The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-08-20

than will the destructive art of war
In the case of zinc, however, the effect
Of the European war is the opposite
The smelling centers of the Continent
are in the zone of fighting. In Bel
gium for instance practically all the
zinc smelters lie along the line of at.
tack chosen by the German armies
while in Rhenish Prussia, Austria
Hungary, and Russian Poland the
smelters are likewise located where
military operations promise to be
most active. 1t is within the limits
of probability to expect loss of a
half million tons in the foreign pro-
lduction of zinc or nearly half the
worlds output, with beneficial effect
upon the recent over-production in
the United States, especially as afford
ing the opportunity to export zinc and
galvanized iron products to South
American countries. which market has
hitherto been only in part utilized by
FOUR exporters.
Fuel oil has large use in naval
warfare of today. yet the tying up of
the big tank steamers on both the At
lantic and Pacific seaports is already
embarrassing the oil producers of
this country who depend so largely
upon the export trade in all the forms
of petroleum crude and refined. On
the other hand. Russia, our strongest
rival in oil production, must suffer
more complete and longer continued
interruption of exports, which should
tend to enlarge the market for our
OIL"
"The supply of cheap foreign bar
ytes has prevented the development
of many good deposits of that miner
al, but with the consumers on the At
lantic seaboard already looking for
domestic supplies, some of the south
ern mines should be reopened to sup
plement the outputs of those already
in operation"
"The closure of the European mar
ket leaves but one buyer for the ra-
dunn ores of Colorado and Utah,
which is decidedly to the disadvan-
tage of the miner Had the legisla-
tion introduced in Congress been
promptly enacted the United States
Government would probably have been
buying these ores at this time"
while the United States leads in
coal mines," continued the Secretary,
the six European nations now at war
happen to be the six next largest coal
mining countries, producing together
over half the worlds coal. Interfer-
ence with both mining and the COM
merce of these nations must neces-
sarily increase the demand for our
coal at least, in the neutral countries
of the world. And coal is our one re-
source about which there need be no
|present anxiety. The United States
is now producing 40 per cent of the
worlds supply Of coal, and the re-
serves yet to be drawn upon exceed,
so far as we know. those of allN the
rest of the world combined. It is NOT
generally known, however, to what an
extent we have been depending upon
Europe, principally Germany. for
many of the chemical products de-
rived from coal, and which we have
been permitting to go to waste, in the
most reckless manner. Coal tar OBJ
tanned in the manufactures of coal
was, and of coke lin retort ovens) is
capable of producing hundreds of
chemical products. but the chemical
industries dependent upon coal tar as
a raw material have had little devel-
opment in the United States. Our
imports of coal tar products in 1913
were valued at 100000 at initial
ing points and when they reached the
ultimate consumer probably cost
double that amount. If the present
war continues any length of time the
American consumer will have to do
without aniline colors and dyes, GER
tain drugs, and numerous other coal
tar products of the American manu-
facturers will undertake to supply |
these essential commodities which |
have hitherto carried the label MADE |
in Germany"
''The Panama canal is opened in !
time to help us in many ways. Be- |
liva, for instance, is one of the great |
est tin producing countries in the
world, but its heaviest expectations
have been to Europe and the United
States has been getting its supply of
materials for the manufacture of tin
plate and tin alloys from London and |
Liverpool. With the suspension of
European industry and the opening of
the canal, there is no good reason why
we should not now step In, bring Bo-
liva's tin ore to this country and man
ufacture it."
Would this change of supply mean
higher prices IN this country"
mot necessarily" replied Mr.. Lane
During the period of transition from
one supply to another, and the initial I
of new sources of mater