The Washington herald., 1917-11-22
NITRATE PLANT
SOLVESU.S.NEED
Holland Says Alabama Fac,
tory Will Supply Plenty
Munitions Material.

L. H Baskeland, who Is a member |
of the naval consulting board, said |
few days ago that the chemical en- |
Eineers Of the United States are now |
facing problems In organic chemistry.
IF they succeed half as well in this !
Rew line as they have done in the !
hd, there Is little doubt that this |
country, with its limitless resources of |
organic products, will find ample op-
portunity for building up new chemi- |
cal industries for products heretofore
OF little use or scarcely known, but
for which a market can be found as
soon as the chemical engineers dis
cover new possible uses. 1t will be.
the story OF so many chemical sub
stances which at first found no mar
ket and for which sometime after
ward the demand exceeded the sup
ply"
The government at Washington is
about greatly to stimulate the chemi-
cal engineers through the establish
ment OF a nitrate plant In Alabama
for which 81, 900 has been appro-
priated by Congress. This plant should
have been established Immediately af-
ter the beginning OF the war in Eu-
rope, but for some reason Congress
could not be made to understand that
the great nitrate resources which
Chill has furnished are becoming
rapidly diminished and are likely to
Be exhausted should present demands
upon them be continued after q few
years have passed.
Not until the farmers became great
ly concerned lest there should be a
famine IN fertilizing commodities in
which nitrate plays an important part.
was Congress persuaded to appropri-
ets q small sum for the establishment
fof the plant by means OF which an in
exhaustble natural resource in nitrate
could be obtained. The progress OF the
war and the stupendous demand made
for explosives into which nitrates en-
ter as one of the most important ele-
mentS at last made it clear to Con-
gress that II We are to be abundantly
supplied with nitrate we must turn to
electro-chemistry and thereby. BY
methods perfected only a few years
ago, secure for the atmosphere all the
nitrogen that We need.
Shortly after the great hydro-elec-
tric plant was established at Niagara
Falls a man of science who is an
American worked out a method by
means Of which through electro-chem-
istry nitrogen could be obtained from
the atmosphere. 1t had been demon
strated that over three acres of the
earth's surface and, extending as far
upward as the earth'S atmosphere eX-
lists there Is enough nitrogen in the
atmosphere to equal the entire nitrate
resources Of Chilli The man of science
was not able to persuade capital to
become interested in his discovery
and invention. Norway took it up,
however. and established highly sue
n nil nj in
siderable measure upon the American
electro-chemi0al method. Germany in
stantly followed Norway's lead: other
Fise Germany would have been un-
Sble to carry on the war. 1t Is COM
monty believed here that in Germany
$500 OOO. 900 have been invested in es-
ablishing and operating plants byI
neans Of which through electro-chcm-
istry nitrogen in abundant quantities
is obtained from the atmosphere.
Now the government at Washing
ton Is making ready to utilize an ap-
preparation Of $4,000. 90 for the es-
tablishment Of a great nitrate plant
at Muscle Shoals. Alabama
This undertaking also demonstrates
the new view taken by Congress re- |
specting the value OF great water |
powers so utilized that the energy |
can be converted into electric energy. |
The establishment Of this plant at
Muscle Shoals, near Florence, Ala, |
is likely to create a very great indus !
trial center in the South. Senator |
Bankhead, in an address delivered at
Florence few days ago, stated that |
not only would abundant nitrates for
explosives be made, but in addition !
the very great power into which the |
Muscle Shoals Rapids are to be con- |
verted is to be so utilized as to rep
resent at least 300 carloads of coal
q day, or. in other words, that amount |
OF coal will be saved. The energy
thus created will be utilized not only
in the manufacture, by the electro
chemical process, of nitrogen, but
asso in manufacture OF munitions and
Arious war necessities.
y. W. Paige. who is the secretary
nd manager of the Florence Chamber |
K Commerce, says that in Sena- |
or Bankhead's view this is to be-
ome the greatest government pro-
ct in the United States. 1t will !
Grely be followed by such increased |
Ypopulation in the Tennessee River |
valley as viii make it possible for |
the census takers in 1870 to report a !
population OF at least half a million !
persons.
Mr.. Paige says that the government |
already has at Muscle Shoals a fleet |
OF steamboats,, many barges, dredges |
and much machinery and the govern |
nent has also built a railroad about |
fifteen miles long which parallels the |
Shoals and the canals built some
years ago. This great nitrate manu- !
featuring plant should be in operation |
in about a year. If the war be |
ended by that time then the nitrates |
thus secured from the atmosphere |
will be available for fertilizers and
the apprehension Of the farmers-that |
fertilizers will be unobtainable or at /
least impracticable to obtain on ac-