The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1916-03-23
COTTON LARGELY
USED IN MAKING
OF EXPLOSIVES
American Staple Of Great I'm.
portance to Fighting
Power of Army.
GERMANY FINDS SUBSTITUTE
Experts Said to Have Discovered New
Process In Which Wood Pulp 10
EmpIoyed-shlp Load Of Cot.
ton Costs 500 Lives.

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. widely. diff.
fer as to the amount of raw cotton be.
ing consumed In the manufacture OF
smokeless powder, both here and in
Europe. not only as to the total con.
sumption since the war began, but the
amount necessary to produce one
pound Of such powder. OF powders,
80 per cent being used in Europe ia
known as "smokeless," according to
the military records of this govern.
ment. and since the reckoning here Ia
that it requires n pound of cotton to
produce one pound of smokeless pow.
der, an idea may be gathered of the
importance the American staple bears
to the fighting power of an army.
In justification of it's c%ontraband or
der, the government of Great Britain
In a statement issued by the embassy
here, pointed out the extensive use Of
cotton for military purposes and that
It forms practically the only base for
explosives employed. by European
armies. The English do not agree,
however, that cotton consumption ia
pound for pound. but that only four
tenths Of m pound of cotton is re.
CURED to produce one pound of this ex.
plosive. Some Of their authorities
contend that a bale of cotton will. turn
out 900 pounds OF smokeless powder,
and, putting it In another way, that
every shipload of cotton. reaching the
Germans results in the death of 500
soldiers Of the allies.
One Million Bales for Powder.
Representative Hefin of Alabama in.
PRODUCED q resolution asking the de-.
partment Of commerce to obtain fig.
ures upon the consumption of cotton
in the manufacture of explosives. Mu-
milton makers desiring to protect
their trade secrets, are 1oath to give
facts to the. public touching that
phase Of the industry, and the figures
o%btainable are more or less estimated.
Before n of the committees of the
house recently O witness stated that
LOCO, 900 bales of cotton had been used
by American munition makers since
the beginning of the European war.
Representative Hef1in in q speech to
the house dealing with cotton growing
and expectation, estimated that a total
OF 100000 bales OF. the staple grown
In the United States had found it's way
Into powder. He allows 1000, 900 bales
consumption by the governments Of
Europe and the remainder to the man.
%ufacturing plants in the United States.
In the manufacture of smokeless
powder linters are generally used, ow-
ing to being cheaper than the long
fiber and ad%aptability of being worked
over. England has contended that II
cotton could be kept out of Germany
sooner or later the Teutonic allies
would run out Of powder, yet this pre-
diction does not appear to be approach
ing fultillment when it is known that
little If any cotton has been getting
into Germany for months.
Germans Have a Substitute.
Unconfirmed stories reached the
United States that Germany met the
crisis by gathering cotton rags to work
them back into fiber and grinding into
pulp for powder purposes. but it ap.
pears from documents placed in the
Congressional Record by Senator
Hoke Smith OF Georgia that the Teu.
tons resourcefulness is bound by nc
such limitations. He read a letter
from Germany showing that cotton
was not being used in the manufacture
of powder at all. that long before the
outbreak of the war experts Of thai
country had substituted wood pulp
and that since the war began wood
pulp had been relied upon almost EN-
tirely.
Other statements were produced b,
the senator from Georgia to support
the contention that Germany was NJ
longer relying upon cotton linters and
1t was related, the German military de
partment has been releasing It's cot
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