Nationalization of Mineral Resources
Nationalization, as this term is popularly understood, means financial control and management of mineral resources by the government, either through actual ownership or through measures of public control designed to eliminate private interest from the active direction of the resources. In a broader sense, it may be used to include a considerable variety of restrictive and coercive measures adopted by the government in the proposed interests of public welfare,—as illustrated by the war-time measures instituted by the United States and other governments relating to the mining and distribution of coal, and to coal prices. In this broader sense various aspects of nationalization are indicated under other headings in this and other chapters.
It is clear that other countries of the world have gone farther in the direction of nationalization of mineral resources than the United States. The tendency was manifest before the war, and has been strongly emphasized during and since the war. In the United States, notwithstanding war-time measures, the subject has not yet come prominently forward, at least by name. On the other hand, there has been growing recognition of the dependence of public welfare on the proper handling of mineral resources—particularly of the energy resources, coal and oil,—as evidenced by a variety of proposals and measures under consideration in legislative and administrative branches of our national and state governments. Even taxation, both local and national, has in effect reached a stage where private interest has become considerably minimized by the increasing burdens laid on the industry by government requirements. The immediate purpose of taxation is to raise money for the needs of the government; but in the formulation of tax measures there is clearly to be discerned a growth of underlying sentiment that natural resources belong in some fashion to the public, and that private control is to be regarded not as a sacred property right but as a trust held on sufferance of the public.
In view of the obvious trend toward nationalization in other parts of the world and the significant tendencies in the United States, it seems likely that the subject of nationalization of mineral resources will come prominently to the front in this country in the comparatively near future. If so, it is time that students of mineral resources should recognize the comprehensiveness of this problem, and should attempt to develop basic principles to serve as a guide in the direction and formulation of the numerous and complex measures which are sure to be proposed. At present there is no government or technical organization related to the industry which is studying the problem in its broader aspects and is in a position to advise wisely with public officials interested in this problem.
It is beyond the scope of this book to discuss the pro and con of an economic question of this magnitude. The writer would, however, record his belief, which is implied also in discussions in other chapters, that the discovery and intelligent management of mineral resources by their very nature and infinite variety require private initiative, and that the history of government efforts in this field in this and other countries does not promise that nationalization can supply sufficient advantages to counterbalance the loss of this element. With this view the problem of nationalization becomes one of determining what steps, if any, can be taken by a government to the advantage of public welfare, which will at the same time preserve and foster private initiative, exercised with the hope of reward, which seems alone to be capable of meeting the variable, elastic, and complex problems inherent in the development of a natural resource.
A first step toward a broad scientific attack on this problem would be the recognition of the fact that tariffs, taxes, conservation, international mineral questions, leasing laws, and various technical investigations of minerals are but parts of a great unit problem. With this recognition there should follow naturally an attempt to correlate and direct the many government agencies, legislative and administrative, now concerned with different aspects of the problem. Under present conditions, the various elements of the problem are considered by different groups of persons, without sufficient contacts or correlation to promise the development of a broad, underlying policy.