OCR Text |
Show I Mineral Production Tho Department of the Inlet tor has just Issued n prcllmlnnty teport on tlie mineral ptoductlon or the Unit ed States In 191S for the putposo or making public ns toon no possible the statistics collected by the V. S. ' Geological Surrey for that year. Tho statistics gheu for most commodities commodi-ties ate final; those for a few ate only estimates based on Incomplete' tetuins; but on the wholu the tcpoit gives a fairly complete record of the. nilneial output of tho country dm1-' Ing tho year. I The total value of the mint i at pioduced was about $5,520,000,000, mote than half a billion dollar In excess of (he value iccoided for 1917, but I ho total quantity piodurcd waa les. The output of the fuels Was gi eater than In 1917, though somewhat some-what less anthracite coal was market-ed. market-ed. The Increase in the (juantlty of coal marketed wns about 5 per cent ' but the Ineieaso In value, duo to tho I higher prices, wns mote than 17 per I cent. It Is significant that though '. the Increase In tho ciuantlty of petio- ' leuiii mnikcted was only a little more thnn 4 per cent tho lncieaso In value was over 32 per cent. The value of the meals produced was about 3 per cent greater In 3 918, than In 1917. Tho flgutes show that less lion ote and steel was produced but heie again values weie higher, ' A little more pig Iron was made, though tho quantity' shipped was less. Copper andtlnc not only In themselves but ns the components of brass are perhaps next In Importance Import-ance to Iron In tho worlds Industry today and In 1918 they stood high on the list of war metals. A little omre copper but less zinc was produced and the valuos of boiii were lower, that of zinc fallng about 25 per cent. Tho output of the war metals manganese man-ganese and rhromlte, used In hnideh Ing steel, wan greater than In nny preceding year. Chtomlte Increased 88 per cent In quantity and 275 per cent in valuo over 1917, and tho" In creases tu manganese ore were lf-G IHanKBaLi unci pci rent, lespectlvoly I.o HIbHsU gold and ullvoi were mined than for aaaaaaaaHlBfl many years. Though the price of nit- BBKKIsM er rose from 81 cents an ounce In IBsHnH 1917 noarl) to 97 cents In 1918, Urn HBLtoP9 Inn ease was not enough to cover LHavftfl the Increased cost of mining. HffiRflLv Tho output of building nmterlut W&n&MB clay pioducts, building stone, cement. WuBsSfM lime, gypsum showed a gtcat do- , i9raHsfr3 cllne. HtSlBfl Tho domestic production of potaaH KHBLaaaal In 1918 wns 51,000 tons, an lucrcasa aaaaaLaaaaaa! of G8 per cent over tlie output In 1917 SrCmftilfl A copy of the report may bo ob- HSMaaafl talncd by application to the Director. WfflH U. S. Geological Sutvey, Washington. SBjfflMB |