Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-10-15
CHEAP POWER VITAL
TO new INDUSTRIES
How Modern Business Depends
on Electrical Products.


latterly, for the manufacture of fer.
tilizers and nitric acid for explosives.
But these are only few Of the grow
ing demands for cheap power.
Today the great steel mills Of the
United States are absolutely dependent
upon the products Of the electric fur
mace for alloys The automobile manu-
faeturer is dependent upon another
electric furnace product-aluminum-
for car bodies. The manufacturers OF
steel products need these materials for
making tools, and countless factories
require abrasives which can not now
be imported, and which are produced
in the United States only by electric
processes. Without acetylene gas and
graphites, also electric products, many
industries would be crippled. -
Turning to the products of electro
chemistry, it is found that the surgeon
and the doctor look to electric plants
for chloroform and disinfectants; the
cotton and the paper manufacturer
need the bleaches produced by this
magic element; every user OF soap pa
tronizes an electro-chemical establish
ment, as does every user of matches
Gold and silver mining Of the West .te
quires electric products to assutsAa
profit, and Of late it is learned that
the United States, cut off from it's sup
ply of German dyes, finds itself de-
pendent upon other electric lpreduHte
to supply in part, the deficiency. f;Ia|'a
These are but a few Of the indt1StrAe
depending upon cheap power for iAs4
cess. The power is here. It's develSa
ment, when encouraged by the passdEb
of such bills as are now before SS&
gress, will make the United States III
dependent Of foreign sources of Stftipfy,
and will reduce the cost to the .cDHsuHl-
er Of countless articles of every dill
use which, to his mind, are probabl Al
no way associated with hydroze1ect iH
development.
The manufacture of steel is the great
est Of all American industries, and
better steel is made in electric fur.
naces than by any other known proc.
ess. Today electrically produced ferro-
silicon is used as an alloy by most
that the Bessemer process is fast be.
coming obsolete. The essential ele-
ment in the manufacture of armor
plate and armor-piercing projectiles is
introduced into steel by ferro-chromi-
UNI, an alloy which is strictly an cleo.
trio furnace product. The Navy De-
partment calls for this type of steel,
and will have no other as armor plate.
Without this alloy our battleships Of
recent date would be at the mercy of
hostile fleet, and the shells fired by
our warships and coast-defense guns
would be Ineffective against the armor
Of a modern enemy fleet.
Ferro-chrome another product Of the
electric furnace, has made possible the
manufacture Of high-speed tools, which
have tripled the capacity Of every ma
chine shop in the world, and enhanced
the efficiency of every mechanic. II
has cut to one-third the capital invest.
ed in tools to accomplish a given vol
ume of work.
stem, vanadium and molybdenuin, all
alloys made by electrical processes, the
United States could not build modern
battle ships and other weapons Of ma
tional defense, and large proportion
of our steel and metal working indus
tries and other industries would revert
to the conditions of twenty years ago.
The electrical industry itself is largely
dependent upon silicon steel, which
does not age and does not wear out.
There is no manufacturer of automo-
biles but who is today heavily depend
ent upon aluminium. The making of
automobile bodies utilizes more of this
electrically-produ metal than does
any other line Of industry. The devel-
opment Of aeroplanes also calls for
aluminium, and only with the abundant
the price Of ALUMINIUM kitchen utensils
be brought within the reach Of every
housewife.
At the outbreak Of the European wax
the United States was cut Off from the
supply of Greek and Turkish emery.
{ Today the metal working industries Ct
, this country are dependent absolutely
} upon electric furnace abrasives, carbo-
, rundum and alundum. The manufac.
J turer Of agricultural machinery, loco
) motives, firearms, milling machinery
J automobiles, and countless other metal
) products must have these abrasives
) and they can now be made only where
) water power is developed cheaply. Out
) off the artificial abrasives and force
) the automobile manufacturer to GO
) back to the grindstone. ut the same
) time eliminating the other products OF
cheap power - aluminium, high-specd
! steel, and special steels-and works
! which produce 500 cars per day would
be able to turn out less than 100, cars
! every twenty-four hours with the same
force Of workmen. This would mean
! an increase of price that would carry
! the automobile beyond the reach 81
thousands who now employ and en1oy
{ them.
The electric furnace also turns out
( calcium carbide, the only source OF
( acetylene, without which many homes
u