Evening star., 1901-09-14
SALT OF The EARTH
Found Everywhere on Land and in
the Sea.
INTERNATIONAL TRUST IMPOSSIBLE
Work of Mining the Article
Described.
EOLO STS' VIEW

Written for The Evening Star.
To secure a monopoly of the salt trade of
the world would necessitate control of the
entire earth. including the seas thereon,
and yet there is a salt trust which estab-
fishes the price of that product from day
to day to the consumer. When the salt of
commerce becomes too plentiful to COM
mand profitable price the National Salt
Company marks down the figure, the sur
plus is consumed, smaller and rival con-
Germs go to the wall, the field Is again left
to the big companies and up goes the price
Of salt. This stimulates production once
more, and the story is repeated. A line
drawn to show the f1uctuation in the price
Of salt for the twenty-five years past re-
sembles that which demonstrates the rise
and fall of the tides it is almost as regular.
Economy in handling, ability to stand
heavy loss and a constantly available sur
plus of millions Of tons are the factors in
maintaining the big salt company which
furnishes ten million of the seventeen mil
lion barrels Of salt consumed each year In
the United States. The greatest enemy Of
the salt business is loss In consumption.
The retail dealer does not buy until he is
out of salt. The small salt producer is not
always able to fill an order at a moments 8
guarantee to have barrel or a million
barrels at his door the moment he sells his
last pound of the stock in hand. With it's
great bulk Of business, it is able to make
terms with the railroads. With its extern
sive ownership of plants it Is able to cover
all territory and limit the production to
reasonable amount. These are the reasons
why the salt trust fiourishes. No other in
dustry furnishes a more striking example
Of the value of scientific production and
distribution. By applying these principles
to the marketing of a product which Is un-
limited and obtainable by any one who may
go after it a trust is maintained.
Found I'm Marketable Quantities.
Railroads determine the distance to
which salt can be handled. The article
itself is found In marketable quantities
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from
Michigan to Texas. II not in the sea it is
in the land. II not SO it can be mined it
is dissolved and brought to the surface in
unlimited quantities by the simplest me-
chanical devices. Any one of the great
salt states, New York. Michigan or Kansas.
could produce enough salt each year to sup
ply this country, were the population 20O.
600 600. The divisions of time across this
continent may be said. roughly speaking,
to represent the salt districts.
Within the past twenty-five years salt
has sold as high as So barrel and as low
as So cents per barrel The barrel itself
cost 20 cents, and there are 29O pounds
Of salt in each package. 1t Is the cheapest
staple of human food. The So limit was
reached many years ago, and lbs barrel
is about the highest it has been for many
years. The price today Is about Is cents
per barrel in Chicago, and there has been
no recent reduction, as has been claimed.
This is one of the periods when the trust
has driven it's competitors to the wall and
is able to maintain a profitable price for
it's product When the consumer buys
pound of salt about one-half Of the
money he pays for 1t goes to the railroad
which hauled 1t to market. If the trust
receives 5h cents more for barrel of salt
than it costs the managers are well salts
fed. OF this 51 cents they pay cents for
labor and expense of doing business. When
the trust is getting what 1t calls a fair
price for its product, therefore, 1t makes
As cents profit per barrel, or one-hundredth
of a cent per pound. 1t does not average
this profit. by any means, however. for
thousands of tons are sold at a loss to en-
able the trust to control the market The
reason for this is found in the fact that If
all the salt plants now In existence were
to be operated they would produce each
year in the United States alone salt enough
for 200 100000 people.
Salt Is obtained for the market by two
processes-evaporation and mining. Less
than one-sixth OF the salt comes from the
product Is used for purposes OF refrigera-
ton. A typical rock salt mine Is to be
found at Lyons, Kan, In the middle Of the
great Kansas salt beds. The main shaft
drops over / 600 feet toward the center Of
the earth. The bottom Of the shaft rests
in a fine vein Of salt about Is feet thick.
and plan of the workings in the mine re-
The main streets are Is feet wide, running
east and west, north and south. From
these latter at intervals Of 100 feet are
salt now being shipped. Between these
chambers pillars of salt 50 feet square are
left to support the roof Of the mine.
Underground Workings.
The visitor who inspects these UNDER
ground workings drops Loco feet from the
top to the bottom OF the shaft in the cage
In forty seconds. It seems but flash
until 1t gently rests upon the bottom Far
up above CLEANS little pin hole Of light,
which Is the sunlit sky. Down In the mine
the air is cool and dry. The thermometer
marks G2 degrees winter and summer,
The smell of the salt Is in tirs air. 1t is
invigoraaing and restful. One might wish
for salt mine accessible during the
heated term; or, as he looks into one of
the great arched chambers, the walls of
which CLEAN a dull and ruby light in re-
sponse to the miners lamps, he can i'm
agine he has before him the stage setting
for great spectacular drama in which
the snow scene or the home Of the ner-
maids plays q leading part.
The miners who toll to create these ont
lines take little notice of these things, how
ever. They live but to make new chambers
to get out more salt. The chuE-chug of the
chenneling machine goes on for hours Dig
ging its way In under the wall of salt as
far as 1t can reach. Then come the long
augers which bore row Of holes high up
In the wall These holes are charged with
dynamite, tamped with loose salt and dis
charged by electricity. Hundreds of tons
Of salt fall forward onto the floor of the
cavern. Loaded into cars 1t is wheeled to
the hoist and goes to tho mill above. All
the machinery below II worked by COM
pressed air. The workings Of this mine
cover fourteen acres, seven acres OF which
are space from which salt has been taken.
and yet the mine can hardly be said TO be
opened, for its workings are but pin hole
In the great salt deposits Of the country.
At Hutchinson. Kan, 10 the largest salt
evaporation plant In the world All OF
the evaporating plants are built alike. ana
operated alike An eight-inch hole is bored
from the surface OF the earth to depth
which reaches below all fresh water strata.
This hole = then cased. A 6xrinch hole Il