Mineral Output of the United States ¹

Abstract

THE well-known publication referred to below now appears in a form slightly different from the one to which we have hitherto been accustomed, being issued in two volumes, the first devoted to the Metallic products and the second to the Non-metallic products; this is done in consequence of a recent legislative enactment (Act of May 27, 1908), and presents some advantages, though it might be well to submit, with all respect, to the Government of the United States, that these (and sundry other) publications of the United States Geological Survey stand in far greater need of condensation than they do of expansion. When a work becomes unwieldy, there are two obvious remedies, either to issue it in two volumes or to compress the information it conveys into smaller compass; the latter is no doubt the more difficult proceeding, though the one that best serves the interests of the readers, and it is a matter of regret that, in this case, the line of least resistance has been followed. In the present instance it leads also to a few anomalies, as, for instance, the inclusion of crushed steel (as an abrasive) and of certain other metalliferous materials, such as arsenic, manganese, chromite, &c., in the volume devoted to non-metallic products.