The national and international aspects of mineral resources are difficult to separate, so intimately do they react on each other. To some extent there may be conflict of interest between the two, but in the main the international questions may be logically approached from the standpoint of national self-interest; for, in the conduct of the national industry along broad and enlightened lines, world conditions must necessarily be considered. A clearer comprehension of the world mineral relations, and an understanding of our own opportunities and limitations in comparison with those of our neighbors, cannot but eliminate some of the unnecessary handicaps to the best use of the world mineral resources, and result in a lessening of causes of international discord.
A brief survey of the mineral conditions preceding, during, and following the war may serve as a convenient means of approach to a study of the present international aspects of the mineral problem.
Movement of Minerals Under Pre-war Conditions of International Trade
If the world pre-war movement of minerals is considered broadly, it may be regarded as conforming essentially to normal trade conditions of supply and demand. There have been barriers to overcome, such as tariffs and trade controls and monopolies of various kinds, but these barriers have not prevented the major movements between the best sources of supply and the principal consuming centers. These movements may be regarded as a more or less spontaneous internationalization of mineral resources by private enterprise. The aim of free trade or unrestricted commerce was equality of trade opportunities; but such conditions of unrestricted competition tended to concentrate trade in the hands of the strongest interests and to prevent equality of opportunity.
The efforts made to promote or hinder international mineral movements by tariffs, bonuses, embargoes, subsidies, transport control, patents, government management, financial pressure, and other means have been incited mainly by national or imperial self-interest, and have thus been to some extent inimical to an internationalization based on the principle of the greatest good to the greatest number. It may be supposed that, in any effort to attain supernational or international control, motives and measures based on national self-interest of the sort here mentioned will continue to play an important part.
Changes During the War
The war wrought fundamental changes in the world movement of minerals. The character and distribution of the demands changed. Customary sources of supply were cut off. Financial disturbances and ship shortage profoundly modified the nature, distribution, and extent of the world movement. Our domestic mineral industry was abruptly brought to a realization of its vital relations with international trade. To illustrate, the large movement of manganese from India and Russia to the United States was abruptly stopped, and we had to develop a source of supply in Brazil. The stoppage of pyrite importations from Spain as a means of saving ships required the development of pyrite and sulphur supplies in the United States. The export of oil from the United States to European countries was greatly stimulated, and the export to other countries was correspondingly decreased. The world movements of coal were vitally affected, principally by the limitation of the coal shipments from England and the United States to South America and the concentration of shipments to European countries. The closing of German coal supplies to nearby countries also had far-reaching consequences. The cutting off of the German potash left the world for the time being almost unsupplied with this vital fertilizing ingredient. The Chilean nitrates, on which the world had relied for