EXPLORATION IN ITS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
When an explorer or prospector leaves his own country to discover and acquire minerals in other countries, with a view to exportation, it is reasonably obvious that he must first acquire a sound knowledge of at least some of the elements of international trade in minerals,—such as shipping facilities, rates, tariffs, attitude of the government toward ownership, toward export, etc. For example, the prospector for oil in foreign countries will not get very far without considering the recent steps taken by foreign governments, and mentioned on pp. 131-132.
The necessity of study of the international situation in conducting domestic exploration is not so generally recognized; and yet anyone today who confines his attention solely to the local physical facts of the situation, and who ignores international considerations, may find himself in difficulties. The investigation of international questions is not merely desirable from the standpoint of general information, but may be vital to the business or professional success of the explorer. For instance, he might take up the exploration and development in the United States of fertilizers and ferro-alloy minerals which are ordinarily imported; and without understanding the severe limitations imposed by the foreign situation, he might find himself with a property, sound from a physical standpoint, but financially a failure. It is comparatively easy, by running over the long list of mineral commodities used in the United States, to eliminate, on international grounds, a considerable number from the field inviting financial success, and to concentrate on others whose economic relations are sound. In the rapid changes during and since the war, the necessity for consideration of world conditions has been brought home at heavy expense to many business and professional men engaged in the mineral industry.