phere of government activity lie the removal of unnecessary
restrictions on private initiative, and such conservation measures as
involve some sacrifice of individual returns--in other words, a
reduction of the normal interest rate. Exercise of government power may
be directly helpful within the field of private endeavor without
materially sacrificing private interests; but beyond this point there
are additional large possibilities of conservational activity which are
clearly beyond the control of private interests. The introduction of any
of these latter changes would evidently be so far-reaching in effect,
and would require such broad readjustments not only within but without
the mineral industry, that the necessity or desirability is not in all
cases so clear as in the case of measures already introduced for private
interest.

The most obviously helpful step possible to the government in the
immediate future is to permit cooperative arrangements under private
ownership,--which would make it possible to use common selling agencies,
thereby reducing the cost of selling; to divide the territory to be
served, thereby avoiding excessive cross freights; and to allot the
output in proportion to the demand from various territories, thus
eliminating excessive competition and over-production. All of these
measures could be accomplished without detriment to the public if
properly regulated by the government. The very large saving possible by
this means would allow the introduction of conservational methods at the
mines without raising the cost to the public.

War conditions required even more immediate and sweeping application of
government power than above indicated, but conservational purposes were
quite overshadowed by other considerations.

Where the mineral resources are already owned by the government, or can
be acquired by the government, some of the troublesome factors in the
problem are removed. In such cases it is possible to work out an
intelligent plan for government control without the difficulties which
arise in dealing with private ownership,--although, of course, new
difficulties are introduced (see also pp. 345-347.)

The fact that there are conservational measures possible only to
governments has been widely used as an argument for introducing
government ownership or control. Recent vigorous demands for the
nationalization of natural resources in Europe, and the increasing
discussion of the subject in this