MINERAL  PRODUCTS.

13

preparations.  The  exports  of  these  materials  amount  to  over  3  per
cent  of  the  total  usual  exports  from  the  United  States,  their  value
for  the  fiscal  year  just  closed  being  over  $100,000,000.
The  exportations  of  petroleum  and  its  products  have  practically
ceased  for  a  time,  with  the  exception  of  an  occasional  cargo  of  illuminating ­
  oil  shipped  to  some  country  not  in  a  state  of  war,  especially
to  the  West  Indies  and  Mexico.  This  means  the  temporary  loss  to
the  United  States  of  a  foreign  market,  which  consumed  about  onefifth
  of  the  oil  produced,  and  its  effect  has  been  a  still  more  serious
disturbance  in  the  conditions  of  the  oil  trade.
Up  to  a  few  years  ago  the  imports  of  petroleum  and  its  products
into  the  United  States  were  trifling.  In  1912  the  imports  of  crude
oil  from  Mexico  assumed  considerable  proportions,  amounting  to
145,247,828  gallons.  They  increased  in  the  following  year  to  500,-000,000
  gallons,  and  in  1914  to  773,052,480  gallons,  worth  $11,-776,737.
  This  Mexican  petroleum  can  be  imported  to  the  east  coast
of  the  United  States  at  very  low  cost,  to  be  used  for  fuel,  and  has
been  of  a  decided  benefit  in  replacing  oil  produced  in  the  United
States,  which  is  capable  of  higher  utilization.  The  Mexican  imports
will  probably  continue.  In  addition  benzine  and  gasoline  have  for
several  years  been  imported  to  the  extent  of  15,000,000  gallons,  valued
at  about  $1,000,000,  from  Borneo  to  the  Pacific  coast  to  make  up  the
necessary  supply  for  that  region.  These  importations  from  Borneo
will  now  cease  and  probably  would  have  ceased  in  any  event,  on
account  of  the  surplus  of  gasoline  now  available  in  that  region.
Mention  of  the  opportunity  for  domestic  manufacture  of  certain
medicinal  preparations  from  American  petroleum  will  be  found
under  the  heading  "  Other  products  ”  (p.  45).
METALS.
THE  GENERAL  SITUATION.
Of  the  metals  and  metallic  ores  the  United  States  has  been  both  an
importer  and  an  exporter.  Our  imports  of  iron  ore  are  double  our
exports,  whereas  of  metallic  copper  we  export  nearly  twice  as  much
as  we  import.  The  general  rule,  however,  probably  is  that  the  imports ­
  of  manufactured  or  partly  manufactured  metals  largely  exceed
in  value  the  ores  and  crude  metals  brought  into  this  country  for
domestic  manufacture,  and  in  our  exports  a  somewhat  similar  ratio
exists  between  crude  material  and  manufactures,  so  that  there  is
presented  a  double  opportunity  for  increasing  the  scope  and  extent
of  our  metal  industries  for  both  domestic  consumption  and  export.
Far  too  much  American  metal  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  the  crude  or
semicrude  state  only  to  come  back  to  us  in  various  manufactured
forms.
The  smelter  industry  in  this  country  is  in  some  degree  dependent
on  foreign  ores  and  matte.  The  production  of  metals  from  such