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Show j Mineral Supply May Be War's Decisive Factor "If the Allied blockade against Germany can be made effective, and the supply of minerals can be shut off, on this ground alone Germany will be forced to capitulate." is the statement of R. S. Lewis, Professor of Mining and Milling at the University Uni-versity of Utah. "In the present 'war of nerves' a nation self-sufficient in mineral raw materials can remain much calmer than one that knows she is dependent on foreign sources for necessary mineral supplies. The importance of mineral resources is much intensified in war time, and it has been estimated that an industrialized in-dustrialized nation consumes in wartime from 5 to 25 times as much metal as in peace time," Professor Lewis said. He continues: "The last World War gave rise to conditions that helped to precipitate precipi-tate the present one, because certain where they wished in the 0; world market, to the grim deteri nation to be independent in 1 so SC regard, cost what it may. "Of all nations, Germany, at t it cQ( beginning of the present war, J imposed the most stringent domec regulatory orders, for which 8 0 ( chief reason was obviously lack adequate foreign credit or exchai hej-ggi As this war opened Germany self-sufficient in regard to poti and coal, and was nearly so in m Jl Hot nesite, talc, graphite, china clay, : radium. However, the essential j gj mineral supplies such a petrole 9 H iron ore, manganese, chromite, tu sten, copper, lead, sulphur and irlt ygyy cury had to be for the most I ' imported." v mineral products were almost unobtainable, un-obtainable, and prices mounted to several times normal. Nations deficient de-ficient in these resources surveyed their own possessions and then looked look-ed abroad to other countries to supply sup-ply what they lacked. Tariff barriers bar-riers were set up to encourage domestic do-mestic production and to compensate compen-sate for the increased cost of production pro-duction at home. Regulatory measures meas-ures such as foreign exchange controls, con-trols, bilateral trade agreements and even direct subsidies to domestic producers were imposed. All of these measures toward self-suffic- I iency meant that the countries of the world had changed from their former carefree attitude toward I mineral rc'sotlrces, buying what and |