GUANO 207 



possible was done to further individual interest in 

 guano seeking. 



The Guano Act set forth that any American 

 citizen who discovered an island not under the 

 jurisdiction of a foreign government might, if 

 he desired, remove any guano which might be 

 present, under protection of the United States. 

 Hitherto national policy had frowned upon ex- 

 tension into territory outside the continental 

 limits of North America; but now the necessity 

 for an increased supply of fertilizing material 

 led to a deviation from this traditional policy. 

 It was declared, however, that only peaceable 

 occupation of the islands would be countenanced 

 by the United States; any departure from 

 this line of conduct would mean the loss of 

 the island to the discoverer, whether private indi- 

 vidual or developing company. Under the act, 

 upon the exhaustion of the guano beds the island 

 must revert to the United States as its lawful 

 owner; and it might be returned to its former 

 status of unclaimed territory if the government so 

 desired. 



By 1898 more than seventy islands had been 

 located under this Guano Act fifty-four in the 

 South Pacific and seventeen in the West Indies. 

 Of these the majority proved worthless, but a few 

 yielded small amounts of the desired product. In 

 this way, between 1869 and 1898, something more 



