Basic HTML Version
PAGE 6
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 14, 1985
What seems strange to the human mind is how the Communists can
stay so doggedly on track after so obviously worthless a goal.
Their system brings misery and poverty to every country it con
trols. Yet they pursue this loser as though it were good. And in
spite of its failures, more countries embrace it--or let it be
imposed on them. Amazing! Thanks for keeping us informed.
ON THE WORLD SCENE
FIRSTHAND REPORT: MINERALS EROSION-
ACHILLES' HEEL OF U.S. ECONOMY
A.C. (Portland, OR)
--Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center
The economic base of the United States, and by extension, much of the rest
of the Western world, is in grave peril. But the danger remains largely un
recognized for now, because it comes from a source that most people are not
remotely familiar with or even much interested in once they are told.
On Monday, June 10, I heard about this looming national crisis firsthand in
San Francisco. In a speech delivered to the Commonwealth Club, J. Allen
Overton, President of the American Mining Congress, warned that the United
States is in danger of losing its mining, minerals and mine.
rals processing
base--the very foundation of our modern society.
The United States has, along with the other descendants of Joseph, been
greatly blessed in this end-time era. We have been exceedingly fruitful
nations (Gen. 49:22); we have enjoyed bountiful harvests due to good land,
good weather and abundant rainfall--the "blessings of heaven above" (verse
25). In the same verse we were prophesied to also enjoy "blessings of the
deep that lies beneath"--an obvious reference to abundant mineral re
sources.
Now, that latter blessing is eroding away. As Mr. Overton conveyed to his
audience, the U.S. mining and mineral processing industries suffer from
suffocating governmental regulations, the impact of radical, unbalanced en
vironmentalism, foreign competition and a dangerous overreliance for key
minerals on potentially unstable parts of the world.
Yet few Americans sense the impending crisis. As the country shifts into
more of a service-oriented and high-tech economy, the public at large, and
especially the younger generation, no longer sees that the need for main
taining a strong mineral base is as crucial as it ever has been. Following
are some of Mr. Overton's remarks, from his official transcript:
This afternoon I'm here to talk with you about the current state
of the minerals base in America and what it implies for our na
tional security and the economic well-being of our people. The
stakes are high--yet most Americans are not tuned in to the prob
lem.... I doubt if the average Californian--any more than the
average American--gives much thought to mining, other than re
calling the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill more than a cen
tury and a quarter ago.