roads constructed at the expense of the Government and out of the appropriations made to the Secretary of Agriculture for that purpose in order to have access to their mines from without the forests. The act of March 3, 1889, chapter 427, section 1 (30 Stat. 1233, U. S. C., title 16, sec. 525), provides that: "In the form provided by existing law the Secretary of the Interior may file and approve surveys and plats of any right-of-way for a wagon road, railroad, or other highway over and across any national forest when in his judgment the public interest will not be injuriously affected thereby." Under these provisions the owners of mining properties or a group of them may obtain rights to construct roads within the forests, and I am not convinced that the only or the principal factor contributing to idleness of mines or mining districts is due to the indifference and neglect of the Government to construct the necessary roads to open up the district. The liberal policy you refer to of the Government in the past in providing means of transportation by the construction of roads, digging canals and harbors, improving waterways and subsidizing railroads, the construction of railroads and the operation of steamships and airways, which have contributed so largely to the development of our national resources and our national prosperity, do not seem to afford sufficient precedents for constructing roads at Government expense for the sole benefit of individual mine owners upon the finding that development on a mineral or placer claim "has proved the existence of mineral or ore bodies in quantity and commercial grade." It is not apparent that the subsidizing or financial aid of the Government authorized under these conditions would contribute to the prosperity and welfare of the country as a whole, as my previous report sought to point out. Without further comment, my conclusion is that your letter does not meet or remove the major objections assigned heretofore by me to the enactment of this legislation in its present form, and I, therefore, adhere to my previous conclusion. Sincerely yours, HAROLD L. ICKES, Secretary of the Interior. SECRETARY ICKES VIEWS 10 YEARS LATER [From the American Magazine, November 8, 1945] THE WAR AND OUR VANISHING RESOURCES (By Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior.) (America today is out on a limb, says the custodian of our natural resources. minerals. about the "inexhaustible" wealth of the United States.) We may have peacetime conscription. We may retain a tremendous peacetime Navy. But the plain fact is that we cannot afford another prolonged war in 20 or 30 years. Not that we haven't the men, not that we haven't the will to fight again if we have to, not that we haven't the cash-we just haven't got the oil, the copper, the zinc, and the mercury, which are so vital to the machines and munitions of modern warfare. The prodigal harvest of minerals that we have reaped to win this war has bankrupted some of our most vital mineral resources. We no longer deserve to be listed with Russia and the British Empire as one of the "have" nations of the world. We should be listed with the "have nots," such as Germany and Japan. The overwhelming significance of this change from a "have" to a "have not" nation lies in these facts: Without mineral resources, the United States could never have built the ships, the planes, and the guns which have made us the greatest military power in the world. We could never have been more than an agricultural country. We could never have been able to support, at a standard of living that is the envy of the world, the 135,000,000 people now living within our borders. Dose this change in status mean that we are about to become a push over for other countries, that our standard of living will be greatly reduced, that we shall all become farmers, and horse-and-buggy farmers, at that? This, in fact, is the future that we are now carving out for our grandchildren and our greatgrandchildren by our do-nothing policy. It should be burned into our consciousness that we do not have an inexhaustible supply of minerals-the sinew that makes this country mighty. Our minerals are not inexhaustible and irreplaceable. Unlike wheat and corn, new crops of minerals do not appear from year to year. Further, the faster we grow in industrial strength and military potency, the more rapidly we dissipate our mineral resources-the very basis of our military and industrial power. To prevent the decline of the United States as a major military an industrial power, and to maintain our high standard of living, we must take immediate positive action to increase our known mineral resources. We must begin at once: To stock pile minerals; To explore our country more extensively than ever before; To have access, in common with other peacefully disposed nations, to minerals in the lands that have been conquered in the recent war, for from now on we shall be increasingly dependent upon imports for our minerals. The bountiful heritage of minerals and oil with which the United States was originally endowed has tended, unfortunately, to make most of us complacent about these resources, and our time has been spent in patting ourselves on the back for mining such great quantities of them. This puts us in the position of the man who was so happy about the speed at which he was sawing off the limb that he forgot that he was sitting on the limb. How close we are to cutting off the limb that supports us can be seen by casting up our accounts to ascertain the cost of this war to our mineral resources, and inventorying how much we have left. Between January 1, 1940, and January 1, 1945, we tore from the earth some 5,000,000,000 tons of minerals. Included in this total are 516,158,500 tons of domestic iron ore, the most astonishing amount ever produced by this or any other nation in a similar period. During this period we mined 3,061,060,000 tons of coal, or enough to cover the whole city of New York with a blanket of coal 12 feet thick. Here are some figures which will give an idea of the variety and quantity of our mineral resources that have been sacrificed on the altar of the god of war. In the 5-year period from New Year's Day, 1940, we mined: Into the war machine and domestic economy also went 15,7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The tonnage of petroleum mentioned about equals 7,325,000,000 barrels. Some idea of the demands upon our petroleum resources may be measured by the fact that the United States has 36 percent of the known oil reserves of the world, but has been furnishing approximately 60 percent of the petroleum used in the war. These figures do not encompass our total mineral production during the war; we have also mined large amounts of other minerals, but they do show how great has been our dependence upon our minerals and what great quantities of these limited resources we have used. If we are to continue as a dominant industrial and military power, the big question is not so much what we have used, but what have we left. The fact is that some of our "blue chip" minerals have been depleted to the critical point. On the basis of known usable reserves, we have in this country only nine major minerals which, at the 1935-39 rate of use, may be expected to last 100 years or more—nitrogen, magnesium, salt, bituminous coal and lignite, phosphate rock, molybdenum, anthracite, potash, and iron ore. And a hundred years is nothing in the life of a nation. We have less than a 35-year peacetime commercial supply of 21 minerals. The significance of this is that 35 years are but little more than the usual interval between wars, and among these 21 minerals are petroleum, copper, lead, and zinc, in the production of which we have led the world for many years. The others are sulfur, natural gas, fluorspar, cadmium, gold, lead, silver, bauxite, vanadium, antimony, tungsten, platinum, asbestos, manganese, chromite, nickel, and tin. Our automobile and electrical industries, to mention only two, would not have made the advances that they have made, had they been hampered by shortages in any of these minerals. Their So far, I have mentioned coal, iron ore, and petroleum only briefly. prime importance-imagine the United States trying to get along without the products made possible by coal and iron and petroleum-merits special consideration, however. Coal is the Nation's No. 1 mineral asset. Iron ore ranks second, and petroleum third. Just how important coal is to a nation's economy is shown by the fact that the five great centers of industrial and military power-the United States, England, Russia, Japan, and western Europe-have developed on the basis of large coal resources. Coal is the stuff that spins the wheels of most of our industry. It would appear that we have plenty of coal, but already our reserves of high-grade coking coals, without which it is difficult to make steel, are none too plentiful, and their lack may compel us to seek different and perhaps more expensive ways of making steel, within a comparatively few years. Despite their fundamental importance, we don't know enough about coking coal resources. In mining almost any bed of coal, a third or more of the coal in that bed is irrevocably lost. Some of this loss is unavoidable, but much of it could be prevented if the cutthroat competition in the industry did not force the mine owners to take the "easy pickings" and turn to new coal beds, instead of getting all of the coal that there is out of aay particular seam. Further, there is no wisdom, from a national viewpoint, in consuming our limited reserves of high-grade coking coals to generate steam for power plants, when these coals are so vital to the making of steel. Steam plants can use lower grade coals. have plenty of them. We Iron ore is an outstanding resource in four of the five great centers of industrial power. Much to her regret, Japan is notably deficient in iron ore, and attempted to overcome this weakness through aggression. Our reserves of iron ore does not match those of coal by a wide margin. Originally, some 6,000,000,000 tons of usable ore were to be found in the good earth of this country. About two-thirds of the original cache remains, but, in true American style, we have already licked the icing off the cake, and much of the ore that is left will be harder and more expensive to get. The high-quality ores which are found in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota will soon be only a rusty memory. This ore is the cream of our resources, because it can be mined cheaply and because it is so free of other minerals that it can be used directly in the blast furnace, without prior treatment, These highquality ores account for 50 percent of the total iron production of the country. At the prewar rate of extraction, the remaining tonnage will be exhausted in 22 years. We must develop our lower grade ores, and we shall have to build large plants to treat them. Such plants will limit production capacity and will be costly. But to maintain our position of self-sufficiency would justify some extra cost to the public, although the consumer cannot be expected to assume an unreasonable burden, such as paying $10 for an iron frying pan. As to oil, the daily newspapers give evidence that supplies are far from ample to meet all demands. The American Petroleum Institute estimates known or proved reserves of oil at 20,000,000,000 barrels. Last year we produced 1,700,000,000 barrels of crude oil. Thus, if future discoveries fail to bring in enough oil, we shall shortly-in 15 to 20 years-be faced with the need for developing sources of oil supply outside of the continental boundaries of the United States. Under peacetime conditions, substantial quantities of oil could be obtained from the Caribbean area and, if necessary, from more distant sources, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrein. This would seem to be the cheapest solution. Secondary recovery of domestic supply from apparently depleted oil fields has begun already, and could be increased considerably at higher prices. Synthetic liquid fuels also offer a feasible, though more costly, solution. Synthetic motor fuel can probably be made from coal at 18 cents a gallon in large plants. The Bureau of Mines of the Department of the Interior is experimenting in the production of synthetic gasoline in commercial-sized plants. Costs of from 12 to 15 cents are possible after the techniques have been fully developed. The costs of producing gasoline from crude petroleum are approximately 5 cents a gallon. If we exhaust our readily available domestic reserves of minerals-what experts call our commercial reserves-the car owner, manufacturer, or housewife is directly affected. The consumer's automobile, his electric iron, and his refrigerator will cost more, because we shall be forced to pay the extra cost of shipping these minerals in from abroad, and it will cost more to extract what we call our submarginal resources. Our submarginal resources of today may be, and frequently are, our commercial reserves of tomorrow, because almost all of the earth which covers the United States contains minerals which could be used if we were willing to pay the price for extracting them. This, of course, could be tremendously expensive and might run the cost of some minerals up to several hundred dollars a pound. Already technological advances indicate that this possibility is not too remote in some fields. Before the war the aluminum industry, for instance, would not attempt to use bauxite which contained more than 8 percent silica. Bauxite deposits found to have more silica than this were rejected as unfit for use, and this constituted our submarginal supply. New processes have been developed whereby bauxite containing 20 percent silica is being used, and bauxite containing a greater proportion of silica constitutes our submarginal supply. Tomorrow, with improved technology, bauxites containing even more silica may be used. Because most commercial companies hesitate to spend money in this field, federally financed research along this line would pay big dividends. In inventorying the Nation's mineral resources, I have, however, discounted the possible enlargement of our sources of supply by the discovery of new methods of extraction for two reasons: First, these methods have not yet been found or perfected; and, second, in some cases we just haven't the minerals in submarginal supply. But, if we are willing to pay the price for them, our potential reserves of iron ore, phosphate rock, molybdenum, potash, and all forms of sulfur are ample for many years to come. Resources of nitrogen, magnesium, and salt, for practical purposes, may be regarded as limitless as the sea and the sky from which they are drawn. There are large submarginal resources of bauxite, manganese, and vanadium. How our submarginal resources of uranium stand will have to await further exploration. But of such vitally necessary minerals as copper, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, and chromite, little is left. We shall have to import these minerals in larger and larger quantities. Otherwise, we shall be faced with the prospect of a civilization without all of the necessities (batteries, paints, washtubs, plumbing supplies, tin cans, shiny automobile radiators) with which these minerals now provide us. Even more alarming than the fact that we are coming to the end of some of our known resources is the fact that we are uncovering few, if any, unknown deposits of minerals. The failure of petroleum discoveries to keep pace with the rapid rate of depletion has received much attention during the war. Discovery of other mineral deposits has declined alarmingly for half a century. No major metal-producing district comparable to Butte, Bisbee, Homestake, or Coeur d'Alene has been brought into production in the United States since 1916. There have been few important copper discoveries in this country during the twentieth century. Most of the large producing deposits were known before 1900. The largest discovery since then has been the United Verde Extension mine at Jerome, Ariz. New discoveries now depend upon the development of effective and economical means of finding deposits not recognizable from surface indications alone. Large quantities of ore hidden deep in the earth have been found by underground exploration conducted in active mining areas. Geophysical methods have been very successful in locating petroleum deposits. New findings of concealed resources by a combination of these methods are looked for, but we have come to the end of the good old days when digging for a water might produce an oil gusher or a gold mine. In view of our impending "have not" position, shold we shut down our mines and preserve the scarce resources remaining in the ground for future emergencies? No! The cost would be too great. It would be wasteful, because much of the unmined portions of developed deposits probably could never be recovered after prolonged shut-downs. The abrupt shut-down would strand thousands of miners and their families in isolated mining areas. Huge capital losses would be incurred. For these reasons, the proposal does not seem to merit serious consideration. Then what can we do? Stock piles should be built up, for this is one of the surest ways of assuring our basic security in minerals in time of need. A large-scale stock piling program would provide a reservoir into which domestic materials might be placed in times of depression. This would mean that the Nation would benefit from low costs and the miners would have employment. Such a stock piling program during the last depression would have given us a substantial inventory that would have eased greatly the job of producing minerals during the war years. Such minerals as we lack entirely, or whose supply here is insignificant, should be imported and added to our stock piles. Our second line of defense is our marginal and submarginal resources. Exploroation for new deposits should be carried on vigorously, and plans made for emergency production. Private industry alone cannot be expected to carry this burden. Since the defense of the Nation is involved, the work of private industry should be aided by Government research and by Government-sponsored explorations. Such a program might lead to the development of new peacetime industries. Interesting possibilities in this direction are offered by our large deposits of manganese-, vanadium-, and aluminum-bearing materials. We should never again be so prodigal as we have been in the past in bestowing our precious scrap upon nations that may send it back in the form of bullets and bombs. Further, we should spend time and money in seeking new and better ways to recover metals from scrap. As our mineral resources grow smaller, and as we are compelled more and more to seek raw materials outside of our borders, we must keep our military forces our Army, Navy, and air arm-strong enough to do our share in maintaining the peace of the world-a peace that is necessary if we are to bring in what we require for our own economy. Without a strong military force, we would be laying open the life lines of raw materials to the first aggressor who could gather a sizable military force about him. We must encourage and support, morally and financially, the investigations of our research workers and scientists. If followed, the program that I suggest would prevent or postpone for many years the loss by the United States of its dominant position and its high standard of living. Such a program would cost money, and, as a Nation, we have been willing to talk a great deal about conservation, but unwilling to put up much cash for it. We have preferred to see millions of cubic feet of an irreplaceable resourcenatural gas-flared off-burned up-rather than spend money to store it. We have preferred to waste millions of tons of coal, rather than halt cheap but wasteful methods of mining. The time has come to face the fact that we can no longer afford to keep our present nonconservation policy. The need in war for modern weapons made from metal and propelled by mineral fuels, mineral shortages that have at times threatened serious repercussions on the battlefront, the scarcity of the modern conveniences to which we have become accustomed, and fuel and gasoline rationing ought to have brought home to us the tremendous importance of minerals in modern life. The situation calls for positive action on a long-range program that will guarantee the Nation's future mineral supply. REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON MINING TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS Hon. J. HARDIN PETERSON, Chairman, Committee on Public Lands, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR CHAIRMAN PETERSON: I have the honor to report to the members of the House Committee on Public Lands the findings of the joint investigation conducted by the members of the Public Lands Subcommittee and the representatives of the Bureau of Land Management concerning the development of mineral deposits on the public lands, and the effect of the suggested changes in the provisions of the Federal mining laws proposed in the memorandum recently issued by the Bureau of Land Management. The transcript of the record of the joint hearings held in Spokane, Wash., on October 17 and 18, 1949, together with addenda and mining illustrations, are submitted herewith for the record of the Public Lands Committee and the consideration of Congress. 63829-50-ser. 24- -18 |