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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1104 



of the record production of $99,673,400 in 

 1909. The gold-mining industry was gener- 

 ally prosperous again in 1915, according to fig- 

 ures compiled by H. D. McCaskey, of tke 

 United States Geological Survey, from pre- 

 liminary reports received from the mines. 

 Estimates made from these figures, which rep- 

 resent ores sold or treated during the year, as 

 distinguished from the metal actually pro- 

 duced, show that the output was even higher, 

 and that it approached, if it did not actually 

 pass, the $100,000,000 mark; but some of the 

 ore and concentrates produced from the mines 

 and mills can not be smelted until 1916, and 

 the refined gold did not become available for 

 consumption in 1915. An increase in the 

 yield of gold is indicated by the mine returns 

 from every important gold-mining state, and 

 a decrease is reported only from Washington, 

 while the output of Idaho remains the same. 

 The principal increases were nearly $2,500,000 

 in Colorado, over $2,200,000 in California, 

 over $1,100,000 in Alaska, over $800,000 in 

 Montana, nearly $650,000 in Utah, over $480,- 

 000 in Nevada, and over $300,000 in ^Rew 

 Mexico. Smaller increases were reported from 

 Oregon, South Dakota and Arizona. Cali- 

 fornia retained first rank in 1915, with an out- 

 put of about $23,000,000, and was followed by 

 Colorado, with over $22,000,000; Alaska, with 

 nearly $17,000,000; Nevada, with nearly $12,- 

 000,000; South Dakota, with over $7,000,000; 

 Montana, with nearly $5,000,000 ; Arizona, with 

 over $4,000,000; Utah, with over $3,500,000; 

 Oregon, with nearly $2,000,000; New Mexico, 

 with nearly $1,500,000; and Idaho and the 

 Philippines, with about $1,200,000 each. 



Preliminary estimates of the total yield of 

 petroleum for 1915 indicate a slight increase 

 over the record-breaking yield in 1914. This 

 condition does not agree with the currently re- 

 ported reason for the exceptionally high prices 

 now prevailing for motor fuel. As a result of 

 the over-load put on the transporting and re- 

 fining phases of the petroleum industry by the 

 excess output of crude petroleum in 1914, the 

 year 1915 may be characterized as a period of 

 readjustment in which production activity was 

 purposely retarded as far as practicable. The 



small increase therefore is more significant 

 than the simple figures suggest. According to 

 John D. Northrop, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, the marketed production of 

 petroleum in the United States in 1915 ap- 

 proximated 267,400,000 barrels, and the total 

 yield approximated 291,400,000 barrels, about 

 24,000,000 barrels of oil brought to the sur- 

 face during the year being placed in field 

 storage by the producers. The following table 

 shows by states the marketed production of 

 petroleum in 1914 and an estimate of the cor- 

 responding production in 1915, in barrels : 



states 1914 1915 



California 99,775,327 89,000,000 



Oklahoma 73,631,724 80,000,000 



Texas 20,068,184 26,000,000 



Illinois 21,919,749 18,500,000 



Louisiana 14,309,435 18,500,000 



West Virginia 9,680,033 9,000,000 



Pennsylvania 8,170,335 8,700,000 



Ohio 8,536,352 7,900,000 



Wyoming 3,560,375 4,200,000 



Kansas 3,103,585 3,000,000 



Indiana 1,335,456 1,000,000 



New York 938,974 900,000 



Kentucky 502,441 450,000 



Colorado 222,773 200,000 



Other states 7,792 50,000 



265,762,535 267,400,000 



Secretary op Commerce Eedfield has ad- 

 dressed to the Secretary of the Navy the fol- 

 lowing letter relative to the success of the 

 Bureau of Standards in developing a radio- 

 direction finder. 



Recent quotations in the press from your letter 

 to the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs give 

 part of a report from Admiral Fletcher in which 

 it is said that among the needs of the navy is a 

 radio-direction finder. The Bureau of Standards 

 has been investigating this subject for some time 

 and has developed an instrument which is simple 

 and practical and at the same time very eflcient 

 in operation. It indicates the direction of the 

 source at the same time that the messages are 

 being received, and while it is very sensitive to 

 radiations in a given direction it is less affected 

 by atmospheric disturbances and interfering 

 radiations from other directions than an ordinary 

 receiving apparatus. We have received messages 

 by one or another of the three sizes of instru- 



