The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-18
More Than a Barrel Per Capita Used Yearly in
 United States
PRACTICALLY NONE
 IS NOW IMPORTED
Even the Machinery Now Used in Cement Manufacture Is All Made in the United
 States
By HOLLAND

New York, April 17.-(SpeciaI) )-There Is one industry in tine United States which has been only indirectly affected by the European war. Nevertheless, it has been keeping pace with the immense develop ment of the steel industry and of rein forced concrete. The statistics which tell of the growth of this industry are easily comparable with those which report the advance in the steel and in the copper in- dustries. It is the cement industry of the United States. Some of the figures which tell of the manufacture and marketing of the products are enormous. For in- stance, one of the companies which man. ufacture cement supplied 7,500,000 barrels for the Panama canal. This was only one item in the marketing of it's products. Whoever is in position at any time to glance at the Jersey City railroad termi- nals will not fail to see hundreds of cars of which the freight is cement. In the past five years, there have been at these terminals from time to time as many as 600 cars. the capacity of each of which averages 160 barrels, or 6O,OGO pounds, equivalent to 30 tons for each car. Some times a greater amount than that is stored in car.
 One of the companies engaged in this industry produces 1S,0O0,000 barrels annu- ally. New York city, in 1915, took 6O0 O0O- 900 barrels, equivalent to 100000 tons Sometimes reference has been made to the evidences of that prosperity which improvement in building in New York city in the last 12 months furnishes. The statement that New York city took 1,250,- GOO tons of cement in 1915 is regarded as a better proof of building activity in this city than any other detail. furnishes. So rapid has been the growth of this indus- try that in 1915 the production of conn., mercial cement was about 100000 900 bar re1s and that would, if equally distribu- ted, give one barrel to every person in the United States.
 There are some curious features about this industry contained in the statistics prepared by the government at Washing ton. These figures show a curious dis proportion between the demand in some of the states and the demand in others. For instance, South Carolina and Missis- sippi made a demand for cement to be used in home consumption which was al- most nil. On the other hand, the percen- tage in barrels per capital in Illinois, In- diana and Iowa was about one and twenty-hundredths. Iowa's demand was the largest made by any state, it being one and sixty-four hundredths. In the far west. industrial and building actiyi-. ties of all kinds are illustrated by the de- mand for cement. The Utah demand, for instance, was equivalent to one and seven -hundredths of the population per barrel South Dakota's demand was equivalent to sixty-f1ve one hundredths per capita in barrels. Montanas was al- most exactly equal to the Iowa demand, The industrial states as whole made much larger demand for cement than did the agricultural states. The average for the United States in 1914 per capita in barrels was seventy nine hundredths per cent. In 1915 the demand will be almost exactly one barrel of cement for every individual living in the United States.
 THE EUROPEAN WAR
 Ernest F. Burchard of the United States geological survey, in a recent report, makes certain comments respecting this industry as it has been affected by the European war. He said that the United States imports very little hydraulic ce- ment. How little is illustrated by the figures which tell of the imports which in 1913 were only S4,OO0 barrels, whereas the domestic production in that year was about 93,000,000 barrels. In fact, it should be unnecessary, unless there be especial reasons due to locality or unusual de- mand, for the United States to import any cement. The raw material is in abundance, and. in fact, it's existence in almost all parts of the country should make it possible to supply the mills with all materials needed no matter how great the demand is. The government authori- ties are of the opinion that one of the effects of the European war should be the making of the United States abso- lutely independent so far as the cement industry is concerned, of any other coun- try.
 Enormous as is the growth of this in dustry and great as is the capital in- vested in it and of the sum received for its products nevertheless in one respect it differs from any other industry in the United States Coal is found here and there, iron is mined in several sections of