The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-08-22

NATIONS
MUST HAVE CHILEAN
D TO g


Where Is an the raw material COM
ing from for the vast amour OF
powder that viii be- needed in the
great European war? That is a qucs-
tiun that South America can answer.
according Go a news note in thc July
number OF the Monthly Bulletin OF
the Pan American Union. Washing
ton, u. g..
Strang- 10 say, the one couutr, IN
the world which In times of peace
supplies the greatest agcnt 10 increase
pr-uductlveness al The earth. will Huw
DE called upon for 'deuticaily the
same agent Go supply the means uf
destruction. That country is the re-
public OF chile. and tho product
which has now assumed such trc-
mcndous Importance is the nitrHta OF
soda which b supplies To- The world.
The nitrate fields Of chile form Il
wonderful asset iu the national econ
omy, and this news note states that
the government will sell N public auc-
tiun, on August 10. In the city ut
santIauo, certain nitrate = .Gs located
In tho PROVINCE ~ TuTapaps, thus
opening zap Tor development addition
al areas containing this remarkable
product
The greatest use In recent years OF
Chilean nitrate has been ITO make
two blades cot grass grow where but
one grew before, ana in this capacity
h nus uccl q blessing go humanity.
Tho Use of nitrate OF soda as a fer
ulizor. thought very general now. has
been known to our civilization less
than 70 century. The stor, goes that
ln old Seotchmau who lived near the
I present nitrate fields ahout 1916,
spread some coil containing white
crystals 1854, part ut his garden.
Things painted lu this particular spot
grew wonderfully Samples OF the
soil W,r, sent tu scotland Tor auals sis.
and the uatutc uf The substance aud
! its value AS 10 fertilizer was soon cs-
tthlisncd According to tradition,
however. centuries before tn. spanish
oouquss., th, lucas uf Peru ana some
OF the natives ol Bolivia knew of the
/ fertil.1ius value ui tho white crystals,
aud are supposed to- have known how
90 produce them from the crude ma
tcrial
To-day emile enjoys practicable a
world monopoly IN the production OF
nitrate. and its use b. constantly
-r,vlug. la 1919 the exports reached
the high-wa'rr mars Ncarly 5000,
Ot0 tons were shipped from Inc VAR.
ION. ports of the country and went "a
! increase the produ,tiNcncss OF th'
soils of many different nations. In
DdcutallA. chile dr. .cs a golden haf'
vc.t from tine product. the revenue
derived from the export duty on nj
tratc. n equally distributed amonl
Tho luhahitHuts eft the country, Woulu
give every man, woman, and child ~
less than $40 annually This great
revenue lg being used to build ran
Iruads. Iupruy, hHr5ors. foster cdu'
cation. and Geo build up the nati",
generally. ana, taking into consider
alton the number OF is inhanitunts
muAcr Chill, one 81 the richest conn
tr.cs iu che world.
The Chilean nitrate beds are found
iu a strip uf country about 500 miles
long. at o. distance varying from n
to 80 miles from the P1cihc coast
The deposits lie in great beds. OF
strata. and tho product n easily min.
eel. The oNorisIug strata are peno.
tratcd hy small shafts cor drills OF
Through the natural nitrate beds q
the underlying bedrock or subsira.
tum 90 elias OF gravel. ~ the bot
tom 81 the shafts charges az powder
or dynamite are placed, which, whci
exploded, break up and scatter th'
surface layers % the nitrate The
fragments Of nitrate are then gath
cred from the debris and carried Do
carts ur small cars 60 the oncinps. "l
J factories. which convert the u1tlri.
product into the white cr.sta's 'i r.'
tratc 81 soda. sack hem and th't
Transport them 10 the nearest po
Tor shipment
Just now. however the greatest ae'
mand FOR nitrate VIII He .u muk'
powder aud other explosive Nitrl'
acid De- needed to manufacture nitro
glycerinc. dynamite. -muEcloss pow
DE- ana the various kinds of high cN'
plosiycs used in the. mnoorn times
Even In times 81 peace The United
States uses Tor manufacturing cNpios'
lives three times the amount 90 ma
tsate used IN the production Of Ter
ulizcr. Ia times ~ war no estimate
can be made as ~ = amount ths
world will demand. and Eouhtlcss ths
price OF Chilean nitrate wAl Soar.