Anti-Trust Laws and Conservation of Minerals

• DOI: 10.1177/000271623014700109
• Date: 01 January 1930
• Published date: 01 January 1930
• Subject Matter: Articles

67

Anti-Trust

Laws

and

Conservation

of

Minerals

By

JOHN

G.

HERVEY

Associate

Dean,

School

of

Law,

Temple

University,

Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania

H AS

the

Sherman

Act

placed

a

premium

upon

the

depletion

of

the

mineral

resources

of

the

United

States?

Does

the

present

policy

of

the

Government

bear

any

relationship

to

the

America

of

the

future?

Are

we

dissipating

the

resources

of

our

country

at

the

expense

of

posterity?

What

part

of

the

world’s

minerals

are

pro-

duced

in

the

United

States,

and

how

does

the

exhaustion

of

resources

in

this

country

compare

relatively

with

the

production

and

exhaustion

in

other

countries?

DISPROPORTIONATE

INCREASES

Be

it

noted

that

the

population

of

the

United

States

has

more

than

doubled

since

the

passage

of

the

Sher-

man

Act,

and,

with

the

present

rate

of

increase,

we

may

expect

a

population

of

two

hundred

million

by

1975,

or

a

population

of

four

hundred

million

a

hundred

years

hence.

Concomitant

with

this

increase

in

population

has

come

a

disproportionate

increase

in

the

extraction

of

our

mineral

resources.

Instead

of

doubling,

as

has

the

popula-

tion,

the

value

of

mineral

products

has

risen

from

six

hundred

and

fifty

million

dollars

in

1890

to

approximately

five

and

a

half

billion

in

1928.

The

output

of

the

four

leading

mineral

industries-

iron,

bituminous

coal,

copper

and

pe-

troleum-has

increased

ten-fold

in

value

and

six-fold

in

quantity

since

1890.

For

example,

in

1927,

our

exports

of

petroleum

and

its

products

alone

exceeded

that

of

1926

by

seven

million

barrels.

The

story

of

the

petroleum

industry

is

familiar

to

all.

Mr.

Steele

has

ably

surveyed

the

situation

in

this

volume.

The

international

problem

was

discussed

by

Mr.

IyZarcosson,

in

The

Saturday

Evening

Post

for

the

week

of

October

26,

1929.

However,

the

story

of

King

Coal,

Iron,

Copper,

Lead

and

Zinc

is

less

well

known.

The

following

table,

presented

by

Mr.

Cornelius

F.

Kelley,

President

of

the

Anaconda

Copper

Mining

Company,

to

the

American

Bar

Association,

at

its

meeting

in

1928,

shows

the

reader

in

concise

form

the

production

and

per

capita

consumption

of

these

basic

minerals

in

1927

as

against

1890.

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