The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-09
WONDERFUL POWDER SECRET IS BETRAYED.
All Governments Know of
 24-HOur SmOkeless

The secret of the American govern- ments '24-hour smokeless powder has been betrayed, says the Houston Post. The closely guarded formula now reposes in the flies of every great war office on earth and will be taken advantage of by the European nations now at war. It may serve to prolong the bloody conflict. which experts. unaware of Europes possession of the powder secret are predicting will be of short duration
 The United States has lost forever the tremendous advantage it would have had in war with any less resourceful nation; years of Yankee inventiveness have been wasted; a half million Yankee dollars
 spent in developing '24-hour powder might as well have been dumped into the sea.
 That intrigue entered into the bertyal of the secret is not suspected. But, as Washington literary colony jots down in notebooks the details of the romantic story for use in future fiction, within the foreign chancellories of this American capital the military attaches-those polite spies tolerated by international courtesy smile their inscrutable smiles The incident is likely to have value | more practical than the entrancing of | those who love to explore diplomatic mys- teries. It is expected to give impetus to l the Clayton bill, now before the House l judiciary committee.
 l This bill supported by the army, would l broaden the recent law making it a fel- ony to disclose government military league
 and other patriotic societies secrets. There are hundreds of confidential em-
 ployes in our arsenals and navy yards ,lfl.. ,1f,lI fx,i,t 4o fba l defenses of the United States by reveal | ing government secrets,' said l.. B. Johns of Washington. secretary of the Army I league.
 l For the layman to realize the signifi- | canoe of the betrayal of the powder se- 1 cret 1t is necessary to know that the modern smokeless powder Is slow of man 1 ufacture. It requires from four to six
 months to make a stable powder. Pow
 der manufactured in shorter time may l explode spontaneously, destroying the l dreadnarght carrying it.
 1 Wars of the future-even the one now l on-will concentrate within 0 few weeks | the fury of destruction which once spread
 out over years of slow warfare. Any en- l emy who uses up his powder supply will 1 be at the mercy of the nation whose | powder remains, because it takes months | to get a new supply.
 1 Since the discovery of smokeless pow der the inventors of the world have been I trying to mix safe smokeless powder | for immediate use. Hudson Maxim, the
 American wizard in the realm of explo- | sives discovered it--a powder which could i be used within "A hours.
 Given to United States He carried his secret to the govern. ments powder makers, the Du Fonts. Ir
 a deserted wing of the factory Maxim
 mixed the wonderful stuff with his owr hands. It was tested 24 hours later, ex. | ploded terrifically and with but trace | of smoke.
 The directors of the company saw mil | lions in the invention-s mopnpoly of the | sale of powder to every nat3nc. But tht discovery was so important any natior possessing 1t exclusively ,uld have SC I great advantage in war that the sugges ton was made that the secret be turned over to the American government.
 Patriotism warred with purse string: in that directors meeting. Patriotism won. Vice President Buckner of the DJ | Pont company went personally to Wash
 ington and offered the exclusive secret
 It was accepted with gratitude by ths
 administration.
 Every precaution was then taken by
 the United States ordnance heads, Gen
 eral Crozier and Admiral Mason to guard
 the secret The mixture was not patented
 at all At the factory 1t was arranged
 that no single employe would know tn,
 ingredients or proportions of the powder
 Even the employees were fof1idden to visi
 the part of the mill where the new powder was manufactured.
 Then followed long and costly tests o the stability and durability of the pow der These experiments removed iron it's explosives even the trace of smoke Several confidential experts of the gov ernment were assigned to supervise tn tests and in some way a chemist not o their number. eminent. but too engrosse in science to appreciate practical dis covery, prepared a scientific paper de scrbing it. He read this paper befor meeting of scientists in Washington