ECONOMIC RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES. THE peculiarly rtunate position of the United States in its ability to sup ply its own needs is clearly seen from a survey of its production and relative contributions to the world of the three great requirements of manfood, clothing and shelter. It is found, for example, that the people of the United States may be fed readily by home-produced foodstuffs, the vast area of 3 2/3 million square miles representing every variety of climate and production and being nearly equal in extent to all Europe, which has a population five times that of this country. Agriculture in the United States has not yet reached the stage. of scientific development common to many countries of Europe, and present domestic production may therefore be expected to increase greatly with more attention to improved methods of culture. Nevertheless, the United States. already produces over 2,500 million bushels of corn, or two-thirds of the world supply. This year's wheat crop is estimated at the high record figure of 911 million bushels, about 20 per cent of the world harvest. The United States also produces annually over 1,000 million bushels of oats, or one-fourth of the international yield, and 197 million gallons of cottonseed oil, representing most of the annual output of this article whose food value as a substitute for olive oil is becoming more and more recognized. Fifteen per cent of the world's cattle are on United States farms, the number in this country being 59 million, or twice as many as in Argentina or European Russia and half the number in India. This country also has 60 million swine, 50 million sheep and 24 million horses; it imports, however, 5,000 million pounds of sugar (chiefly Cuban), or 11⁄2 times the amount produced in continental United States and its island territories. In clothing material the United States is also favored, producing annually over 14 million bales of cotton, representing over one-half of the world's supply. Of wool, it produces 300 million pounds a year, the home requirements being supplemented by 238 million pounds of foreign wool and 34 million dollars' worth of woolen goods. In the mineral kingdom, the pre-eminent position of the United States is unquestioned.* The country produces, for example, 534 million short tons of coal, 40 per cent of the world's output; 238 million barrels of petroleum, two-thirds of the world's total, and 57 million tons of iron ore, out of a world total of 132 million. One-half of the world's copper is taken from mines in the United States, which turned out 12 million pounds in 1912. Of the world's output of 466 million dollars' worth of gold, the United States produced about 20 per cent, being exceeded only by South Africa. About 28 per cent of the world's silver and 30 per cent of its lead are produced in this country. In the value of manufactures the United States leads the world, though * See Journal of Geography for November, pp. 72-73. the product of its factories is chiefly consumed at home. Of the 20,700 million dollars' worth of manufactures produced in the United States in 1909, only about five per cent was sold to foreign countries; the world market for iron and steel products, cotton goods, chemicals and other important products of industry being thus far largely held by England, Germany and other European nations. United States 3,600,000 square miles 102,000,000 2,600,000,000 bushels Approximate share in world's total Area Corn product Wheat product Cotton product Sugar product Number of cattle on farms Coal product Petroleum product Copper product Iron ore Gold product Stock of gold Value of all farm products Value of manufactures 911,000,000 14,000,000 bales 3,577,000,000 pounds 791,000,000 59,000,000 534,000,000 tons 238,000,000 barrels 1,243,000,000 pounds 57,000,000 tons $93,000,000 $1,880,000,000 Imports in fiscal year 1914 Exports in fiscal year 1914 Foreign trade in fiscal year 1914 Aggregate wealth, estimated $9,751,000,000 $20,672,000,000 $1,894,000,000 $2,365,000,000 $4,259,000,000 $40,000,000,000 259,000 miles .$140,000,000,000 [From Commercial America, Vol. XI, p. 13, Oct. 1914.] HENRY GANNETT. Henry Gannett died in Washington on November 5th from a complication of diseases after an illness of about a year. He was one of the leading American authorities in cartographic, statistical, and applied geography. He was 68 years old. As geographer of the United States Geological Survey for over 40 years, chairman of the United States Geographic Board, geographer of the 10th, 11th, and 12th censuses, and president of the National Geographic Society, his loss is a serious one. He published the best topographic map and the best rainfall map of this country, four books dealing with statistical geography, commercial geography, geography of the United States, and topographic methods, as well as statistical atlases of three federal census reports, census reports of three of our outlying possessions, lists of topographic maps showing the principal physiographic features, and more than 20 books dealing with altitudes, areas, boundaries, origin of place names, conservation, forests, magnetic declination, profiles of rivers, and geographic dictionaries of a dozen different states. Besides being extraordinarily competent in statistical and editorial work he was also a physiographer of ability, writing papers dealing with glacial erosion, climatic control of timber lines, etc. He was chairman of the Research Committee of the National Geographic Society, and did much to make effective their scientific explorations in Alaska, South America, and elsewhere. Under his presidency the membership in the National Geographic Society has reached nearly a third of a million. CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. THE WEATHER AND CLIMATE OF CHICAGO. By Henry J. Cox and J. H. Armington. Bulletin No. 4, The Geographic Society of Chicago. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1914, xxv and 396 pages, pls. and figs. Price $3.00. The progress of American climatology on a sound scientific basis has been much retarded by the lack of such complete detailed studies of climate as are available, in considerable numbers, for other countries. We need more of such monographs as that of Professor Oliver L. Fassig, on the climate and weather of Baltimore (1907). We need more of such detailed discussions of single climatic elements as that of Professor Alexander G. McAdie, on the rainfall of California (1914). We are gaining each year, but our progress has been lamentably slow. A thorough investigation of weather and climate, whether it be local, as in the case of a single city; or more general, as in the case of a larger district, or of the whole country, is therefore particularly welcome to those who are sincerely interested in the advance of American climatology, and who care about the position which our own contributions to this subdivision of the larger science of meteorology occupy in the world. Professor H. J. Cox and Mr. J. H. Armington, of the local office of the Weather Bureau in Chicago, have done an excellent piece of work in preparing their monograph on the weather and climate of Chicago, and the Geographic Society of Chicago is to be congratulated on its publication as Bulletin No. 4 of that Society. We have, in this volume, a very complete presentation of all the generally recognized "standard" climatic data of Chicago, based (chiefly) upon the records from 1871 to date. And the essential results are shown in a large number of diagrams, many of which we believe might well be enlarged, by photography, for use in the schools of the city. There are several more or less "popular" aspects of Chicago's climate the discussion of which will be the first thing sought by most persons who take up this volume. Chicago, e. g., is well known as "the windy city," and the wind data will therefore be of particular interest to many readers. The presentation of these records is very complete, the author remarking (p. xxiv) "there is some reason for the sobriquet, although the wind movement here is not much greater than it is at other places in the Great Lakes region." Another feature of local interest is the effect of Lake Michigan, whose cooling influence in "breaking up" summer hot waves, and whose warming influence (when not extensively frozen) during winter cold waves is noted. In an appendix there is both a tabular and a graphic summary of the weather on certain holidays (New Year's, Fourth of July, Christmas), based on the records for 1872-1913, which will naturally be of considerable local interest, although, of course, no one should use such summaries as forecasts for any particular year. The Chicago fire of 1871, it may be noted in passing, occurred at the end of a long period of drought, which finds its place in the list of "Dry Spells of Two Weeks or Longer" (pp. 194-196). There is commendable emphasis upon the correlation between wind direction and temperature and between the state of the sky and temperature, including curves to illustrate these important features, e. g., Figs. 29, 30, 58. We note, also, an interesting chart (Fig. 50) showing the snowfall during a "freak" snowstorm on Nov. 26, 1903, in which 14 inches of snow fell in South Chicago, near the lake, and practically none at all fell west of Halsted St. We are especially glad to see the discussion of weather types, and the numerous copies of barograph and thermograph curves, as, e. g., the examples of cold wave (Fig. 73), warm days (Fig. 74), lake influence during a hot wave (Fig. 26), etc. We call attention, in passing, to the fact that the chart showing the average annual snowfall for the United States (Fig. 48) has been superseded by a new map prepared by Charles F. Brooks and published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 39, 1913. It is rather superfluous for the reviewer to suggest any additions to a discussion which is already so remarkably complete, but for our own part we wish very much that the authors had paid a good deal more attention to the weather, or cyclonic element; that they had laid more emphasis on the human relations; that they had made the whole picture of Chicago weather and climate more vivid, more interesting, more vital; that, in their consideration of special conditions, as droughts, or excessive rains, etc., they had taken account of the causes of those particular "spells," as illustrated by the daily weather maps. However, these may be the opinions of the reviewer alone, who heartily welcomes this new volume as a worthy contribution to American climatology. R. DEC. WARD. THE THE COPPER MINES OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN HE mining of copper in Michigan antedates the earliest visits of European explorers to the region. The production on a commercial basis, however, dates from 1845, since which time the district has been a steady producer and an important factor in the copper industry of the world. To the close of 1913 Michigan has produced 5361 million pounds of copper, or 28 per cent of the output from the United States since 1845. For many years subsequent to 1845 Michigan was the most important copper-producing state and in total output it is second only to Montana. The entire output is from the Keweenaw Peninsula. In the value of metal output, in the profits resulting from this output, in the development of mining and metallurgical processes, and in the general high standing of the companies conducting the operations, the district takes high rank among the great mining camps of the world. Previous to the perfection of the electrolytic process of refining, "Lake" copper enjoyed the distinction of being the highest grade produced, and even to the present time it sells at a figure slightly higher than the copper from other districts. Although the district has been an active producer for 65 years, most of the older mines still have large reserves of ore and new mines are being opened, while much territory remains to be prospected. Moreover, it is claimed. that a large tonnage of the mill tailings produced when milling methods were less efficient than at present can be re-treated at a profit. Perhaps the most important developments of the last few years are those in the southern part of the district, where the Lake mine and neighboring properties have disclosed what may prove to be large bodies of ore in a section of the district that hitherto has been less promising than the more fully developed area to the north. The Lake Superior region is unique in being the only district from which a large output is derived from native copper. The rocks of the district comprise a thick series of lava flows and beds of conglomerate and sandstone of pre-Cambrian age. The copper occurs in the cellular portion of the lava flow, and as a cement and to some extent a replacement of the conglomerate pebbles forming the conglomerate. The native copper occurs in the lodes in masses varying from microscopic size to bodies weighing hundreds of tons. The richest lode mined at present carries but 1.5 per cent copper, and the poorest rock treated yields but little above five-tenths of 1 per cent of metal. For this low-grade ore to be profitable it must be handled on a large scale; this has resulted in the construction of the immense plants that characterize the Lake district. The lodes are worked for the most part through inclined shafts, though some of the deeper deposits are opened by vertical shafts. The workings have been extended in some cases to a mile in vertical depth, or about a mile and a half down the lode. Pillars of rock are left to keep the lodes open, and dry walls constructed from the waste sorted underground serve the same purpose in some of the mines. Much timber, however, is required in some of the mines, especially those operating on the conglomerate lodes. The rock coming from the mines is crushed by steam stamps and concentrated, producing "mineral" containing an average of about 65 per cent copper. The district is well located for cheap working of the mines. The Great Lakes furnish cheap transportation for both coal and copper, the Lake transportation being brought into the heart of the district by Portage Lake and t Houghton ship canal. The district is served by the Mineral Range, C Range, and Keweenaw Central Railroads, and is connected with th |