National Prosperity and High Wages. 135 



Mr. Henry Gannett, in tlie Forum of May, 1902, gives 

 condensed statements showing to what extent the United 

 States is suppljdng the world with products drawn from 

 its natural resources. Mr. Gannett was geographer of 

 the tenth and eleventh censuses, and since 1882 has been 

 chief geographer of the United States Survey. In 

 mining, he says, we produce 34% of all the iron ore that 

 is mined; 34% of all pig iron comes from our furnaces, 

 and 37% of all steel comes from our crucibles and con- 

 verters. Of gold we produce 31%, silver 33, copper 56, 

 lead 25, quicksilver 29, and zinc 25%. ''Tin is the only 

 metal of importance in the arts which we do not produce 

 in quantities." Of all products mined the United States 

 produces about 39%. 



Yet it seems this vast nation, producing a large part of 

 all that is required to sustain the world, must be care- 

 fully guarded from other far less-favored nations. How 

 could a nation possessed of all this wealth of natural 

 resources be anything but prosperous? 



All these almost inexhaustible stores of agricultural 

 and mineral wealth were in the ground when the Indian 

 held sway, but there was then no industrial progress. 

 Nor was there much for more than a century after the 

 white man came. Not till the printing-press gathered 

 from thousands of sources, and everywhere scattered the 

 knowledge obtained, did industrial progress make rapid 

 strides. To whom are we indebted for the printing-press? 

 Primarily to the Chinese! The honor of inventing and 

 making practical movable types is claimed by some for a 

 Dutchman, by others for a German. 



The chief factors that come next in the line of develop- 

 ment are the factory and railroad systems. The latter 

 everj^here opened up the vast wilderness to settlement, 



