1908 



THE GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE 



321 



product previously mined in this country. 

 For the year 1906 the output was 414,000,- 

 000 tons, an increase of 46 per cent on the 

 average annual yield of the 10 years pre- 

 ceeding. In 1907 our production reached 

 470,000,000 tons. Fifty years ago the an- 

 nual per capita production was a little more 

 than one-quarter of a ton. It is now about 

 five tons. It is but eight years since we 

 took the place of Great Britain as the lead- 

 ing coal producing nation of the world, and 

 already our product exceeds hers by over 

 43 per cent, and is 2)7 per cent of the known 

 production of the world. Estimates of coal 

 deposits still remaining must necessarily be 

 somewhat vague, but they are approxi- 

 mately near the mark. The best authorities 

 do not rate them at much over 2,000,000,- 

 000,000 tons. If coal production continues 



States doubles about once in seven years. Jt 

 was less than 12,000,000 tons in 1893, over 

 24,000,000 tons in 1899, 47,740,000 tons in 

 1906 and over 52,000,000 tons in 1907. The 

 rising place of iron in the world's life is 

 the most impressive phenomenon of the 

 last century. In 1850 the pig iron produc- 

 tion of the United States amounted to 563,- 

 757 tons, or about 50 pounds per capita. 

 Our production now is over 600 pounds per 

 capita. We do not work a mine, build a 

 house, weave a fabric, prepare a meal or 

 cultivate an acre of ground under modern 

 methods without the aid of iron. We turn 

 out over 25,000,000 tons of pig iron every 

 year, and the production for the first half 

 of 1907 was at the rate of 27,000,000 :011s. 

 This is two and one-half times the product 

 of Great Britain. It is nearly half the pro- 



Photo Copyright by Harris & Ewing, Washington 



"THE HOUSE OF GOVERNORS" 



Group of State Executives who took Initial Steps toward forming a Permanent 



Organization of Governors 



to increase as it has in the last ninety years, 

 the available supply will be greatly re- 

 duced by the close of the century. Before 

 that time arrives, however, resort to lower 

 grades and sinking of mines to greater 

 depths will become necessary ; making the 

 product inferior in quality and higher in 

 price. Already Great Britain's industries 

 have felt the check from a similar cause, 

 as shown in her higher cost of production. 

 Our turn will begin probably within a gen- 

 eration or two from this time. Yet we still 

 think nothing of consuming this priceless 

 resource with the greatest possible speed. 

 Our methods of mining are often wasteful; 

 and we not only prohibit our industries from 

 having recourse to the coal supplies of 

 other countries, but actually pride ourselves 

 upon becoming exporters of a prime leces- 

 sity of life and an essential of civilization. 



The iron industry tells a similar story. 

 The total of iron ore mined in the United 



duct of the whole world. And the supply 

 of this most precious of all the metals is so 

 far from inexhaustible that it seems as if 

 iron and coal might be united in their dis- 

 appearance from common life. 



The large deposits of iron ore in this 

 country are now located. For cheap inn 

 we depend upon the Lake Superior district, 

 because of its high grade, the ease of ex- 

 tracting the ore from the mines and its 

 nearness to cheap transportation. At the 

 rate of over 50,000,000 tons per year, our 

 present consumption, it would require over 

 2,000,000,000 tons to supply the demand 

 for the next 40 years, supposing it to remain 

 stationary. This would approach the f^nd 

 of all the higher grade ore in large 

 posits now in sight. The product of otli,. 

 workings would be of inferior qu?hty 

 and higher cost and remote from iSar- 

 ket. But production is certain to inci^ease 

 even more rapidly than in the past. A; few 





