78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALTIMORE MEETING 



such studies. The present war has shown the profound influence of the vari- 

 ous branches of geology on the conduct as well as the causes of wars. Innu- 

 merable and very striking examples of the material relationship of this science 

 to our modern civilization are well known. The greatest contribution, how- 

 ever, is to philosophy, through the paleontologists on the one hand and through 

 the cosmogonists on the other, resulting in a rational and optimistic conception 

 of life. 



Eead by title in the absence of the author. 



UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AS A CIVIC INSTITUTION DURING 



THE WAR 



BY SIDNEY PAIGE 



(Ahstract) 



The Geological Survey has for many years specialized in certain sorts of 

 knowledge. The occurrence, origin, and distribution of raw materials have 

 been systematically studied. Water as a power resource has been made the 

 subject of intensive study in the field and in the office. Topographic surveying 

 had progressed as an art and as an engineering profession to a degree unex- 

 celled in the world. Map-printing has attained a similar high standard. 



The Survey, with this store of practical information, was in a position to 

 have a viewpoint broad enough to be useful under the new conditions brought 

 about by the war. The Government, for example, undertook to regulate the 

 expenditure of new capital. The Survey was called on to decide, in cases 

 where prospective mining operations were involved, whether the national in- 

 terest justified such expenditure. Many cases could be decided from the data 

 at hand. Others demanded field investigations, and such were made. 



The distribution and reserves of war minerals, their occurrence abroad, their 

 relations in trade, the stimulation of domestic production, all became matters 

 of investigation and report on short notice to the war boards vitally concerned. 

 One of the first calls on the trained personnel of the Survej' was from the 

 newly created Fuel Administration. From the basis of a personnel supplying 

 yearly statistics of coal output, an organization was built up which succes- 

 sively supplied quarterly, monthly, and weekly statistics of the output of coal, 

 and toward the end of the war of the daily movement of coal. 



In the division of Water Resources problems connected with the develop- 

 ment and distribution of power were taken up, and efforts were made to corre- 

 late new industries with existing power supplies, to connect plants in order to 

 improve load factors, and properly to distribute fuel. 



Statistics of world production of minerals have been gathered and the min- 

 eral reserves of the world estimated. This work has proved of value to the 

 Shipping Board in the allocation of shipping and to the General Staff in study- 

 ing the effects of the shifting battle line. A knowledge of the distribution of 

 mineral resources and the extent of reserves is fundamental as a basis for a 

 sane peace. 



A noteworthy contribution to the effective prosecution of the war was the 

 coordination of the activities of the large number of governmental agencies 

 dealing with minerals and mineral derivatives. As a result of the Survey's 



