198 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1945 



stood. This reluctance is gradually disappearing, and it is hoped 

 that in the postwar years the mining industry will continue to be as 

 generous in supplying data as it has been during the war. By so doing, 

 the best interests of all are served. Policy decisions are made in Wash- 

 ington that affect your industries. These policies are usually formu- 

 lated on the basis of available facts. If the full facts are not available, 

 errors of judgment can be made. Obviously the wisest decisions on 

 policy are possible only if all the facts are known. 



An objective appraisal of recent experience suggests that prospect- 

 ing and exploration are reaching marginal limits so that the ex- 

 penditure of private funds in the search for new mineral deposits 

 is becoming more difficult to justify. This suggests that the Govern- 

 ment should assume some of the risk involved in keeping our mineral 

 development going. The Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines 

 are planning extensive postwar projects to assist in accomplishing 

 this objective through a systematic geological and exploration pro- 

 gram designed to develop information that will help mineral pro- 

 ducers plan exploration programs and provide a reliable inventory of 

 our mineral resources. This program will in no way interfere with 

 the activities of private enterprise but, to the contrary, will provide 

 it with basic data that will permit the mining industry to carry on its 

 search of new mines more effectively. 



The Government's exploration program should be supplemented by 

 extensive research and testing to develop new and cheaper methods of 

 bringing our larger marginal resources into commercial production 

 and to provide substitute materials for those that play out. I want to 

 make it clear that I am not referring to hothouse industries that can 

 exist only at the expense of the public treasury or the consumer. New 

 peacetime industries can survive only if they are based on sound tech- 

 nology and economics. 



The Government also has a responsibility to encourage the importa- 

 tion of those minerals essential to our industry, and which cannot 

 economically be produced at home in sufficient quantities. Through 

 fact-finding and diplomatic services the Government can assist Amer- 

 ican capital to engage in foreign mineral development. It should 

 support American enterprise abroad to see that it is permitted to oper- 

 ate with reasonable security and under conditions that are fair to all 

 parties concerned. Such a policy is fully compatible with a respected 

 membership in the family of nations because it results in the develop- 

 ment of resources and employment abroad while supplying us with 

 useful raw materials ; it also permits constructive use of our surplus 

 capital. 



[Editob's Note. — Author's discussion of tariff policy has been deleted in this 

 reprint.] 



