65° - 01.07.1968, Blaðsíða 12

year to year. This situation makes the economic
situation of the country unusually unstable and
difficult to manage. Another economic necessity
is to keep the living standards of the country
abreast with those in the neighboring countries
of Western Europe and North America. This by
itself calls for the utilization of resources beyond
those of fish. The third consideration is, simply,
that if resources exist, why not make use of them?
The modern heavy chemical and allied indus-
tries need, primarily, suitable raw materials and
inexpensive energy. There are two kinds of in-
dustrially attractive energy in Iceland: water
power and natural heat.
The economic water power available in Iceland
has, so to speak, hardly been tapped, even though
over a hundred thousand kilowatts have been
harnessed and more than two hundred thousand
more are underway. This power is being made
available to industry at very reasonable prices
and must be considered the most important in-
dustry attraction in Iceland.
The second form of energy is that of natural
heat. Here, low cost electrical power may also be
obtained through natural steam, but the natural
steam may also serve as a direct heating agent
in many industrial processes. Since the cost of
natural steam is usually only a fraction of that
of fuels, this lends a sizeable economic potential
to a variety of industrial processes.
There are a few industrially useful minerals
available in Iceland and more will likely be found
in the future, but it may well turn out to be salt
brines and the sea itself which comprise the
richest bank of raw materials. Geothermal fluids
in the earth near the sea often carry some salts,
and one particular thermal area appears to be of
considerable interest in this respect. Research is
still taking place concerning these brines and
seawater as well as in many fields having a raw
material potential.
In talking about raw materials, however, one
should not forget that they do not necessarily
have to be entirely of local origin. In fact the
importance of low cost energy is so great in some
instances of chemical and metallurgical manu-
facture that raw materials may be imported, and
the product reexported. This, for instance, is
happening now in the case of aluminium, where
all raw material will be imported, even from far
corners of the globe, and the aluminium then
exported again. It is a fact worth remembering
that large oceangoing ships carry merchandise
over enormous distances for modest prices. It is
said that the age of the airplane has brought
people closer, but if so, the big ocean freighters
of today certainly have brought commerce closer
in the same sense.
This brings us to the important consideration
of the location of Iceland on the world map.
Obviously her position is very inviting for the
distribution of products as well as importation.
Her position in the North Atlantic, midway be-
tween the two greatest industrially developed
continents of the world gives a multilateral com-
mercial aspect of which few nations can boast,
thus there is little doubt that the chemical and
allied industries will continue to play an im-
portant role in the economy of Iceland, and a
greatly increased one. We Icelanders will need
this expansion both for economic stability and
as sources of employment for our rapidly growing
population. And fortunately the realization of
these aims does not depend on wishful thinking
but on the simple action of putting to some use
natural resources which are now idle and un-
productive.
When Were You Born?
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child has far to go,
Thursday’s child is full of woe,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for his living,
But the child that is born on the Sabbath Day
Is blithe and bonnie and good and gay.
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65 DEGREES