specify the
number of shafts or outlets, the use of safety and prevention devices,
miners' compensation and insurance, and many other features. Most of
these laws are framed for the purpose of conserving human life and
energy, but they directly affect the mining or extraction of the mineral
resources themselves. Geology plays but little part in relation to such
laws.

Where the government retains ownership and leases or rents the
resources, there are often provisions regarding the manner of mining and
the quality and quantity of the material to be mined, in the interests
of efficient operation and conservation. The geologist is often called
into consultation both in framing and in dealing with the infraction of
such provisions. It may be noted that the control thus exercised on the
operator by government ownership is very much the same as that often
exercised by the private fee owner. It is not unusual for fee owners of
mineral rights to maintain a geological staff in order to follow
intelligently underground developments, to see that the best methods of
exploration and mining are followed, and that ores are either extracted
or left in accordance with the best conservational practice.

III

LAWS RELATING TO DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPORTATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES

Under this heading come governmental regulations affecting directly or
indirectly the transportation and the destination of mineral products.
Transportation rates, tariffs, zoning, duties, and international trade
agreements of all sorts have vital effects on distribution. In framing
any of these measures for a mineral resource, it is desirable to know
all about the character of the raw material, its physical occurrence and
distribution, and the possibilities for future development. In adjusting
the scientific naming and classification of mineral materials with the
crude names and classifications used commercially--as in tariffs, in
import and export laws, in reports of revenue collectors, in railway and
ship rates, etc.--the geologic information is likewise necessary.

Heretofore, the formulation of measures concerning mineral distribution
has often not been done on a scientific and impartial basis; but in
recent years geologists have been called on more frequently for aid and
advice, as a means of checking or verifying the special pleadings of the
different industries. The rude disturbance of trade routes during the
war brought home the necessity of bas