Abstract
AMONG the factors that are shaping the course of nations to-day, few are more important than the possession or control of raw materials. Nature, in her perverse way, has not only made men very unequal in character, energy, and ability, but she has also distributed so capriciously their means of sustenance and development that no civilised country is, or can expect to be, entirely self-supporting in the economic sense. There are many signs that the question of raw materials for food and industry will profoundly affect, if not dominate, international relationships. The United States is crying aloud for sources of supply of rubber, potash, mercury, manganese, long-staple cotton, and sisal; Germany, by her loss of territories in Europe and overseas, has become more dependent than ever upon foreign countries for a host of basic raw materials; Italy, Belgium, and Japan are asking the League of Nations to appoint a committee to consider the subject.
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Production and Use of Synthetic Nitrogenous Fertilisers. Nature 118, 469–472 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118469a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118469a0