U.S. will lag U.S.S.R. in raw materials

Abstract

The high level of affluence in the U.S. is consuming industrial raw materials at a very high rate—and at a steadily increasing rate as our level of affluence continues to rise. Most of these industrial raw materials are of mineral origin, such as petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, chromium, nickel, aluminum, and the like. In addition, we get lumber, wood pulp, natural rubber, and some vegetable oils from forest resources, and cotton, wool, and a few other industrial raw materials from agricultural sources. The only important industrial raw materials we get from the ocean are salt, magnesium, and bromine (other than offshore petroleum production). In this discussion I am referring only to nonfood raw materials. Our domestic mineral and forest resources are being rapidly depleted— to the point where the U.S. is being forced to import more and more of her industrial raw materials. This trend has been going ...