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Show War Demands Cut Deep Into Natural Resources AMERICA'S natural resources took a beating during World War II, especially petroleum and minerals, according to Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes in his recent report on the status of natural nat-ural resources under the guardianship guardian-ship of his department. Four years of war brought a prodigious pro-digious use of minerals, and in many cases seriously depleted the nation's supply. Likewise the loss of such a non-renewable resource as petroleum .was sufficient to be cause for national alarm. During the war years, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 we used up our natural nat-ural resources more rapidly than ! U iX, if5 r is? ' i .1 something is done about It, or new deposits are found, you'll use something some-thing else In the family car after that. Wars cost more than money, for money is renewable. Iron ore, coal and petroleum are not. No one need worry, however, about our coal, for we have enough to last hundreds of years. But metal ships that were sunk by submarines, airplanes that crashed in oceans or on mountains, and the fuel used by those ships and planes, are all lost and lost forever. for-ever. The picture, however dark it may appear, is not as black as some would paint it. During the war, the bureau of mines, the geological survey, sur-vey, and many commercial experts engaged in the most thorough exploration ex-ploration for minerals ever undertaken under-taken in this country. The results are not yet known, but the information informa-tion obtained will be highly useful in planning the use of our remaining mineral resources. One example of the wartime research re-search of the bureau of mines may be seen in the exploration of a tungsten tung-sten ore deposit in Idaho. This deposit de-posit alone produced over a half-million half-million tons of tungsten ore. Also, the bureau is working on a plan to utilize the marginal mineral deposits, through mining and metallurgical investigations and the establishment of improved techniques that will make their commercial exploitation possible. America has vast quantities quan-tities of low grade ore, virtually untouched, un-touched, which may soon be utilized now that the "cream" of the mineral min-eral deposits has been skimmed. The interior of the earth is full of minerals. There was a time in Colorado Col-orado when prospectors picked up gold nuggets on topjf the ground; but at Cripple Creek and Victor today, to-day, the gold is found hundreds of feet below the surface. As for petroleum, new wells are being brought in all the time. The "known" petroleum resources may be used up in 20 years, but the "unknown" "un-known" black gold that may yet be found can easily change the picture. pic-ture. Also, the scientists and chemists chem-ists have provided a synthetic substitute sub-stitute which can be used when the time comes or perhaps before we actually need it. In addition, President Truman's proclamation of the United States' jurisdiction over the mineral resources re-sources of the "Continental Shelf" surrounding the country below the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, an area of 760,000 square miles in extent, may provide a rich source of oil and other minerals for the future use of the nation, according ac-cording to Secretary Ickes. Finally, the war hurried the development devel-opment of many devices and techniques tech-niques which have already been applied ap-plied to the search for minerals on land, and which may be applied to the search for oil and other minerals under the sea along the Continental Continent-al Shelf. OIL WELL . . . known sources may be pumped dry within 20 years. ever before. Minerals for manufacturing manu-facturing modern weapons and equipment, and the fuels to propel them along world-wide battle fronts, along with civilian demands at the same time, cost the United States more than 36 billion dollars. This amount, according to the bureau of mines, is about six times as mucn as used in a normal year, and it is one-fifth of the total value of all minerals min-erals and fuels produced in the United Unit-ed States in the 65-year period from 1880 to 1945. Secretary Ickes' report reveals that only nine of the major minerals remain in our known domestic reserves re-serves in sufficient quantity of usable usa-ble grade to last 100 years or more. The known reserves of 22 other essential es-sential minerals have dwindled to a 35 years' supply or less. Our supply of petroleum is even less. Our assured domestic deposits of oil will last from 14 to 20 years at the present rate of use! Unless |