254 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF MINERALS 



Industrially the United States is in much the same position 

 it was in agriculturally in the 184CTs. It has reached the end 

 of a boom, the first boom, indeed, which has put industry in 

 the commanding position in American economy. This means 

 that industry is very powerful and has a big voice in the gov 

 ernment. It does not want to be regulated. 



The federal government is given a right to control only 

 those minerals on federal land, and those minerals are not a 

 very important part of our mineral resources. In several cases 

 the government has set up boards and commissions which have 

 tried to get certain private mineral users to cooperate. Two of 

 these boards are the Federal Oil Commission and the Bituminous 

 Coal Commission. These agencies try to adjust the supply of 

 minerals to the market. In general their work is to save the 

 resources under their care, and at the same time protect the 

 producers. However, they have no power beyond that of asking 

 the producers to work together toward a common goal of bal 

 anced use. 



The Geological Survey is still going on with its work of 

 surveying our mineral resources. At the same time it is directing 

 Civilian Conservation Corps camps in certain conservation 

 work, such as blocking mine fires. Geological Survey Engineers 

 have worked out ways of controlling surface and underground 

 waters in the Tri-State Mining District, thus aiding the recov 

 ery of the ore. At the same time the Geological Survey has mine 

 supervising offices in Colorado, Utah, and Oklahoma. In the 

 government fields it supervises conservation of oil and gas. 



The United States Bureau of Mines, together with state 

 bureaus of mines, makes technical studies of improved methods 

 of production, treatment, and utilisation of ores, and enforces 

 certain mine safety standards. The Assay Office of the federal 



