46 
OUR MINERAL RESERVES. 
century domestic production caught up with imports, and since that 
time it has greatly exceeded them, the production in 1913 being 
nearly four times as great in value as the imports. There was, how 
ever, last year a considerable decrease in exports of pottery, a change 
which should now be reversed by reason of the changes in the world’s 
commerce that have become inevitable. 
For the manufacture of pottery of the better grades considerable 
clay, mainly kaolin, is imported into this country from Europe and 
China, the value of these imports last year exceeding $2,250,000. 
It seems probable that under the necessity of finding a domestic 
supply these finer clays can be in large part replaced. Already a 
process of decoloring kaolin is reported as successful, and this may 
make large deposits of kaolin and ball clay available for the manu 
facture of white ware and pottery. 
Another minor product is mineral water, of which the annual 
imports are over 3,000,000 gallons, having a value of nearly a million 
dollars. Two-thirds of these imports came from Germany, France, 
and Austria-Hungary, and as soon as the stocks on hand are con 
sumed domestic waters should take the place of those derived from 
foreign springs. In this connection it is interesting to note that last 
year the reported sales from 838 commercial springs in the United 
States were more than 57,000,000 gallons, having a total value of 
$5,500,000. The recent activity of the New York State Reservation 
Commission in conserving the natural mineral waters at Saratoga 
Springs, as well as in improving local conditions, is of interest in 
calling attention to the many opportunities in this country for 
utilizing such waters and adopting modes of treatment similar to 
those which have made the bath resorts of Germany and Austria 
famous. There is a somewhat popular but fallacious impression that 
certain European waters have medicinal properties not possessed 
by any American waters, and many persons addicted to the Apol 
linaris, Clysmic, or Celestine-Vichy habit might be equally well satis 
fied by waters from American springs in bottles of American glass, 
bearing labels printed in the United States. 
Of the abrasives imported into this country last year to the 
amount of $917,000, all could be replaced with domestic products 
except the diamond dust and bort, the value of which was $100,000 
in 1913. Already the domestic output of both natural and artificial 
abrasives is increasing faster than the imports, and the manufac 
turers need only to realize the abundance of tripoli, diatomaceous 
earth, pumice, garnet, corundum, and emery to reduce further their 
dependence on foreign supplies. 
Precious stones constitute one of the largest items in our imports, 
usually amounting to more than $40,000,000 a year. Inasmuch, how 
ever, as fully three-fourths of this value is represented by diamonds,