ive 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
th