El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-09-07

WASHINGTON, D. c.. Sept 7.-Th'
w United States geological surve1
and the bureau Of mines have beer
making special Investigations as t,
the minerals which Uncle Sam re-
quires for the war. They are num-
bersd by scores Some have a part in
explosives, some are used in shells
and projectiles, others are indispen-
SALE TO the airpIane and the battle
ship, and others have to do with in
creasing our food supply. The war Is
a fight Of metals as wen as Of men,
and the forces that can produce the
best combinations and can command
the raw materials 10 DO so VIII come
out victorious.
The necessity OF the principal min
erals is well known We have these
N abundance We were producing 40
percent Of the worlds coal output be-
fore the war began, and almost three
fourtns OF the petroleum. Neverthe-
less, we had famine in coal last win
ter, and there is now danger OF a
shortage in gasoline. AS to iron,
which forms the basis for everything
in transportation and fighting ma
chinery, 30 percent Of that mineral
comes from the United States, and
our smelIers have been producing half
OF the worlds copper and about one
third Of its lead and zinc.
hon Output Enormous.
All OF these minerals are Of enor-
nous value as 10 the war, but in the
use Of them 10 make the best fight
ing machines, other minerals are re-
CURED, some Of which until now We
have been importing from various
parts Of the world Our output Of
iron ore last year was over 10000, 600
tons, but that used in making high
speed tools, ordnance, armor plate and
the stronger parts Of airplanes and
automobiles had 70 be mixed with
other metals. the names Of which are
hardly known 10 the ordinary reader.
Among these are mOlybdenum, Tana-
dium and uranium, cobalt and chrom-
Jun. tungsten and manganese
Nauadium and chromium are en-
plOyed TO make steel hard and tough.
and able 10 resist the shock Of ex-
plosion- We have vanadium in some
Of the ores Of Colorado and Utah, but
the most OF our supply comes from
Peru, whose yearly output IS about
5000 tons The chief mines are high
up in the Andes within a short dis
lance Of the great silver and copper
deposits OF Cerro de Pasco.
The Germans are using chromium
also TO make up their shortage OF
tungsten 1t is especially valuable for
making hard cutting tools and for
automobile axles and springs. It is
used for cannon Innings and in srmor
plate, and is one Of the metals speci-
fled in certain parts Of the Liberty
motor
Find Chromium in United States.
Until within the past two or three
years nearly all Of our chromium came
from British South Africa and the
French islands Of the Pacific, but now
we are producing thousands Of tons,
the most Of which comes from Shasta
and Fresno counties, California We
have the metal in Oregon and other
western states as well, and some has
been quarried near Baltimore, Nd
Uranium $4,000 Ton.
As TO uranium, the Germans have
taken all OF that metal they can find
and are using il in their steel works
Tor some military purpose which has
not yet been discovered It IS proba-
bly, in connection with tungsten in
combination with which il is valuable
as a Ierro alloy The stuff brings
about $3.50 a pound or $4,000 a ton.
We have the largest deposits in ex-
istence and are using IL 10 make high
speed tools
AAAAAEM lA0aA ' aAuAUAEa
A metal which is Of much the same
class as those above mentioned. and
perhaps the most important Of all, is
tungsten Its value was known be-
fore the war in Europe began. but
since then II has become almost indis-
pensable and the price has risen from
$3.50 TO $4,000 a ton Tungsten is used
IN shells and projectiles. but its chief
value is for making high speed tool
Sc
equipped with tungsten steel tools.
using a single machine. can do as much
work as five men with five machines
equipped with the carbon steel tools
that were formerly used One of the
makers OF cheap automobiles says that
his company would have 40 add 5000
10 the price Of each automobile II it
had to use the old style carbon steel
tool
The metal IS used also for fiIaments
in electric and incandescent lamps It
can be drawn out into wires one
eighth as thick as a human hair and
almost as fine as the finest strand Of
= cobweb- BY using tungsten fila
ments one can now get for Is cents as
much electric light as formerly cost
him 81, and the light is better
Tungsten is valuable in speed tools
because 1t melts only at $500 degrees I
Fahrenheit such tools viii keep on
cutting when red hot. and they can be
sneeded enormously The metal has a
tensile strength Of more than 500 tons
10 the square inch. and it resists rust
and acid
L s. Supplauts Germany.
Before the war began tungsten vas
used largely in Germany, but the sup
ply began TO play out before we came I
in. The Deutschland. the submarine I
that came TO this country in 1916, I
bringing a cargo OF dyes, took back a /
cargo largely made up Of tungsten. /
Before The war the Germans got most
Of this metal from the British pos
sessions and they owned also mines in J