INDUSTRIES WHERE MAN ROBS NATURE The Natural Advantages of the United States.—No other large country rivals the United States in wealth. Before the Great War the average wealth per capita was over $2000, and now, because of the increase in prices, it is about $3000. Argentina, Australia, Great Britain, France, and Canada with pre-war averages of $1500 to $1600 per capita i come next, but the Great War impoverished the European countries so that today their wealth per person is probably only about half that of the United States. The cause of such a concentration of wealth is one of the great geographical questions. Why is the wealth per person in the United States, even under normal conditions, a third more than in the most progressive parts of Europe, ten times as great as in Japan, and probably fifteen or twenty times as great as in China? The answer lies chiefly in four conditions: (1) the racial and social inheritance of the inhabitants, (2) the absence of any large settled aboriginal population, (3) the excellent climate, and (4) the great and undeveloped natural resources of a new country.
(1) The original were largely a picked group with uncom monly high ideals and strong characters. The Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, and Huguenots thought for themselves and did what believed right even when others opposed them. They not only brought to America some of the best ideas of Europe but had other ideas of their. own. Many other early immigrants had the thrift to save money for a long, hazardous and expensive voyage, and the courage and of adventure that made them willing to face the hardships of the wilder ness. In later years these higher types of immigrants have been diluted by people of less ability, who were poor or unhappy at home and hoped here to find wealth and comfort. Today Canada receives a much higher type of immigration than the United States, for it carefully weeds out the unfit by inspection in their own homes. Nevertheless, the people of the United States as well as Canada are still of relatively high quality because a large proportion are descended from Europeans who had more than the average ability and character.
(2) The immigrants to temperate North America were fortunate in going to a region where the population was sparse and also nomadic. When an advanced race settles among an aboriginal race having dif ferent ideals and lower standards, as in Mexico, Peru, and South Africa it almost inevitably is held back or deteriorates. Fortunately for the United States and Canada, the scanty Indian population consisted largely of hunting tribes who moved westward as the white man advanced. Hence, except where the mistake was made of introducing
slaves and later of fostering a poor type of immigration, these countries have been free from racial handicaps such as are the bane of South Africa and much of South America.
(3) The United States and southern Canada contain the only great section of the world where the climate rivals that of Europe in its com bined advantages for both agriculture and man. Agriculture is almost incalculably benefited by having sufficient rain at all seasons and relatively little variation from year to year. Man, as appears in Chapter VI, has the best health and most energy in a climate with storms at all seasons and with a strong but not excessive contrast between summer and winter.
(4) A country with the preceding advantages is just the place where abundant undeveloped natural resources are most important, especially if transportation is easy. In North America, when the white man first came, the greatest resource was the virgin soil, especially in the central plains. The other natural resources are chiefly the minerals, forests, and fish. These last. three are the subject of the rest of this chapter; they give rise to the industries which most ruthlessly rob Nature of her wealth without putting back anything in return.
The Mineral Wealth of North the accompanying table compare the percentage of the world's production of minerals derived from each continent in 1913, with the corresponding percentages of population in the bottom line. In North America only graphite, mag nesite, manganese, tin and platinum are produced in quantities less than would be expected if production depended solely on the number of people. The same is true of the United States except that antimony must be added to the exceptions. In 12 of the remaining 17 products the percentages for North America are more than four times the per centage of population. The only important mineral products in which any continent except Europe excels North America are antimony, gold, tin, and tungsten. In proportion to the population, the production of minerals in North America, and especially in the United States, exceeds that of every other continent. In known mineral reserves, as opposed to mineral production, North America similarly leads in many respects, although here we cannot speak so positively. But even though large discoveries should be made in other continents, North America, and especially the United States, will not easily lose their high rank.