | 0.13| 0.41 | 1.10 | 3.39| Sand. | ...| 1.22 | 1.20 | | --------+------+--------+---------+------+ | 98.06| 99.58 | 100.20 | 99.26| --------+------+--------+---------+------+

--------+-------------------------------------- | Russia[187] --------+-----+----------+---------+----------- | Iso |Kamenonchy|Koswinsky|Kanjakowaky | | | | --------+-----+----------+---------+----------- Pt. |80.10| 82.46 | 83.50 | 60.39 Ir. | 1.38| 1.79 | 2.74 | 6.90 Rh. | 0.30| 0.69 | 0.62 | 0.80 Pd. | 0.30| 0.18 | 0.28 | 0.19 Os. | | | | Io₃[186]| 4.47| 4.99 | 0.79 | 20.21 Au. | 0.09| 0.27 | 0.07 | Fe. | 7.68| 9.49 | 11.05 | 11.16 Cu. | 0.63| 0.54 | 1.14 | 0.49 Sand. | | | | --------+-----+----------+---------+----------- |94.95| 100.41 | 100.19 | 100.04 --------+-----+----------+---------+-----------

[183] DUPARC, LOUIS: “Le Platine et les gîtes platiniferes de l’Oural”: Soc. des Eng. Civ. de France. Bull. Jan.-Mar., 1916.

[184] KEMP, J. F.: “The Geological Relation and Distribution of Platinum and Associated Metals”: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 193.

[185] Analyses cited by KEMP.

[186] Io₃ is abbreviation used for osmiridium.

[187] Analyses cited by DUPARC.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLATINUM

The relative importance of the platinum-producing countries of the world can best be judged by the past output, which is shown in the following table[188] and graphically in Figure 22.

[188] HILL, J. M.: “Platinum and Allied Metals”: U. S. Geol. Survey “Mineral Resources, 1916,” Pt. I, 1917, p. 3.

TABLE 74.--ESTIMATED WORLD’S PRODUCTION OF CRUDE PLATINUM, 1909-1917

(Troy ounces)

---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Borneo and | | | | | | Sumatra | 500| 200| ...| ...| 300| Canada | 30| 30| 30| 30| 50| Colombia | 6,000| 10,000| 12,000| 12,000| 15,000| New South Wales| | | | | | and Tasmania | 440| 332| 470| 778| 1,500| Russia |264,000|275,000|300,000|300,000|250,000| United States | 672| 390| 628| 721| 483| +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ |271,642|285,952|313,128|313,529|267,233| ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

---------------+-------+-------+------+------ | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 ---------------+-------+-------+------+------ Borneo and | | | | Sumatra | | | | Canada | 30| 100| 60| 80 Colombia | 17,500| 18,000|25,000|32,000 New South Wales| | | | and Tasmania | 1,248| 303| 222| Russia |241,000|125,000|63,900|50,000 United States | 570| 742| 750| 605 +-------+-------+------+------ |260,548|143,145|89,932|82,685 ---------------+-------+-------+------+------

=Russia.=--Russian placer deposits have supplied approximately 95 per cent. of the platinum in the world. The principal placer deposits rich in platinum are in the central Urals, in the Perm government, near Nishni-Tagilsk, Nishni-Turinsk, and Verkhoturshi. The richer deposits are on the eastern slope of the mountains, principally on the Iss and Veeya tributaries of the Tura River of the Obi drainage. Several important placers are found on the west slope of the mountains on the headwaters of the Chusovaia and Kama rivers of the Volga drainage. Near Nishni-Tagilsk platiniferous placers occur both on the Taguil, a tributary of the Obi, and on the Martian, a headwater stream of the Volga drainage. In these placers platinum is the predominant metal, but gold is also found. The greater part of the output in the past has been by hand-washing, but of recent years much of the ground has been reworked by dredges, though it is still safe to say that over 75 per cent. of the output is from hand labor. It is hardly practicable in a report of this sort to discuss in detail the individual deposits, even were the information at hand. The best information available can be summarized as follows: most of the platinum has undoubtedly originated from the disintegration of dunitic, pyroxenitic, or peridotitic rocks. The period of weathering has been very long and there have been many changes in the drainage systems, which have now reached maturity. The stream grades are low; the inter-stream relief is relatively slight. The platinum has probably been reconcentrated many times and is at present won principally from present valley gravels, though the pay channels do not always follow the present river channels. Some bench-ground representing old river channels is worked, particularly in the Nishni-Tagilsk region. The pay gravels ordinarily rest on bed-rock, though concentration on clay beds forming false bed-rock is fairly common. The pay dirt ranges from a few inches to as much as 6 feet in thickness. It has few large boulders, but has considerable clay in many places. The overburden ranges from 2 to 16 feet in thickness, averaging 8 to 10 feet. It consists of a thick basal portion of practically barren gravel and sand, or clay and sand lenses interlayered with gravel, which is overlain by 2 to 3 feet of clay sand and vegetable matter similar to the “muck” of the Alaskan mines.

In shallow ground, up to 3 feet deep, mining is carried on by open-cut methods; in the deeper ground shafts and drifting have been employed. For the deposits in river channels crude hand dredges were and still are used for raising the gravels. About 35 more or less modern dredges were engaged in platinum mining prior to the war. Clay is so generally found in the gravels that specially designed machines have been used to save the platinum and the newer dredges have special devices to cope with this problem.

=Colombia.=--The platinum district of Colombia covers the upper waters of the Atrato and San Juan rivers in the Choco district of northwestern Colombia. Platinum is known as far north as Bete, on the Atrato, and in many of the tributaries of the San Juan which enter from the east. Most of the platinum exported from Colombia has come from the Condoto River, a headwater stream of the San Juan. It is stated that in this stream the platinum constitutes about 75 per cent. of the precious metal in the gravel. On the Atrato the platinum content is lower, ranging from 5 to 15 per cent. Platinum and osmiridium also occur in the streams south of the San Juan drainage, which enter directly into the Pacific, though little authentic data concerning them are available.

According to Dr. Tulio Ospina,[189] Director of the School of Mines, Medellin, Colombia, platinum is found widespread in conglomerates which cover an extensive area in the Atrato and San Juan basins. The metal has been reconcentrated in the present stream channels from which the major output of platinum comes. According to the statements of various observers, there are places on the interstream areas in which platinum has been concentrated. These areas are, from all accounts, old stream channels. The primary platinum deposits evidently are to be looked for on the west slope of the western ridge of the Andes, though no literature which gives detailed information on the geology of this range has been found. Peridotite, dunite, and other basic igneous rocks are represented in the platiniferous gravels.

[189] Proceedings Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, vol. 8, 1917.

There is almost no information upon which to base an estimate as to the possible reserves of platinum in Colombia. Little has been published on the subject that gives good data on the geology of the country, but from all accounts it seems safe to assume that Colombia holds much promise and should be more carefully prospected. Over 90 per cent. of the platinum mined in Colombia is won by natives, mostly women, who raise the gravel in calabaches and wash the gravels in bateas. The dry season is utilized, for then the low places in the river are more exposed. There is one dredge in operation in Colombia at present, though other dredging operations have been tried, which, for various causes, were not successful.

=Canada.=--A small quantity of platinum is produced each year by the placer operations on the Tulameen River, in British Columbia. The metal was derived from a mass of peridotite and dunite, which outcrops west of the main drainage. The gravels of this area are apparently very deep, but the platinum is found in the upper 8 to 20 feet, in part concentrated on a false bed-rock. Recent information indicates the possibility of dredging a considerable acreage of gravels on the Tulameen in the vicinity of Princeton. Reports were current during 1917 of discoveries of platiniferous placers further north in the Canadian Rockies, but no definite information concerning the size or value of the deposits is available.

By far the greater part of the yearly output of platinum and palladium of Canadian origin is a by-product of refining the nickel ores of the Sudbury district, Ontario. That a far greater production of both metals from this source is possible has been shown by the Royal Ontario Nickel Commission.

=United States.=--Crude platinum is won in California, Oregon, and Washington. The dredges at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California produce a large part of the placer platinum output of the United States, principally because of the great yardage handled rather than because of any particular concentration of platinum in the gravels derived from the Mother Lode belt. In northern California the Klamath and Trinity rivers, particularly the Hay Fork of the Trinity, carry platiniferous gravels. In southwestern Oregon platiniferous gravels have been found at several places on the Illinois and Rogue rivers. Along the beach from Bandon, Oregon, to Eureka, California, platinum occurs with the black sands and has been won at a number of mines located both on the present strand line and on ancient elevated beaches. In the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon and in the Strawberry Range south of John Day River a few placers have been worked which carried platinum. In Washington, particularly on the south fork of Lewis River, near Yacolt, platinum has been found, and it is reported on the beaches from the Straits of Juan de Fuca south.

All of the platinum-bearing placers in the United States are closely associated with chromiferous serpentine derived from peridotites or pyroxenites. The concentration of the platinum has not been great and the original quantity was not large, so none of the areas seems capable of much production. Most of the crude platinum from the Pacific Coast placers carries considerable osmiridium. As stated before, the great bulk of the platinum won in the United States is from the dredging fields at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Butte to Stanislaus County. The gravels in these fields are the result of several reconcentrations, but their platinum content can not be considered high. In practically all of the other stream placer areas the gravels have not been subject to such extensive reconcentration, and in some places recent gravels carry platinum. The beach deposits are the result of repeated concentration. The platinum and gold are excessively small, flaky, and difficult to separate from the heavy sands; they are concentrated in the dark bands of sand caused by tidal and wave concentration. The lenses are rarely over one foot thick and taper out in short distances. Correct estimates of reserves are consequently almost impossible.

Within the past few years a little platinum has been won from widely scattered localities in Alaska, chiefly Dime, Bear, and Sweepstake Creek placers in eastern Seward Peninsula; the Boob Creek placers, Tolstoi district, Lower Yukon; and the beach deposits of Kodiak Island. Platinum also occurs in the Upper Kahiltna drainage, north of Anchorage.

Copper ores rich in palladium are produced at the Rambler mine, Wyoming, from the Salt Chuck Mine, Alaska, and from the Boss mine, in Nevada. At the two former mines the ore is associated with basic igneous rocks; in the latter mine the ore bodies are in dolomite. The oft-repeated reports of platinum in certain sandstones exposed near the Bright Angel trail in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Arizona, and in certain shale beds in Chester County, Pennsylvania, have not been verified, though in June, 1918, the United States Platinum Co. was organized to work the deposits in Arizona.

=Australia.=--Platinum and osmiridium have been won in small quantities from Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania. Platinum is also reported from New Zealand. The greater production has been from the osmiridium-bearing gravels of the Savage River drainage in the Bald Hills mining district in the northwestern part of Tasmania. Little has been published concerning the extent of these gravels, which were derived from the weathering of a series of sediments intruded by basic igneous rocks.

In New South Wales, beach deposits much like those of California and Oregon are found from Beachy Head north past Clarence and Richmond rivers into Queensland. Commercial exploitation of these deposits seems to have had the ups and many downs of similar undertakings on our West Coast. Some platinum was obtained from an old buried channel in the Platina or Fifield district in central New South Wales, where pay gravel 6 to 10 feet thick lies under an overburden of 20 to 80 feet. The water supply was not in sufficient quantities to warrant large-scale operations. The channel seems small and has been mined about as far as is commercially possible.

=Spain.=--What may prove to be commercial placer deposits have been found in the Sierra Ronda, in southern Spain, about 50 miles northwest of the port of Malaga. The deposits have been discussed in some detail by Duparc.[190] Apparently the gravels have not been rearranged by nature many times, the concentration of platinum is not great, and it is problematical whether extensive development will be warranted.

[190] DUPARC, LOUIS, and GROSSETT, AUGUSTINE: “Etude comparée des gîtes platiniferes de la Sierra de Ronda et de l’Oural”: Soc. Phys. et Hist. Nat. Geneve, Mem., t. 38, fasc. 5, 1916.

=Other Countries.=--A small amount of platinum is produced as a by-product from gold dredges on the Irawadi River, in India, and from the tin dredges in the Dutch East Indies. Unconfirmed reports have been received of discoveries of platinum in southern Siberia, at various places in Mexico, and from several localities in Ecuador and Peru. Platinum is known to occur in some of the streams as well as in certain of the gold deposits of the Minas Geraes district of Brazil.

In southwestern Borneo platinum occurs in the Tanath-Laut district. Several Russian writers have given information on this region.

PROBABLE CHANGES IN KNOWN GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE

At present the Russian platinum fields are practically idle. The dredges are for the most part not running and the industry is disorganized. It will require considerable expense and several months’ time to rehabilitate the Russian platinum industry. The known deposits of the Russian field are becoming exhausted, and the reserves of known platiniferous gravels are stated by Duparc to have a life of 12 years, based on the pre-war rate of production; or, stated differently, the known deposits are capable of producing between 3,000,000 and 3,600,000 ounces of platinum before they are exhausted.

Colombia seems to have large reserves of unworked platinum-bearing ground, though so little detailed information is available that it is unsafe to predict their future. It is safe, however, to point out that all reports indicate that careful prospecting in the Choco district will probably be repaid by the discovery of considerable areas of platinum-bearing ground.

The Canadian deposits hold some promise of future production. Several recent discoveries of platinum along the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, from the Tulameen to the Stikeen, indicate that further search may be rewarded. If reports are true, there is a considerable area on the Tulameen, Willow and Peace rivers which can be dredged for the recovery of gold and platinum. The most important Canadian platinum reserves are in the Sudbury nickel deposits, but present metallurgical practice will have to be changed to obtain the maximum output of platinum and palladium from these ores.

In the United States there does not seem to be hope for a considerable increase in the output of platinum; in fact, it may be that the production will be materially less when the new refineries for the treatment of Sudbury ores are completed in Canada. The placer deposits carrying platinum are for the most part relatively small; many of those in northern California and Oregon can not be worked economically and few are available for dredging. As the gold-dredging field along the base of the Sierras becomes exhausted, the output of platinum in this country will decline in proportion, barring the discovery of new ground and deposits of gravel richer in platinum than those now known.

The various Australian platinum deposits do not seem particularly promising, as regards production, with the possible exception of the Bald Hill dredging field, in Tasmania. The Fifield deposits seem to be nearly exhausted and the beach deposits in New South Wales and Queensland are too low grade and the valuable minerals are too erratic in distribution to appear of much commercial interest.

The Spanish deposits have not yet been sufficiently explored to determine their extent, but published reports do not seem to indicate that they will prove very large or particularly rich.

POLITICAL CONTROL

As Table 74 shows, Russia has political control of approximately 90 per cent. of the world’s supply of platinum. It seems probable that Canada, in the nickel ore of the Sudbury district and in the known placers in the Tulameen and Barkersville districts, has control of the third largest reserve of platinum. The deposits under the political control of the United States in Alaska and on the Pacific Coast are relatively insignificant. Great Britain naturally controls the platinum in her colonial possessions, Australia, Tasmania, and India. The output of the Dutch East Indies, from Borneo and Sumatra, is relatively small, although there is a possibility that the production from these countries may be increased. Spain may, perhaps, control a small output of platinum, though it does not seem probable that the production from this country will ever be large. A large area in the Sierra Ronda Mountains has been set aside by the government for further prospecting under the auspices of the government, and it seems reasonable to believe, judging from the general mineral policy of Spain, that in the event of the proving of commercial deposits they will be worked under government auspices rather than by private persons.

Although the deposits in Colombia are politically controlled by that country, they are, nevertheless, owned largely by American interests.

COMMERCIAL CONTROL

=Through Ownership of Mines.=--Prior to the war, French commercial interests practically dominated the platinum industry of Russia, through the operations of the Compagnie Internationale du Platine. This company not only had extensive mining holdings but also had contracts with the two largest independent Russian platinum producers, namely, the Shouvaloff and Demidoff companies, for their entire output. The contracts were suspended by the French company shortly after the declaration of war and may not be remade. There are, however, two Russian companies which are more or less independent of French control and there are a large number of small miners and peasants who know no allegiance to any particular buying concern. It appears that at least 75 per cent. of the platinum production of Russia is (or was, previous to the Bolshevist domination) controlled by the following companies: Compagnie Internationale du Platine (French), Shouvaloff’s company (Russian), Demidoff company (Russian), Nicolo-Pavdinski company (Russian), and the Platina company (Russian). During 1914 these companies were operating approximately 35 dredges in the platinum field, though from the best reports now available it does not seem that more than two or three of the dredges were at work during 1917. The reader should realize, however, that the production from dredges has always been relatively small, as compared with the output made by other methods. It is estimated that about 80 per cent. of the platinum won from the Russian placers is recovered by hand labor by lessees (starateli) who contract to dispose of their production to the companies owning the ground and pay a royalty for the privilege of working. Since the war the peasants and miners are virtually in control of all the mines and the original operators have little to do with operation or management.

The most important platinum-bearing placers in Colombia are controlled by American financial interests. The General Development Co., of New York, through two subsidiary companies, controls a large area in the headwater region of the San Juan River, particularly on the Condoto River. Recently these interests have organized the South American Gold & Platinum Co. The Quito Mining Co. controls a considerable acreage on the Quito River between Quibdo and Istimina. There are other small American holdings in the vicinity of Negua, on the Atrato drainage, and on the Tamana and Sipi, on the San Juan drainage. Late in 1917 a British company was organized for the development of extensive holdings on the Opogodo River, in the upper San Juan drainage. If the present conditions are not changed by special legislation in Colombia it would seem that American financial interests will continue to dominate the Colombia platinum field.

The platinum deposits of the United States are apparently largely in the hands of small holders, who are citizens of this country. A few of the large dredges in California, which are producing platinum as a by-product, are, in part, owned by British capital.

Apparently the beach deposits in Australia (in New South Wales and Queensland) are worked in a small way by local capital, as are the deposits near Platina and Fifield. The Tasmania deposits are controlled by local capital.

As to Canada, it is understood that a large part of the gravel area of the Tulameen River, near Princeton, British Columbia, is controlled by American capital. A few claims on the upper Tulameen are controlled by Canadian capital. An American company has recently been organized for the purpose of exploiting certain prospective areas in the Barkersville region, in north-central British Columbia, and it is understood that Canadian capital has rather extensive holdings on the Peace River, in northern British Columbia, which are reported to contain considerable quantities of platinum. The nickel deposits of Ontario, which have a considerable prospective value as producers of both platinum and palladium, are operated by the Mond Nickel Co., under British control, and the International Nickel Co., under American control. However, the Canadian government is regulating the operations of both of these companies.

=Through Ownership of Reduction Plants.=--It is a peculiar fact that while the larger part of the Russian crude platinum is sold through a French company, nevertheless England has refined the greater part of the output of Russia. The Johnson Matthey Co., of London, is the largest platinum refiner in England. Prior to the war this company is said to have refined about 70 per cent. of the Russian platinum production.

In Germany the chief platinum refiner is W. C. Heraeus, of Hanau. This company is said to be owned chiefly by Dr. Heraeus and the estate of Heinrich Heraeus. The firm of F. Eisennad & Co., at Offenbach, a small platinum refiner, was acquired by Heraeus’ interests just prior to the war. G. Seibert, of Hanau, also refines platinum, the operations being financed by the Seibert Bros., and the Deutsche Gold und Silberscheidenanstalt, of Frankfort. According to Russian figures, about 25 per cent. of the Russian output was refined by Germany and presumably a large part of the work was done by Heraeus. Heraeus interests without doubt predominate the platinum-refining industry of Germany.

The chief platinum refiner of France is Quenessen, de Belmont, Legendre et Cie., which is controlled by the estate of MM. Desmoutis and Lamaire. Other small refineries are the Lyon Allemand, the Credit Lyonnais, Herique Marrett & Bonnin, and Hesse Fils, all of Paris. Apparently the first company is the controlling factor in the French industry.

In the United States the platinum industry is controlled by Baker & Co., American Platinum Works, Irvington Smelting & Refining Works, Hanovia Chemical Co., and Charles Englehard. There are several independent platinum refiners in the United States, though their combined output is less than a quarter of the domestic industry. These are J. Bishop & Co., Malvern, Pennsylvania; Wilson Co., Newark, New Jersey; Belais & Cohn, New York City; Kastenhuber & Lehrfeld, New York City, and Goldsmith Bros., Smelting & Refining Co., New York City and Chicago, which are operated financially by American capital. The Rossler & Hasslacher Chemical Co., of New York City, also refines some platinum.

Prior to the war there was more or less interlocking of the interests of Johnson and Matthey of London, Quenessen of Paris, Heraeus of Hanau, and Baker & Co. of New York. It is generally conceded that prior to the war Heraeus actually controlled the American interests now dominated by Englehard. However, when war was declared these various companies, by interchange of their stock, were separated, so that it now appears that German money is no longer interested in the English, French, or American platinum industry. It is probable, however, that both the English and French companies still hold stock in the American company, though the control of the American interests is now held by Charles Englehard through ownership of the majority of the stock of the companies mentioned above.

It is reported that there were two government-owned platinum refineries in Russia prior to the war, though apparently they handle only a very small quantity of the platinum produced in Russia and no platinum from any foreign countries.

POSITION OF THE WORLD AS REGARDS PLATINUM

As explained above, owing to the location of the chief platinum-producing regions, Russia has been the source of practically all of the world’s platinum, though commercially the French controlled the marketing of the bulk of the Russian output. Since 1914 practically no platinum has been exported and what little did get out came mostly to the United States. The situation of the various countries can be summarized as follows:

Russia normally used little of her own platinum, exporting it to England, Germany, and France. The country had almost no platinum-refining capacity, the industry being controlled by French and Russian capital with more or less German influence. Since the war the platinum mines have not been extensively worked and in fact their production has decreased greatly. Any accumulated stocks of platinum that may have been in Russia probably found their way into Germany and into Allied lands.

Before the war Germany refined about 25 per cent. of the Russian production of platinum; she has no deposits within her own territory. She had built up great chemical and electrical industries, which required large stocks of platinum, and probably was in a fair position with regard to the metal when war was declared. It seems probable that there is a shortage of platinum in Germany at present, for any great expansion of either chemical or electrical industries.

France through her control of the bulk of the Russian output was in position to have accumulated considerable stocks of platinum, and that she did so is indicated by the fact that the government did not undertake any regulation of the platinum industry until early in 1918, and it does not appear that any great expansion of the chief industries requiring platinum was necessitated.

About 70 per cent. of the Russian, probably half of the Colombian, and all of the Australian and Indian platinum was sold in England prior to the war. It is believed that not all of this was refined in England, for considerable amounts of crude platinum were exported from England to the United States; however, large stocks of the platinum metals were on hand in England when war was declared. England had to build a great chemical industry during the war, and quickly used what reserves she had, so that the government early in the war saw the necessity of controlling the use of platinum metals.

The United States has been and will continue to be dependent on foreign platinum. At present all of the Colombian platinum is coming to this country. When we entered the war the stocks of platinum in the United States were about 50 per cent. of the normal, and as we had to build large chemical and electrical industries, those stocks were rapidly exhausted.

Colombia has no platinum refineries; apparently she has use for none of the output of her mines. Before the war her crude platinum was shipped to England and the United States for refining, but at present it is all coming to the United States.

SUMMARY

About 90 per cent. of the crude platinum produced annually has come from the Ural Mountains, Russia. The deposits of next importance are situated in Colombia, South America. Small amounts are produced in Canada (chiefly as a by-product in the refining of nickel ore), in New South Wales, Tasmania, the United States, Dutch East Indies, India and Spain.

The political control of the platinum deposits of the world corresponds to geographical distribution. Russia and Colombia control the principal deposits, and the United States, Great Britain, Holland, and Spain the minor ones.

Prior to the war, a French company had extensive holdings in Russia, and in addition had contracts with two Russian platinum producers for their entire output. These contracts were canceled shortly after the declaration of war. The remaining deposits of the Russian fields are controlled by two independent Russian companies and by a large number of small miners. At present the peasants and miners are virtually in control of the mines and the owners have little to do with their operation or management.

The principal platinum-bearing placers of Colombia are controlled by American interests. A British company was organized recently to develop holdings in the upper San Juan drainage. With the exception of a few of the large dredges of California, owned in part by British capital, the platinum deposits of the United States are owned by American citizens. The platinum deposits of Australia are probably held for the most part by British capital.

American capital controls a large part of the platinum gravel area of British Columbia. A few claims are controlled by Canadians. The companies operating the nickel deposits of Ontario, from which platinum is produced as a by-product, are American and British.

About 75 per cent. of the Russian platinum has been refined in England and most of the remainder in Germany. Before the war there was an interlocking of the interests of the platinum refiners of the United States, Germany and Great Britain, which has been broken as far as Germany is concerned.

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XXXII. WHO OWNS THE EARTH?

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.

=Who Owns the Earth?=--The answer to our inquiry at the head of this chapter, “Who Owns the Earth?” is therefore answered by these summaries, and is further set forth in the accompanying charts, one showing political (or, rather, in this case, strictly territorial) control, and the other commercial control, Figs. 23 and 24. As based upon the territorial and commercial control of the fundamental minerals, it appears that the earth is owned by the two great Anglo-Saxon nations, the United States and the British Empire: the former by destiny and good fortune and without political plan or policy, in that such a vast store of mineral wealth was found in the great sparsely populated wilderness of America which it occupied; the latter through the imperial policy of Britain, developed through hundreds of years by the need of extending commerce and the flag into far-off lands to supplant the slender resources of its own limited islands. Of the two, the United States is rather in the lead, and possesses and controls more of the world’s mineral wealth than any other nation; but Great Britain is a close second.

Rapid changes occur, however, in these days, and the future must be inspected. 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; and from this condition a directly resulting theory has sprung, of non-interference in the rest of the world. Like China, we declare ourselves apart from the world, and simply ask to be left alone, in consideration of which we agree to leave the world alone. Our Monroe Doctrine as originated is part of that theory--we wanted the world to leave all the Americas alone, but took no responsibility for the Americas otherwise--a selfish and one-sided position.

The manner in which we cling to this doctrine is stupid and ineffective: while we have conceived of it only as applying to military or political encroachment, we have overlooked the modern phase of commercial conquest. Thereby we gain the suspicion of our Latin-American neighbors, who accordingly welcome more gladly European or Japanese rather than American capital; and thus we encourage the very encroachments we have thought to prevent. We should either abandon the Monroe Doctrine entirely, or define it also in terms of political control.

Therefore, as regards our great industries, and, more specifically, our mineral industries, we have never had any definite policy; our troubles and problems were purely internal, and the Government’s efforts were largely directed to preventing such solidarity of any one industry that its power should be too great, although American organizing genius first successfully developed these colossal business combinations, rising without government support. 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. Thus the old question of the union or separation of Church and State becomes one of Business and State.

The success of this plan of German penetration was most clearly and disagreeably brought home to the British mind, as well as to the French and the American perception, by the war, and during the war England took under government control her mineral industries more definitely and systematically than did we. Moreover, perceiving the success of the German system as a means of penetration and as a method against competitors, she has adopted it, there being a striking tendency to put her key industries under syndicates, unions, cartels, or trusts controlled directly by the state.

A system of state socialism thus takes the place of the freedom of individual competition. As regards the mineral industries, much the same action has been taken by France. But in America, dropping all the problems and half-learned lessons of the war, we return to the status quo ante. If this difference continues, it is certain that British control of the earth--whereby we mean its minerals--will eventually preponderate. As far as we are concerned, we should perhaps rather see it in the hands of Great Britain than of any other power, but must we not decide upon our own course as a rich and populous nation of an increasingly close-packed but seething and yet unorganized globe?

Our statesmen, newspapers, and financiers proclaim to the world that we intend to take the lion’s share of the world’s shipping and commerce. England says nothing, but puts her government directly behind her own industries, while the American Government still holds aloof from them. Nationalism has been revived in Europe, and especially in England and France, as the result of the struggle to prevail against the intense German nationalistic spirit, which all but subjugated a world drifting comfortably into internationalism. It is conceivably a step backward, a reversion, but what attitude shall America take? The British and French nationalism need not disquiet us so much as that of the Japanese, still more intense and purposeful, and working with the same German tools (not invented in Germany, but in America, but, like most German arts, successfully copied and utilized), now adopted by England and France in self-defense. America also has had a rebirth of nationalism, quite necessary in the existing state of affairs.

As the case now stands, the United States largely predominates in the petroleum industry, with 71 per cent. of the world’s production in 1917; 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. Before the war England and Germany were about tied for second place, and the latter was rapidly drawing ahead through her state-controlled commercial methods; but the war will set her back greatly. In zinc, the United States had the greatest production (32 per cent.) before the war, slightly more than Germany (28 per cent.), but German methods gave it the preponderance of actual commercial control. The result of the war will restore the commercial supremacy to the United States, and the importance of England will increase. In silver, the United States now leads in production and in both territorial and commercial control, and, by her commercial control over Mexican production, controls one-half of the world’s output, with Great Britain a strong commercial second, having nearly 40 per cent. of it.

In the production of the important mineral, sulphur, the United States is far in advance of the world, with 65 per cent. of the world’s production in 1916. Italy is second, Japan third, and England is practically unrepresented. Phosphate rock is dominated, both territorially and commercially, by the United States, but there are other supplies for England, and France has abundance in her own territory. Vanadium is commercially controlled by the United States, although territorially by Peru. Molybdenum has very lately come to be controlled by the United States, with Great Britain, formerly first, now second. In uranium and radium the United States also has first place, with Austria a long second. The aluminum industry is strongest in the United States, although very important also in France.

In the following, however, Great Britain has control: the important “key industry” of tin, where her territorial control is one-half and her commercial control absolute, whereas the United States is not represented; in the important nickel industry, by territorial control of 80 per cent., and by a commercial control that is now probably predominant over the strong American interests, as a result of an active government policy; in tungsten, where she controls territorially the greatest production (34 per cent.), and where she has commercial supremacy, controlling 54 per cent. (1917), the United States being second, with a commercial control of 35 per cent. (although its territorial control is only 17 per cent., about equal to that of Bolivia).

In manganese, Russia nominally leads, with 36 per cent. commercial control (55 per cent. of the world’s production in 1913); but under present conditions the effect is to give England the lead, with the United States in a position of minor importance. In chromium, Great Britain and France control through a syndicate, in which the British interest is in the majority, and the United States occupies a subordinate position with regard to both these countries. In gold production the British Empire controls 63 per cent.; the United States 23 per cent. In graphite in 1913 the British Empire was second to Austria-Hungary. It will now take the first place, and the United States will be a competitor. In asbestos, the British Empire produces 87 per cent. and controls commercially 63 per cent. of the world’s total, the United States being negligible in production, but second in commercial control (of Canadian asbestos). Mercury, territorially, is mainly in the hands of Spain, but the industry is actually dominated by England, under selling arrangements. Antimony has long been controlled by England, but control may revert to China, which means the possibility of its becoming Japanese. Mica, essential for electrical work, is controlled by Great Britain.

Only a few minerals remain in which most of the industry is not in the hands of either the United States or England: potash, formerly a German monopoly, and now divided between Germany and France, with Germany likely predominant; and mineral nitrates, in Chilean territory, with no marked national commercial control other than that of Chile.

Both America and England are strong in their grip on the world’s mineral industries--England much stronger than before the war and with a freshly set purpose to expand. A combination of these two countries would amount to a practical world control of minerals, and, with France, a little stronger control. This much for the present, but uncertain quantities loom shadowy, in the destiny of Russia, the future of Asia, and the progress of Japan. Japan is intently embarking on a course toward the domination of Asia, politically and commercially. Her present position is not so significant as the consideration of her rapid progress, the knowledge of the rich field in which she is to work, and a study of her militaristic methods, which remind one of those of Germany. Japan holds to no ally that will not (temporarily) aid her in her forward march, and in the weakness of Russia, China, and Korea she sees her opportunity. The war to her was an unmixed blessing. She took no chances, and seized enormous advantages.

There are three great figures of nations which seem to have been destined to be, in these times, of critical importance to the United States: in the past Germany; in the present, Great Britain; in the future, Japan. The German question was settled in the only possible way; for England the only sane solution is a closer-knit alliance; and for Japan, watchfulness and friendly intentions.

INDEX

Africa Asbestos in, 394 Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Chrome in, 114 Copper in, 246 Copper, exports to United States, 249; copper production, 246, 249 East Africa Mica in, 383 Emery and corundum in, 359 Gold in, 473 Magnesite in, 368 North Africa Copper in, 248 Phosphate in, 405 South Africa Gold in, 473; gold, financial control, 488 Mica in, 384 Tin in, 323 West Africa Copper in, 248 Gold in, 474

Alaska. See United States.

Algeria Antimony in, 185 Iron ores of, 71 Lead in, 273 Phosphate in, 406 Zinc in, 303

Alloys of antimony, 172; of chrome, 109; of manganese, 90; of molybdenum, 191; of nickel, 129; of platinum and iridium, 506; of tungsten, 142; of vanadium, 163; of zirconium, 210

Alsace. See France and Germany. Petroleum control in, 16 Potash control in, 418

Aluminum (bauxite) Changes in practice, 349 Chapter on, 349

Aluminum Control of aluminum, commercial, 352; in France, 353; in Germany-Austria, 354; in Great Britain, 353; in Italy, 354; in Norway, 353; in the Guianas, 353; in the United States and Canada, 352 Geographical distribution, 350; in Africa, 350; in Australia, 350; in China, 351; in South America, 350; in the United States, 350; in Europe, 350; in India, 350 Summary, 354 Uses of, 349 Works, capacity, 352 World’s output, 351

Antimony Alloys of, 172 Chapter on, 172 Geographical distribution, 173, 174, 175; in Africa, 185; in Algeria, 185; in Asia, 182; in Australia, 186; in Austria and Hungary, 179; in Bolivia, 178; in Borneo, 182; in Canada, 177; in China, 182, 183; in Europe, 179; in France, 179; in Germany, 180; in Great Britain, 180; in India, 184; in Indo-China, 184; in Italy, 181; in Japan, 184; in Mexico, 177; in North America, 176; in Peru, 179; in Portugal, 182; in Russia, 182; in Serbia, 182; in South Africa, 185; in South America, 178; in Spain, 182; in Turkey, 184; in the United States, 176 Position of England, 187; position of France, 188; position of Germany, 188; position of Japan, 188; position of United States, 187 Production of world, 186 Recent industrial conditions, 188 Summary, 189 Uses of, 172 World situation, 530

Argentina Copper in, 245 Petroleum control in, 16

Asbestos in Africa, 394; in Asia, 394; in Canada and Newfoundland, 393; in Europe, 393; in Italy, 393; in Mexico, Central and South America, 393; in the United States, 391 Anthophyllite, in United States, 392 Changes in practice, 389 Chapter on, 388 Chrysolite, in United States, 391 Control in Canada, 398; in South Africa, 398; in United States, 397 Control, political and commercial, 397 Future changes, 395 Geographical distribution, 391 Geological distribution, 389 Position of Great Britain, 399; position of the United States, 399 Substitutes for, 389 Summary, 400 Uses of, 388 World situation, 537

Asia Antimony in, 182 Asbestos in, 394 Chrome in, 115 Coal in, 27 Copper in, 253 Emery and corundum in, 358 Gold in, 471 Graphite in, 374 Iron in, 74-77 Magnesite in, 368 Manganese in, 99 Mercury in, 341 Monazite in, 217 Petroleum in, 9 Phosphate in, 406 Tin in, 319, 323, 327, 329, 330 Tungsten in, 149 Zinc in, 303, 305, 306

Asia Minor Chrome in, 115 Magnesite in, 368 Mercury in, 341

Australasia Asbestos in, 395 Chrome in, 111 Copper in, 249 Gold in, 474 Lead in, 268, 269 Manganese in, 101 Nickel in, 134, 135 Phosphate in, 406 Tin in, 325, 326, 329 Tungsten in, 149 Zinc in, 302, 303

Australia Antimony in, 186 Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Coal position, 31 Copper, production in 1917, 250 Gold in, 475 Gold, political and commercial control, 490 Iron in, 80 Lead in, 268 Lead, commercial control, 282 Lead position, 288 Magnesite in, 368 Manganese in, 101 Mica in, 384 Molybdenum in, 191; molybdenum, commercial control, 197 Platinum in, 514 Radium in, 207 Tin in, 325 Tungsten, future of, 149 Uranium in, 207 Zinc in, 302; commercial control, 311

Austria Copper in, 258 Lead position, 290 Magnesite control, 369 Mercury in, 340 Radium resources, 206; uranium resources, 206 Zinc in, 305

Austrian Empire Chrome in, 118 Mercury in, 340

Austria and Hungary Antimony in, 179 Iron, political and commercial control, 70; iron position, 87 Manganese in, 96

Balkan Peninsula Chrome in, 118

Bauxite Chapter on, 349 Geographical distribution, 350 Geological distribution, 350 Uses of, 349 World control, 351

Belgian Congo Copper in, 246, 247 Manganese in, 101

Belgium Coal in, 24, 26 Iron position, 87 Lead in, 276; lead position, 290 Manganese in, 96 Zinc position, 313

Bolivia Antimony in, 178 Copper in, 245 Lead in, 276 Silver in, 498, 501 Tin in, 328; tin control, 333 Tungsten in, 150 Zinc in, 306

Borneo Antimony in, 182 Manganese in, 101

Bowles, Oliver Chapter on Asbestos, 388

Brazil Chrome in, 120 Coal position, 31 Gold in, 470, 480 Iron, control, 78 Manganese in, 94 Mica in, 383 Monazite in, 217; monazite, commercial control, 218, 219, 220 Zirconium in, 212, 213; zirconium, political control, 213

British Empire. See Great Britain.

British Guiana Gold in, 480 Petroleum control in, 17

Bulgaria Iron in, 77 Lead in, 276

Burma Lead in, 274; lead position, 289; lead smelters, 283 Petroleum in, 15 Tungsten, future of, 149

California Chrome in, 119 Gold in, 466 Magnesite in, 365 Mercury in, 342 Platinum in, 513

Canada Aluminum control in, 352 Antimony in, 177 Asbestos in, 393; asbestos control in, 398 Chrome in, 118 Copper, commercial control, 238 Emery and corundum in, 358 Gold in, 468 Iron, commercial control, 73 Lead in, 273; lead position, 289; lead smelters, 283 Magnesite in, 365 Manganese in, 94 Mica in, 382 Molybdenum in, 193; molybdenum, commercial control, 197 Nickel in, 133 Petroleum control in, 16 Phosphate in, 405 Platinum in, 513; platinum ownership, 518 Pyrite in, 452 Zinc in, 306

Cape Colony, Africa Asbestos in, 394 Copper in, 248 Gold in, 473

Central America Chrome in, 120 Copper in, 239 Gold in, 469; gold control, 485 Petroleum in, 17

Chile Coal position, 31 Copper control, 241; copper, commercial control, 242; copper, United States control, 243 Iron, control, 78 Manganese in, 96 Nitrate ores, 423; nitrate, outlook for, 441 Sulphur in, 458

China Antimony in, 182 Coal position, 31, 47 Copper in, 255 Gold in, 473; gold, financial control, 488 Iron position, 88 Lead in, 273 Mica in, 384 Petroleum control in, 17 Silver position, 504 Tin in, 329; tin control, 332 Tungsten, future of, 149 Zinc in, 306

China and Manchuria Iron, control of, 74

Chrome (chromite) Alloys of, 109 in Australasia, 111 Chapter on, 109 Chief producing countries, 528 Commercial control of, 111-114; in France, 125, 126; in Great Britain, 124; in the United States, 122, 123, 124 Control, commercial and political, 127 Geographical distribution, 111, 112 Geological distribution, 110; in Africa, 114; in Asia, 115; in Asia Minor, 115; in the Austrian Empire, 118; in the Balkan Peninsula, 118; in Brazil, 120; in Canada, 118; in Central America, 120; in Colombia, 120; in Cuba, 120; in Europe, 118; in Greece, 118; in India, 117; in Japan, 117; in Macedonia, 118; in New Caledonia, 111; in North America, 118; in Rhodesia, 114; in Russia, 117; in Serbia, 118; in South America, 120; in Turkey, 115; in the United States, 119; in Venezuela, 120 Position of France, 125; of Germany, 126; of Great Britain, 124; of leading nations, 121; of Russia, 127; of the United States, 122 Production of, 113 Uses of, 109 World situation, 528

Coal Asia and Australia, statistics for, 53 Changes in practice, 23 Chapter on, 22 Commercial control, 33 Control in Germany, 35; in Great Britain, 36; in the United States, 36, 37 Control, political, 33 Domination by Great Britain and the United States, 525 Europe, statistics for, 1913, 49, 50 Exports, and imports, 1913, 52, 53, 54 Geographical distribution, 25 Geological distribution, 23; in Africa, 26; in Europe, 24; in North America, 24; in South America, 24 Imports, 1913, 52, 53, 54; in the United States, 524 Position of Australia, 31; of Brazil, 31; of Chile, 31; of China, 31, 47; of France, 46, 47; of Germany, 30, 46; of Great Britain, 30, 44; of Italy, 47; of Japan, 47; of Russia, 47; of South America, 31; of United States, 43; of world, 32 Production, 1913, 49, 50, 51; production of principal countries, 26; production of world, 27, 28; future production, 32 Reserves of world, 28 Situation as effected by World War, 39, 40, 41 South America, statistics for, 1913, 52; trade, probable changes in, 42 Summary of control, 524 United States, statistics for 1913, 49 Uses of, 22

Colombia Chrome in, 120 Petroleum control in, 17 Platinum in, 512; platinum ownership, 517

Copper in Africa, Katanga district, 246, 249 Chapter on, 223 Control, business, 225; control, geographical and financial, 224; in Canada, commercial control, 238; in Chile, commercial control, 242; United States control, 243; in Cuba and the Caribbean, commercial control, 239; in Europe, control of, 257; control, summary, 531, 532 in Europe, production, 257 Geographical distribution, 227; in Africa, 246; in Argentina, 245; in Asia, 253; in Australasia, 249; in Cape Colony, 248; in Chile, 241; in China, 255; in Europe, 256; in Germany, 258; in India, 256; in Japan, 253; in Korea, 255; in New South Wales, 252; in North America, 228; in Northern Africa, 248; in Norway, 256; in Peru, 244; in Portugal, 256; in Queensland, Australia, 251; in Rhodesia, 248; in Russia, 258; in South America, 241; in Southwest Africa, 248; in Spain, 256; in Sweden, 256; in Tasmania, 252; in the Transvaal, 248; in the United States, 228; in Venezuela, 245 in Japan, production and exports, 253 in Mexico, commercial control, 239 in Peru, commercial control, 244 Reserve of world, 226 in Russia, production, 259; reserves, 259 Summary of, 260 in United States, control by German interests, 232-235; control through ownership of mines, 228; control through ownership of smelters and refineries, 230 in United States, leading financial groups, 228, 229 in United States, ore reserves, 236 in United States, ownership and capacity of refineries, 231 in United States, porphyry copper reserves, 236 United States, shipments from Africa, to, 249 World situation, 531

Corbett, C. S. Chapter on Nickel, 129

Cornwall Tin in, 327

Corundum and Emery Chapter on, 356 Uses of, 356 World situation, 535

Costa Rica Manganese in, 94 Petroleum control in, 17

Cuba and the Caribbean Copper, commercial control, 239

Cuba Chrome in, 120 Iron control in, 71 Manganese in, 94 Nickeliferous iron in, 135 Pyrite in, 452

Cyprus Pyrite in, 451

Czecho-Slovakia Iron ores, 70 Lead in, 272

Dub, George D. Chapter on Graphite, 372

Dutch East Indies Petroleum control in, 14 Tin in, 329

Eddingfield, F. T. Chapter on Iron, 55

Egypt Lead in, 275; lead position of, 289 Manganese in, 101 Petroleum control in, 16 Phosphate rock in, 406 Zinc in, 306

Emery and Corundum Chapter on, 356 Control, commercial, 360; control, political, 360 Future developments, 359 Geographical distribution, 357 Geological distribution, 357; in Africa, 359; in Asia, 358; in Canada, 358; in Europe, 358; in the United States, 357 Position of England, 361; of France, 361; of Germany, 361; of Japan, 361; of the United States, 361 Production of, 362 Summary, 361 Uses of, 356 World situation, 535

England See Great Britain.

Europe Antimony in, 179 Asbestos in, 393 Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Chrome in, 118 Coal in, 24-26 Copper in, 256 Copper production and control in, 257 Emery and corundum in, 358 Gold in, 470 Iron in, 57-60 Lead in, 269, 271 Magnesite in, 366 Manganese in, 96 Mercury in, 339 Petroleum in, 8, 9 Phosphate in, 405 Pyrite, exports and imports in, 258 Silver in, 498 Tungsten, future of, 151 Zinc in, 303, 305

Ferguson, H. G. Chapter on Antimony, 172 Chapter on Graphite, 372

Ferro-Alloy Minerals, 526

Ferromanganese, 90

Fertilizer Minerals, 537

Florida Phosphate rock in, 403

France Aluminum control in, 353 Antimony in, 179; antimony position, 188 Chrome position, 125 Coal position, 46; coal control, 36 Copper control in Chile, 243; copper control in Mexico, 240 Emery and corundum position, 361 Gold position, 492 Graphite position, 377 Iron-ore production, 1911-1913, 65; iron, political and commercial control, 64; iron position, 86 Lead in, 274; lead position, 290; lead smelters, 283 Manganese in, 96; manganese position in, 107 Mica, position of, 386 Molybdenum position, 198 Nickel position, 141 Petroleum position, 19 Phosphate rock in, 405 Pyrite in, 450 Tin position of, 335 Tungsten, control of, 156 Zinc, commercial control, 313

Fuel Minerals, 522

Gale, Hoyt S. Chapter on Potash, 411

Galicia Petroleum control in, 15

German Austria, lead in, 272

Germany Antimony in, 180; antimony position of, 188 Chrome position, 126 Coal control, 35; coal position, 30, 46 Copper in, 258; copper control in Australasia, 250; in Chile, 243; in Mexico, 240 Emery and corundum position, 361 Gold position, 492 Graphite position, 377 Iron position, 84; iron, political and commercial control, 63 Lead in, 270, 271; lead position, 289 Magnesite in, 367 Manganese in, 96; manganese position, 107 Mercury in, 340 Mica position, 387 Molybdenum position, 198 Nickel position, 141 Petroleum control in, 518 Potash in, 412; potash control in, 417 Radium in, 207 Tin position of, 335 Tungsten control, 159 Uranium in, 207 Zinc in, 301; zinc, commercial control, 311; zinc, position of, 313

Germany, Austria and Hungary Pyrite in, 450

Gilbert, Chester G. Chapter on Nitrogen, 421

Gold Australia, control of, 490 Chapter on, 462 Control, commercial, 477; control in Central and South America, 485; in China, 488; in India, 487; in Japan, 487; in Siberia, 486; in Siberia and Russia, 485; in South Africa, 488; in United States and Canada, 479; control, political and commercial, 478; control, political, 476; control, financial in world, 480-483; future changes in distribution, 476 Geographical occurrence, 464; in Asia, 471; in Australasia, 474; in Australia, 475; in Central America, 469; in China, 473; in Europe, 470; in India, 471; in Japan, 472; in Korea, 472; in Mexico, 469; in New Zealand, 475; in North America, 464; in Rhodesia, 474; in Siberia, 471; in South Africa, 473; in South America, 469; in United States, 464; in West Africa, 474 Geological occurrences, 463; in Mexico, financial control, 484; in Transvaal, financial control, 488, 489 Position of France, 492; of Germany, 492; of Great Britain, 491; of Japan, 492; of Russia, 492; of United States, 491 Production in world, 480-483; production of world 1880-1917, 465, 466 Rhodesia, financial control, 489 Summary, 493 Uses of, 462 World situation, 540

Graphite Chapter on, 372 Control, political and commercial, 375; future developments, 374 Geographical distribution, 373 Geological occurrence, 373; in Madagascar, control, 375 Position of England, 377; of France, 377; of Germany, 377; of Japan, 377; of the United States, 376 Production of, 378; production, world capacity, 373 Summary, 377 Uses of, 372 World situation, 536

Great Britain Aluminum control in, 353 Antimony in, 180; antimony position, 187 Asbestos position, 399 Chrome position, 124 Coal control, 36; coal position, 30, 44, 525 Control of minerals, 542 Copper control in Mexico, 240 Emery and corundum, position, 361 Gold position, 491 Graphite position, 377 Iron, political and commercial control, 66; iron-ore production, 66; iron position, 85 Lead in, 272; lead position, 288, 289; lead smelters, 283 Manganese in, 97; manganese position, 106 Mica position, 386 Molybdenum position, 198 Nickel position, 141 Petroleum interests in Mexico, 14; petroleum policy, 523; petroleum position, 18 Radium resources, 207 Silver market control, 503 Sulphur in, 458 Tin in, 319; tin control, 332; tin position, 335 Tungsten, control of, 154 Uranium resources, 207 Zinc in, 305; zinc position, 314

Greece Chrome in, 118 Emery in, 358 Iron in, 73 Lead in, 273; lead smelters, 283 Magnesite in, 367 Manganese in, 97

Grout, Frank F. Chapter on Coal, 22 Chapter on Graphite, 372

Guianas, The Aluminum control in, 353 Gold in, 470

Hall, Durand A. Chapter on Antimony, 172 Chapter on Mica, 380

Hanover Petroleum control in, 16

Harder, E. C. Chapter on Chromium, 109 Chapter on Iron, 55

Hess, Frank L. Chapter on Tungsten, 142

Hewett, D. F. Chapter on Manganese, 90

Hill, James M. Chapter on Bauxite and Aluminum, 349 Chapter on Platinum, 506 Chapter on Tin, 317

Holland Tin control, 332; tin position, 335

Hungary Iron position, 87 Lead in, 276; lead position, 290 Mercury in, 339

Hyder, Frederick B. Chapter on Lead, 261 Chapter on Zinc, 294

Idaho Lead in, 266 Phosphate in, 404

India Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Chrome in, 117 Copper in, 256 Gold in, 471; gold, financial control, 487 Iron, control of, 75 Manganese in, 99 Mica in, 383 Monazite in, 217; monazite, commercial control, 220 Petroleum control in, 15 Tin in, 327 Zinc in, 306 Zirconium in, 213; zirconium, political control, 214

Indo-China Coal in, 24 Zinc in, 305

Iridium Uses of, 506

Iron Chapter on, 55 Control, commercial, 61; control in Austria and Hungary, 70; control in India, 75; control in Japan and Korea, 76; control in Cuba, 71; control in France, 64, 65; control in Newfoundland, 71; control in Russia, 68, 69; control in United States, 61, 62, 63; control, political, 61 Four chief producing countries, 526 Geographical distribution, 57 Geological distribution, 55; iron in Australia, 80; in Brazil, 78; in Bulgaria, 77; in Canada, 73; in Chile, 78; in Cuba, 71; in Czecho-Slovakia, 70; in Greece, 73; in Italy, 72; in Jugoslavia, 71; in Mexico, 79; in Newfoundland, 71; in New Zealand, 80; in Norway, 72; in Poland, 77; in Portugal, 77; in South Africa, 80; in Tunisia, 71; in Turkey, 77 Iron-ore and pig-iron production and movement, 1913, 60 Ore reserves in United States, 61 Pig-iron manufacture, statistics, 59 Position of Austria, 87; of Belgium, 87; of China, 88; of France, 86; of Germany, 84; of Great Britain, 85; of Hungary, 87; of Japan, 88; of Russia, 86; of the United States, 82 Production of the world, 1910-1917, 58

Italy Antimony in, 181 Asbestos in, 393 Coal position, 47 Iron ores of, 72; iron, commercial control, 73 Lead in, 272; lead position, 290; lead smelters, 283 Manganese in, 97 Mercury in, 339 Petroleum control in, 17 Pyrite in, 450 Sulphur in, 453 Zinc in, 303

Japan Antimony position, 188 Coal position, 47 Chrome in, 117 Copper in, 253, 254; copper production, 254 Emery and corundum position, 361 Gold in, 472; gold, financial control, 487; gold position, 492 Graphite position, 377 Iron control, 76; iron position, 88 Lead in, 275; lead position, 291 Manganese in, 100, 101 Molybdenum position, 198 Petroleum control in, 16; petroleum position of, 20 Pyrite in, 452 Silver position, 499 Sulphur in, 457 Tin in, 330 Tungsten control, 156 Zinc in, 303; zinc position, 314

Java Manganese in, 103

Jugoslavia Iron ores, 71

Katanga district, Africa Copper in, 246, 249

Katz, Frank J. Chapter on Emery and Corundum, 356

Korea Copper in, 255 Gold in, 472; gold, financial control, 487

Lead Changes in practice, 262 Chapter on, 261 Control in Australia, 282; in Mexico, 282, 283; in Spain, 282 Control, commercial, 277 Control, commercial, of pig-lead output, 287; in United States, 279 Control, political, 277 Control through trade combinations, 283, 284, 285, 286 Consumption, 1913, 278 Geographical distribution, 264; in Algeria, 273; in Australia, 268; in Belgium, 276; in Bolivia, 276; in Bulgaria, 276; in Burma, 274; in Canada, 273; in China, 273; in Colorado, 267; in Czecho-Slovakia, 272; in Egypt, 275; in France, 274; in German Austria, 272; in Germany, 270, 271; in Great Britain, 272; in Greece, 273; in Hungary, 276; in Idaho, 266; in Italy, 272; in Japan, 275; in Mexico, 271; in Missouri, 265; in New South Wales, 268; in Poland, 270; in Peru, 274; in Portugal, 276; in Queensland, 269; in Rhodesia, 276; in Russia, 275; in Siberia, 275, 283; in Southwest Africa, 273; in Spain, 269; in Sweden, 276; in Tasmania, 269; in Tunis, 272; in Turkey, 273; in the United States, 265; in Upper Silesia, 270; in Utah, 267; in Western Australia, 269 Geological occurrence, 263 Position of Australia, 288; of Austria, 290; of Belgium, 290; of the British Empire, 288; of the British Isles, 289; of Burma, 289; of Canada, 289; of Egypt, 289; of France, 290; of Germany, 289; of Hungary, 290; of Japan, 291; of Spain, 291; of the United States, 287 Lead-silver smelters, Mexico, 282; lead-silver smelters, United States, 281 Production, 1913, 264, 278; production, future changes, 276 Smelted in 1913, 278 Smelters in Burma, 283; in Canada, 283; in France, 283; in Great Britain, 283; in Greece, 283; in Italy, 283; in Turkey, 283 Summary, 291 United States, financial groups, 281 World situation, 532

Macedonia Chrome in, 118

Madagascar Graphite control, 375

Magnesite Chapter on, 363 Control, political and commercial, 368; control in Austria, 369; control in the United States, 368 Geographical distribution, 364; in Africa, 368; in Asia, 368; in Australia, 368; in California, 365; in Canada, 365; in Europe, 366; in Germany, 367; in Greece, 367; in Mexico, 366; in North America, 365; in South America, 366; in the United States, 365; in Washington, 366 Geological occurrence, 363 Summary, 370 Uses of, 363 World situation, 536

Malay Peninsula Tin in, 319; tin production, 1917, 321

Manganese Changes in practice, 91 Chapter on, 90 Control, commercial, 103; control, political and commercial, 103 Geographical distribution, 93, 104; in Africa, 101; in Asia, 99; in Australasia, 101; in Australia, 101; in Austria and Hungary, 96; in the Belgian Congo, 101; in Belgium, 96; in Borneo, 101; in Brazil, 94; in Canada, 94; in Chile, 96; in Costa Rica, 94; in Cuba, 94; in Egypt, 101; in Europe, 96; in France, 96; in Germany, 96; in Gold Coast of West Africa, 101; in Great Britain, 97; in Greece, 97; in India, 99; in Italy, 97; in Japan, 100; in Java, 103; in Mexico, 94; in New Zealand, 101; in North America, 93; in Panama, 94; in the Philippine Islands, 101; in Portugal, 97; in Russia, 97, 98; in South Africa, 101; in South America, 94; in Spain, 99; in Sweden, 99; in Tunis, 101; in Uruguay, 96 Geological distribution, 91, 92 Position of England, 106; of France, 107; of Germany, 107; of the United States, 106 Principal sources of, 527 Production of, 102 Summary, 108 Uses of, 90 World situation, 527

Mercury Changes in distribution, 343 Changes in practice, 344 Chapter on, 337 Control, commercial, 346; control, political, 345 Geographical distribution, 339; in Alaska, 341; in Asia, 341; in Asia Minor, 341; in Austrian Empire, 340; in California, 342; in Europe, 339; in Germany, 340; in Hungary, 340; in Italy, 340; in Mexico, 343; in Nevada, 343; in North America, 341; in Portugal, 340; in Russia, 341; in Serbia, 341; in South America, 343; in Texas, 343 Geological distribution, 338 Summary, 347 Uses of, 337 World situation, 535

Mesothorium Uses of, 216 World situation, 531

Mexico Antimony in, 177 Coal in, 28 Copper in, commercial control, 239 Gold in, 469; gold, financial control, 484 Iron, control, 79 Lead in, 271; lead, commercial control, 282, 283 Magnesite in, 366 Manganese in, 94 Mercury in, 343 Molybdenum in, 195; molybdenum, commercial control, 197 Petroleum, commercial control, 14 Pyrite in, 452 Sulphur in, 458 Tungsten, future of, 151 Zinc in, 305

Mica Changes in practice, 381 Chapter on, 380 Control, political and commercial, 385 Future developments, 384 Geographical distribution, 383; in Australia, 384; in Brazil, 382; in Canada, 382; in China, 384; in East Africa, 382; in India, 382; in South Africa, 384; in the United States, 382 Geological distribution, 382 Position of Germany, 387; position of Great Britain, 386; of France, 386; of the United States, 386 Substitutes for, 381 Summary, 387 Uses of, 380 World situation, 536

Minerals World control of, 541

Missouri Lead in, 265 Zinc in, 298, 300

Molybdenum Chapter on, 191 Control, commercial, 197; in Australia, 197; in Canada, 197; in Mexico, 197; in Norway, 197; in United States, 197 Control, political, 196 Geographical distribution, 191, 199; in Australia, 191; in Canada, 193; in Mexico, 195; in North America, 193; in Norway, 191; in the United States, 193 Geological distribution, 191 Position of France, 198; of Germany, 198; of Great Britain, 198; of the United States, 198 Reserves, 196 Summary, 200 Treatment of ores, 196 Uses of, 191 World situation, 530

Monazite Chapter on, 216 Control, commercial, 218, 219, 220, 221 Control, political, 218 Geographical distribution, 216; in Brazil, 217; in India, 217; in the United States, 216 Geological distribution, 216 Position of the United States, 221 Treatment practice, 218 Uses of, 216

Moore, R. B. Chapter on Molybdenum, 191; Chapter on Monazite, Thorium, and Mesothorium, 216; Chapter on Vanadium, 163

Morocco Iron ores, 71 Phosphate in, 406

Morris, H. C. Chapter on Zirconium, 209

Nevada Mercury in, 343

New Caledonia Chrome in, 111 Nickel in, 134; nickel, commercial control, 139

Newfoundland Iron ores, 71

New South Wales Copper in, 252 Lead in, 268 Platinum in, 514 Tin in, 326 Zinc in, 302

New Zealand Gold in, 475 Iron in, 80 Manganese in, 101 Petroleum control, 17

Nickel Alloys, 129 Changes in practice, 130 Chapter on, 129 Commercial control, 138 Control, commercial, in New Caledonia, 139; in Sudbury district, Canada, 138, 139 Control, political, 138 Future of, 136 Garnierite and lateritic type deposits, 134 Geographical distribution, 132; nickel in Canada, 133 Geological distribution, 131; in Norway, 134; in United States, 134 Position of France, 141; of Germany, 141; of Great Britain, 141; of the United States, 141 Production, 136 Sudbury district, Canada, 133 Sulphide type deposits, 133 Veins, 135 World situation, 528

Nickeliferous iron, Cuba, 135

Nigeria Tin in, 323

Nitrates By-product, outlook for, 443 Fixation, outlook for, 442 Ore deposits in Chile, 422 Summary, 444, 445 World situation, 539

Nitrogen Ammonia fixation, 437 Arc fixation, 437 Atmospheric, 421 Bacterial fixation, 439 By-product compounds, 434 Chapter on, 421 Consumption for fertilizers, 435 Control, commercial aspects, 433; general aspects, 425 Cyanamid fixation, 438 Cyanide fixation, 438 Fixation compounds, 437 Geological distribution, 421; in carboniferous deposits, 425 Natural compounds, 434 Nitride fixation, 438 Organic, 424 Outlook for, 440 Production statistics, 426; production, world developments, 428 Recent developments and changes, 439 Sources, 427 United States, developments in, 430 Uses of, 421 Utilization cycles, 427 World situation, 431

Non-ferrous Metals, 531

Non-metallic Minerals, 535

North America Antimony in, 176 Chrome in, 118 Coal in, 24, 25 Copper in, 228 Gold in, 464 Iron in, 57, 61, 62, 63 Magnesite in, 365 Manganese in, 93 Mercury in, 341 Molybdenum in, 193 Petroleum in, 5-8 Silver in, 501 Tungsten, future of, 150

Northrup, John D. Chapter on Petroleum, 1

Norway Aluminum control in, 353 Copper in, 256 Iron ores, 72 Molybdenum in, 191; molybdenum, commercial control, 197 Nickel in, 134 Pyrite in, 449

Orchard, John E. Chapter on Gold, 462

Oregon Platinum in, 513

Osmiridium in Canada, 513; in Colombia, 512; in the United States, 513

Osmium Uses of, 506

Paine, F. W. Chapter on Copper, 223 Chapter on Silver, 495

Palladium in Canada, 513 in platinum ores, 510 Uses of, 506

Panama Manganese in, 94 Petroleum control in, 17

Penrose, R. A. F. Jr. Chapter on Radium and Uranium, 201

Peru Antimony in, 179 Copper in, 244 Lead in, 274 Tungsten, future of, 150 Vanadium in, 165 Zinc in, 307

Petroleum Changes in operating and refining practices, 4 Chapter on, 1 Control, commercial of, 11, 12; in Alsace, 16; in Argentina, 16; in British Guiana, 17; in Canada, 16; in China, 17; in Colombia, 17; in Costa Rica, 17; in Dutch East Indies, 14; in Egypt, 16; in Galicia, 15; in Hanover, 16; in India, 15; in Italy, 17; in Japan, 16; in Mexico, 14; in New Zealand, 17; in Panama, 17; in Persia, 17; in Trinidad, 16; in Venezuela, 17; in the United States, 12, 13 Control, political, 9 Future developments, 6 Geographical distribution, 6 Geological distribution, 5 Policy of Great Britain, 523 Position of France, 19; of Germany, 19; of Great Britain, 18; of Japan, 20; of the United States, 17 Production of, 10 Substitutes for, 3 Summary, 20 Summary of control, 522 Uses of, 3

Persia Petroleum control in, 17

Philippine Islands Manganese in, 101

Phosphate Rock Changes and developments, 408 Chapter on, 402 Control, commercial, 408 Geographical occurrence, 403; phosphate in Africa, 405; in Algeria, 406; in Asia and Australasia, 406; in Canada, 405; in Egypt, 406; in Europe, 405; in Florida, 403; in France, 405; in Idaho, 404; in Morocco, 406; in Siberia, 406; in South America, 405; in South Carolina, 403; in Tennessee, 404; in Tunis, 405; in the United States, 403; in Utah, 404; in Wyoming, 404 Geological occurrence, 402 Position of leading nations, 409; of the United States, 409 Summary, 409 United States reserves, 404 Uses of, 402 World situation, 538

Platinum Chapter on, 506 Control, commercial, 517; control of Canadian platinum, 518; of Colombian platinum, 517; control by Germany, 518; by the United States, 519 Control, political, 516 Control through ownership of mines, 517 Control through ownership of reduction plants, 518 Crude analyses of, 509; purity of, 509 Future changes in distribution, 515 Geographical distribution, 507, 510; platinum in Alaska, 514; in Australia, 514; in California, 513; in Canada, 513; in Colombia, 512; in New South Wales, 514; in Oregon, 513; in Russia, 510; in Spain, 515; in Tasmania, 514; in the United States, 513; in Washington, 514; in Wyoming, 514 Geological distribution, 508 Production of world, 1909-1917, 508 Russian control, 516; Russian ownership, 517 Sources of crude, 1909-1917, 511 Summary, 521 Uses of, 506, 507 World situation, 519, 540

Poland Coal in, 49, 50 Iron in, 77 Lead in, 275 Zinc in, 304

Portugal Antimony in, 182 Copper in, 256 Iron in, 77 Lead in, 276 Manganese in, 97 Mercury in, 340 Pyrite in, 448 Tin in, 330 Tungsten, future, 151

Potash Alsatian control, 418 Changes in commercial practice, 415 Chapter on, 411 Control, commercial and political, 417 Geographical distribution, 412; in Germany, 412; in the United States, 414 Geological distribution, 415 German control, 417 Nature of, 411 Production of world, 1917, 416 Spanish control, 419 Summary, 419 Uses of, 411 World situation, 538

Precious Metals, 540

Pyrite and Sulphur Chapter on, 447 Control, commercial, 460; control, political, 459 in Europe, exports, and imports, 258 Geographical distribution, 448; in Canada, 452; in Cuba, 452; in Cyprus, 451; in France, 450; in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, 450; in Italy, 450; in Japan, 452; in Mexico, 452; in Norway and Sweden, 449; in Russia, 450; in Spain and Portugal, 448; in the United States, 451 Substitutes for, 448 Uses of, 447

Queensland (Australia) Copper in, 251 Gold in, 475 Lead in, 269 Tin in, 326 Tungsten in, 148

Quicksilver Chapter on, 337 See Mercury.

Radium Chapter on, 201 Future prospects, 208 Geographical and geological distribution, 203; in Australia, 207; in England, 207; in Germany, 207 Ores of, 202 Production, United States, 205 United States resources, 204 Uses of, 201

Ransome, E. L. Chapter on Mercury, 337

Rhodesia (Africa) Chrome in, 114 Copper in, 248 Gold in, 474; gold, financial control, 489 Lead in, 276

Rhodium Uses of, 506

Rice, George S. Chapter on Coal, 22

Roumania Petroleum control in, 15

Russia Antimony in, 182 Chrome in, 117 Chrome position, 127 Coal position, 47 Copper in, 258 Copper production and reserves, 259 Gold control, 485; gold position, 492 Iron ore reserves, 68; iron, political and commercial control, 68 Iron position, 86 Lead in, 275 Manganese in, 97, 98 Mercury in, 341 Petroleum control in, 13 Platinum in, 510; platinum control in, 516; platinum ownership, 517 Pyrite in, 450 Tin position, 335 Zinc position, 315

Ruthenium Uses of, 506

Serbia Antimony in, 182 Chrome in, 118 Mercury in, 341

Shale-Oil Future of, 4

Siam Tin control, 333 Tin in, 329 Tungsten in, 148

Siberia Gold in, 471 Gold control, 485, 486 Lead in, 275, 283 Mercury in, 341 Phosphate in, 406

Silesia Lead in, 270

Silver By-product, proportion of output, 498 Changes in practice, 500 Chapter on, 495 Chinese and Japanese position, 504 Coinage, 496 Control, by England, 503 Control, commercial, 500 Control, financial, 501 Control, political, 500 Control, territorial, 501 Control through relations to consumers, 503; control through trade combinations, 502 Control through ownership of mines, 500 Control through ownership of reduction plants, 501 Future changes in, 499 Geographical distribution, 498, 499 Geological age of deposits, 497, 499 Production, in world, 498 Rich mines, proportion of output, 498 Summary, 504 Uses of, 495 World situation, 540

South Africa Antimony in, 185 Asbestos, control in, 397 Coal in, 24, 25, 26 Gold, financial control, 488 Gold in, 473 Iron in, 80 Manganese in, 101 Tin in, 324 Zinc in, 306

South America Antimony in, 178 Asbestos in, 393 Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Chrome in, 120 Coal position, 31 Copper control, 241 Gold in, 469; gold control, 485 Magnesite in, 366 Manganese in, 94 Mercury in, 343 Phosphate in, 405 Tungsten, future of, 150

South Carolina Phosphate in, 403

Southwest Africa Lead in, 273

Spain Antimony in, 182 Copper in, 256 Iron, political and commercial control, 67 Lead in, 269; commercial control, 282; lead position, 291 Manganese in, 99 Platinum in, 515 Potash in, 419 Pyrite in, 448 Tin in, 330 Tungsten, 148 Zinc in, 304

Spiegeleisen, 90

Spurr, J. E. Chapter by, 522 Chapter on petroleum, introduction to, 1

Steel and the Ferro-Alloy Minerals, 526

Stockett, A. W. Chapter on Potash, 411

Stone, R. W. Chapter on Magnesite, 363 Chapter on Phosphate Rock, 402

Sulphur Changes in practice, 459 Geographical distribution, 453; in Chile, 458; in Italy and Sicily, 453; in Japan, 457; in Mexico, 458; in the United States, 455 Position of the principal powers, 461; position of the United States, 461

Sulphur and Pyrite Chapter on, 447 Control, commercial, 460 Control, political, 459 Substitutes for, 448 Uses of, 447

Sweden Copper in, 256 Iron, political and commercial control, 69 Lead in, 276 Manganese in, 99 Pyrite in, 449 Zinc in, 305

Tasmania Copper in, 252 Lead in, 269 Nickel in, 134 Platinum, in, 514 Tin in, 325 Zinc in, 303

Tennessee Phosphate in, 404

Texas Mercury in, 343 Petroleum in, see United States Sulphur in, 455

Thorium Chapter on, 216 Uses of, 216 World situation, 531

Tin Chapter on, 317 Control, commercial, of mines, 333; of smelting, 334 Control, political, 332, 333 Geographical distribution, 319, 320; in Africa, 323; in Australia, 325; in Austria, 331; in the Belgian Congo (Katanga), 331; in Bolivia, 328; in the British Empire, 319; in British Nigeria, 323; in China, 329; in Cornwall, 327; in the Dutch East Indies, 329; in Germany, 331; in India, 327; in Italy, 331; in Japan, 330; in the Malay Peninsula, 319; in New South Wales, 326; in Portugal, 330; in Queensland, 326; in Russia, 331; in Siam, 329; in South Africa, 324; in Southwest Africa, 331; in Spain, 330; in Tasmania, 325; in the United States, 330 Geological distribution, 318 Position of France, 335; of Germany, 335; of Great Britain, 335; of Holland, 335; of Russia, 335; of the United States, 335 Production of world, 1913-1918, 321; producing localities of the world, 320; production, future changes, 332; production in the Malay Peninsula, 322 Uses of, 317 World situation, 534

Transvaal, Africa Copper in, 248 Gold, financial control, 489

Trinidad Petroleum control, 16

Tungsten Alloys of, 142 Changes in practice, 143 Chapter on, 142 Control, commercial, 152; British control, 154; French control, 156; German control, 159; Japanese control, 156; United States control, 156, 159 Control, political, 152 Future of Asia, 149; of Australia, 149; of Bolivia, 150; of Burma, 149; of China, 149; of Europe, 151; of Mexico, 151; of North America, 150; of Peru, 150; of Portugal, 151; of South America, 150; of the United States, 150 Geographical distribution, 146 Geological distribution, 145 Production, 147, 148, 152 Substitutes for, 142 United States imports, 157 Uses of, 142 World situation, 529

Tunis Iron ores in, 71 Lead ores in, 272 Manganese in, 101 Phosphate in, 405

Turkey Chrome in, 115 Iron in, 77 Lead in, 273

United States Aluminum, control of, 352 Antimony in, 176; antimony position, 187 Asbestos in, 391; asbestos control, 397; asbestos position, 399 Bauxite and aluminum in, 350 Chrome in, 119; chrome position, 122 Coal control, 36, 37, 524; coal position, 43 Control of minerals, 542 Copper, control of, 228 Copper control in Chile, 241-243; in Mexico, 239 Copper in, 228 Copper shipments from Africa, 249 Emery and corundum in, 357, 358; emery and corundum position, 361 Gold in, 464; gold control, 477, 478; gold position, 491 Graphite position, 376 Iron, political and commercial control, 61 Iron-ore reserves, 61; iron position, 82 Lead in, 265; lead, commercial control, 279; lead, financial groups, 281; lead position, 287; lead-silver smelters, 281 Magnesite in, 365; magnesite control, 368 Manganese position, 106 Mica in, 383; mica position, 386 Molybdenum in, 193; molybdenum, commercial control, 197; molybdenum, position of, 198 Monazite in, 216; monazite, commercial control, 218-221; monazite position, 221 Nickel in, 134; nickel position, 141 Nitrogen developments in, 430, 432 Petroleum position, 17 Phosphate in, 403; phosphate position, 409 Platinum in, 513; control of platinum, 519 Potash in, 414 Pyrite in, 451 Radium resources, 204 Silver in, 498, 501 Sulphur in, 455 Tin in, 330; tin position, 335 Tungsten control, 156, 160; future of tungsten, 150; imports of tungsten, 157; tungsten, proposed tariff, 161 Uranium resources, 204 Vanadium in, 166 Zinc in, 297; zinc, commercial control, 309; zinc position, 313 Zirconium in, 213

Uranium Chapter on, 201 Future prospects, 208 Geographical and geological distribution, 203; in Australia, 207; in England, 207; in Germany, 207 Ores of, 202 Production, Austria, 206; production, Europe, 206; production, United States, 205 United States resources, 204 Uses of, 202 World situation, 531

Uruguay Manganese in, 96

Vanadium Alloys of, 163 Changes in practice, 164 Chapter on, 163 Control, commercial, 165, 170 Control, political, 170 Future developments, 170 Geographical distribution, 165, 169; in Arizona, 166; in California, 166; in Colorado, 166; in Peru, 165; in the United States, 166 Geological distribution, 165 Position of leading nations, 170 Uses of, 163 World situation, 529

Venezuela Chrome in, 120 Copper in, 245 Gold in, 470 Petroleum control in, 17

Washington Magnesite in, 366 Platinum in, 514

White, A. G. Chapter on Pyrite and Sulphur, 447

Who Owns the Earth? Chapter by J. E. Spurr, 522; Who owns the earth? 541

World Control of Minerals, 541

Wyoming Phosphate in, 404 Platinum in, 514

Zinc Australia, commercial control, 311 Changes in practice, 295 Chapter on, 294 Control, commercial, 308; in Australia, 311; in France, 313; in Germany, 311; in the United States, 309 Control, political, 308 Deposits of world, 298 Geographical distribution, 297; zinc in Algeria, 303; in Australia, 302; in Austria, 305; in Bolivia, 306; in Canada, 306; in China, 306; in Egypt, 306; in France, 304; in Germany, 301; in Great Britain, 305; in Greece, 304; in India, 306; in Indo-China, 305; in Italy, 303; in Japan, 303; in Mexico, 305; in New South Wales, 302; in Peru, 307; in Russia, 304; in South Africa, 306; in Spain, 304; in Sweden, 305; in Tasmania, 303; in the United States, 297 Geological distribution, 296 Germany, commercial control, 311 Industry in 1913, 299 Position of Belgium, 313; of Germany, 313; of Great Britain, 314; of Japan, 314; of Russia, 315; of the United States, 313 Production, 1913, 299; future changes in production, 307 Summary, 315 United States, commercial control, 309 Uses of, 294 World situation, 533

Zirconium Alloys, 210 Baddeleyite or brazilite, 211 Chapter on, 209 Control of, 213, Geographical distribution, 211; in Brazil, 212, 213; in India, 213; in the United States, 213 Geological distribution, 211 Production, 215 Refractory uses of, 209 Summary, 215 Uses of, 209 World situation, 531 Zircon, 212

Transcriber’s Notes

Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and their settings, not all elements may display as intended. Some of the tables may be illegible on small screens or in narrow windows.

Spelling, capitalisation and hyphenation as used in the source document (including the errors and inconsistencies in company, geographic and proper names, titles of publications, etc.) have not been corrected or standardised, except as mentioned under Changes made below. Results of calculations in tables are given in this text as they appear in the source document, even though they appear to contain occasional calculation and/or rounding off errors or are based on incomplete or contradictory data.

Page 50, Table 7, table row Austria: the remark in the last column may be better suited for the row Hungary.

Page 278, Footnote [132] Percentage of mean of totals used in a and b: a and b refer to the columns with footnotes [130] and [131] respectively.

Pages 508 and 510, Tables 72 and 74: these tables are (almost) identical in the source document as well.

Changes made

Tables and illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs; footnotes have been renumbered sequentially and moved to directly under the paragraph where they are referenced.

In several of the tables data have been aligned more consistently than in the source document. Some tables have been split or otherwise re-arranged to fit the available width. These tables have been split so that it is straightforward to recombine them into single tables.

Some obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.

Page ix: Platinum, by James H. Hill changed to Platinum, by James M. Hill.

Page 35: Dorfmund changed to Dortmund.

Page 45: Alden changed to Aden.

Page 50, Table 7: References to page 49 (Austria, Hungary) replaced with “above” cf. other entries.

Page 148: footnote anchor [78] inserted in table heading.

Page 224, Table 35: column header Western Hemisphere moved to separate row; row Total Eastern Hemisphere: values 1,113,000, 212,750, 98,000, 31,000 and 125,000 moved to row World Total.

Page 278, Table 53: first column Per cent. under Primary pig lead, Smelter production (values 0.2, 4.5, etc.) considered to be intended as second column under Imports, Recoverable lead content of ores and concentrate.

Page 432: ... and the latter in, exhaustibly available ... changed to ... and the latter inexhaustibly available ....

Page 509-510: Footnote anchor [186] inserted after both occurrences of IO₃.

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