Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-05

| invaluable commodity It should be alb.
| solutely incumbent upon the Government
to throw around the manufacturers OF
potash such safeguards of protection that
capital would at ono actively take up the
development of those natural resources
which are rich in potash salts. In view of
the fact that this country has been i'm
porting almost one million tons of potash
year previous to the present war, and in
creasng this amount every year. the COM
mercial possibilities of creating this indus
try in our own land, and at the same time
placing In our own country an arm of
preparedness second to no other, are demon
strated
demonstration of the practicabiity of
manufacturing potash from natural re-
sources is now, and has been for months,
in operation at Marysvale, Utah. While
the output is comparatively small and only
drop in the bucket, the fact remains that
from 80 to 80 tons of potash are being
made every day at this plant. The raw
material from which this is made is known
among chemists and engineers as alunte.
Each ton of alunite in this deposit will
average $50 pounds of sulphate of potash,
720 pounds of aluminium oxide, 900 pounds
of sulphuric acid.
This particular deposit IS nco~"1r~ -
the engineers reports, virtually inex-
haustible or estimated to contain sulIi-
ctent potash to supply America for 100
years LlllS COHCtTn anu one OlneI company
virtually control all the immense deposits
at Marysville. Utah. \ detailed account of
this deposit can be found in Mineral Re-
sources, 1914. just issued by the United
States Geographical Survey.
Another source of potash is the kelp in
dustry of the Pacific coast. Some potash
Is being made from the brine of an alkaline
lake in Nebraska, while some experimental
work in the production OF potash from
other sources is now in progress, These
later sources are still in experimental
stages. Thus, the nation, in it's need of
potash, must for the present, at least, look
TO the Utah deposit, and with the construc-
tion and modern equipment OF mills and
sufficient force of laborers. there is no
reason why this large deposit OF mineral
should not yield. to large extent, the
amount of potash demanded by the coun-
try's ever-lncreas!ng needs.
The German potash industry. before the
war, used in its operation a force of 10000
men and virtually supplied the world.
Why should not this phase of interior devel-
opment be utilized in the United States?
Such development cannot fail to expand
our commerce, safeguard scores of indus
tries, and, above all else. increase the agri-
cultural output 10 the results obtained by
European countries, which produce crops
twice or thrice as large as the average yield
OF our own farms. American agriculture is
still far from realizing how easily the har-
without an additional day of labor.
However, the American people have
within their own hands the weapon, the
ballot TO speedily and definitely assure and
insure the safety and remuneration which
capital demands before entering a field of
this sort. There should Immediately be a
concerted movement in which the co-opera-
tion of the people at large be secured and
educated through the public press to
awaken the nation to the serious condi-
tions now resulting from the scarcity of
this important salt, Another alarming fac
tor in the situation is the prohibitoTy price
demanded for the little to be secured
There can be no real preparedness without
pOtash--consequently the hardships Incl
dent to the present famine OF potash must
be promptly and effectually mitigated The
economic fabric of American Industrial life
must never again be exposed TO such loss
such tyranny, through the dependence upon
foreign source for the nations potash
supply.