tons of pig iron every year, ami the production for the 

 first half of 1907 was at the rate of 27,000,000 tons. 

 This is two and one-half times the product of Great 

 Britain. It is nearly half the product of the whole 

 world. And the supply of this most precious of all the 

 metals is so far from inexhaustible that it teems as if 

 iron and coal might be united in their disappearance 

 from common life. 



The large deposits of iron ore in this country are 

 now located. For cheap iron we depend upon the Lake 

 Superior district, because of its high grade, the ease of 

 extr 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 re- 

 quire over 2,000,000,000 tons to supply the demand for 

 the next 40 years, supposing it to remain stationary. 

 This would approach the end of all the higher grade ore 

 in larije deposits now in sight. The product of other 

 workings would be of inferior quality and higher cost 

 and remote from market. But production is certain to 

 increase even more rapidly than in the past A few 

 years ago a Swedish geologist prepared for his govern- 

 ment a report which stated that the entire supply of 

 the iron ore in the United States would be exhausted 

 within the present century. The United States Geo- 

 logical Survey declared this an overstatement ; but here 



ie conclusion of its own report, after a careful ex- 

 amination of the question in the light of the best 

 authorities. I quote the official published document: 

 "Assuming that the demand for iron ore during the 



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