22  CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1904.        [bill.  260. 
ECONOMIC  WORK  IN   PROGRESS  DURING  YEAR. 
GENERAL    DISCUSSION. 
An  important  function  of  the  Geological  Survey  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  geological  structure,  mineral  resources,  and  products  of 
the  public  domain  which  it  is  directed  by  law  to  make  may,  and  it 
seems  should,  be  to  furnish  from  time  to  time,  in  addition  to  the  bare 
statistics  of  production,  a  review  of  the  progress  of  such  production 
in  its  geological  relations.  The  first  material  for  such  a  review  was 
collected  by  members  of  the  Survey  acting  as  special  agents  for  the 
Tenth  Census,  and  published  in  Volume  XIII  of  that  report  under 
the  heading  "  Geological  sketches  of  the  precious-metal  deposits  of 
the  western  United  States." 
It  had  been  hoped  by  those  who  had  carried  on  this  work  that  when 
the  collection  of  statistics  concerning  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
United  States  by  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  should  be  authorized 
by  Congress  such  collection  would  include  simultaneous  gathering,  by 
the  agents  employed  in  the  work,  of  a  certain  amount  of  geological 
data  with  regard  to  all  producing  mining  districts  of  the  United 
States.  Such  data  would  have  enabled  those  in  charge  of  the  mining 
branch  of  the  Survey  to  make,  from  time  to  time,  a  review  of  the 
progress  of  mining  industry  which  should  show  the  geological  rea- 
sons for  such  progress,  as  far  as  they  could  be  ascertained,  and  which 
might  permit  a  forecast  of  the  directions  in  which  the  most  important 
advances  may  be  looked  for  in  the  future.  Unfortunately  the  law 
authorizing  the  collection  of  mineral  statistics  by  the  Survey  expressly 
excepted  the  precious  metals. 
In  1893,  when  the  question  of  the  probable  future  production  of 
gold  and  silver  was  assuming  national  importance  in  its  bearing  upon 
the  financial  polic}^  of  the  Government,  the  writer  prepared  a  review 
of  the  progress  of  the  precious-metal  industry  of  the  United  States 
since  1880,  in  which  he  predicted  a  decrease  in  the  silver  production 
and  a  very  great  increase  in  gold  production,  not  only  in  this  country 
but  also  in  the  whole  world,  thus  directly  opposing  the  views  of  such 
authorities  as  Suess  and  Del  Mar.  This  review  was  confessedly  imper- 
fect from  the  geological  side,  because,  although  certain  important 
districts  had  been  thoroughly  studied  by  the  economic  geologists  of 
the  Survey,  there  were  many  of  actual  importance,  and  a  host  of 
smaller  districts  of  possible  future  importance,  over  which  it  had  not 
been  practicable  to  extend  this  work.  Nevertheless,  the  article  evi- 
dently served  a  useful  purpose,  having  been  republished  in  the  report 
of  the  Director  of  the  Mint,  and  it  was  hoped  that  it  might  influence 
Congress  to  remove  its  restrictions  on  the  collection  of  the  statistics 
of  the  precious  metals  by  the  Survey. 
