Under the methods at present employed in the different coun-
tries in estimating the geological reserves or so-called inventories
of mineral deposits, the technical possibilities of extraction and
commercial exploitability of which vary greatly from time to time
and from place to. place, comparison is not possible and these de-
posits cannot therefore be included in a common total without
leading to erroneous conceptions.
A further defect of all economic statements up to the present
date is the exclusive emphasis which is placed upon production
and the far-reaching neglect of the question of consumption, ot
requirements, the various possibilities of supplying them, and the
market and price conditions to which they direcıly give rise. There
is as yet absolutely no method of indicating requirements; in the
absence of definite conceptions, words are used, but these pass as
mere worn-out and effaced currency; stock expressions are adopted
in discussion but with different meaning, so that an understanding
is never reached.
The first task of intellectual co-operation between the nations,
for the purposes of economic understanding in general, must be
to define and extend the fundamental scope of the economy of in-
organic raw materials in its whole system. I would suggest, as a
working hypothesis, that the question of the founding of an inter-
national Mining Institute should be considered and that the scheme
should be thoroughly worked out.
The International Agricultural Institute at Rome offers a sub-
ject for comparison, although the conditions were far simpler and
more obvious for agriculture than is at present the case for mining.
The successful results obtained by the Rome Institute should, how-
ever, be borne in mind; what has been accomplished by it in the
general interest can also be accomplished for the mining industry
throughout the world, if there is a resolute effort and the intellec-
tual and moral foundations of the work are truly laid,
If, however, it is thought inexpedient for any reason at the pre-
sent moment to consider mining from the point of view of intel-
lectual co-operation, I would suggest that a general study from
the international point of view should first be undertaken —— irre-
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