The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27
BILLIONS IN BLACK MUD.
WHICH TIE AMERICAN tenn
PERMANENT WON'T UTILIZE.

re ENA WV CAAAANS'
The Campaign TO Make People Take an
Interest In Peat Has Been Geing on
Now for Half q Century, with Prac.
tiralIy No Result-Dii erent In B uropo.
Inst why Americans have not begun to
draw upon their reserve OF $50, 000. 600 900
wbich lies on deposit in mudbanks in
wolves study OF national temperament.
Fifty years ago the peat fuel propaganda
was started In this country with the pub
,1,tion Of a widely circulated pamphlet
BIZ George II. Pollock OF New York, who
urged that in view Of the rapid destruo-
lion Of the North American forests and
the high price OF coal-anthracite then
re,oiled at IS a ton in New York--the prac-
tioally ~inexhaustible peat boys should be
drawn upon.
Since then the enthusiasm Of scientific
and engineering theorists on the subject
has fared up on an average about every
five years.
Just the other day a Government pub
LEGATION called attention to the CONNER
cial possibility Of gouging out a swamp or
n mud puddle almost anywhere and pro-
ducing limitless quantities Of methyl
alcohol suitable for running automobiles.
The usual line Of valuable b~y-products
could, OF course, be predicated. During
the coal strike OF 1908 there was talk Of
digging warm comfort out Of the cold
swamps Of the eastern and central por-
tons Of the country.
That was the time wheG experiments
at the Massachusetts, Institute OF Tech
nology proved the theoretical points that
had been alleged frequently in favor Of
peat. About lsss-s9 magazines and news
papers published articles descriptive Of
peat progress in Germany, Holland, Swe-
den and other countries Of Europe.
So 1t goes back through the memory
OF the years In which there vas always
m Edward Atkinson or a Thomas H.
Leayitt TO tell the American people how
much they were missing by preferring
to-use coal at from s. to IS q ton when they
might Just as well have briquettes Of
moulded or compressed mud that would
be three-ffths as good at certainly less
than half the cost Between 1850 and 1875
forty-six peat fuel companies are known
to have started business.
Yet the stubborn fact has always re-
manned that Americans have not wanted
something that Is three-ffths as good
even al one-third the cost. So long as
there Is coal why monkey with mud!
After the cream is gone then it will be
time TO discuss ways and means Of utiliz-
ing the skinned milk. That Is the atti-
tude which has kept the reserve Of mud
fuel practically untouched In spite Of half
a century Of agitation in favor Of drawing
Immediately upon 1t to the saving Of
forests and coal mines. i
In Europe ii is different People nave
to economize in the lands of northern
Europe Consequently Holland sorapes
annually out Of it's boys about a million
tons Of vegetable mould, and incidentally
brings into cultivation about 600 acres OF
new land, for marke ct gardening.
Sweden makes each year a larger draft
upon It's quaking equivalent Of s.0o0.ooo,o 900
toni Of steam coal. About 1900. 900 tons
Of peat IL now consumed annually in
Swedish industries.
The Irish are considering ways and
means of making q hole. faster in the
s,s72, 100000 tons Of infiammable turf
md mud that cover about one-ninth OF
the total surface Of the Emerald Isle.
The whole industrial future Of Ireland
may lie In the utilization Of this hitherto
neglected source Of power.
The Germans with their many inherited
uses Of the material and their continued
experimentation are drawing rapidly
but not wastefully upon their compara-
lively limited supply.
The various uses Of peat multiply
abroad. as Messrs. Bjorling and Gissing
have noted extensively in their recent
book on peat" About one hundred
factories in Germany are each producing
annually In excess Of 100. 1000 tons OF
~briquetted peat In Bavaria for some
years locomotives have been burning
mud fuel.
Producer gas from peat Is employed In
many Swedish metallurgical works and
elsewhere. In various quarters 1t
has been found feasible to secure not
only gas suitable for. fuel and inumina-
ton but charcoal and such b~y-products
as are familiar in gas manufacture every
where-tar. illuminating oil. paraf1n,
benzol. ammonia. sulphur.
Methylated spirits have been evoked
out Of foreign boys in salable quantities.
and paper Is a possibility. although the
factory established in 1908 at Celbridge,
Ireland. for making wrapping paper from
peat has not proved successful and has
been dismantled Peat Is cooked by
electricity at Bergen. Norway, and other
places 1t has in fact a thousand and one
uses in Continen tai countries.
Meantime American boys. the deepest
and WIDEST in the world. not v e except
ing those OF Ireland, some OF them Of a
depth Of eighty or ninety feet, continue to
quake undisturbed. Agood many peat fuel
companies have been organized in the last
few years. One with an ambitious pros
pectus was Incorporated Massachusetts
last spring. Some few Of these companies
are going concerns. but not many Of them
have gone in very deeply-unless into
the pockets Of investors.
Reasons why this great fuel reserve
Of the United States. whose unknown
value might as plausibly be set at one
hundred billion dollars as at fifty billions.
remains practically intact after fifty
years OF agitation are partly psychology
cal, partly mechanical. II the psychology
cal cause we're not uppermost Yankee
ingenuity might have solved the me-
chanical difficulties long ago.
Americans are not ready to burn mud