The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-08
Washington. D. c.

Washington. D. c.
 GIHE United States geological sur
 vey and the bureau of mines
 have been making special in-
 vestigations as to the minerals
 which Uncle Sam requires for the war. They are numbered by scores. Some X have part in. explosives, some are used 7 in shells and projectiles, others are in l. dispensable to the airplane and the bat : tleship, and others have to do with in- 1. creasing our food supply. In fact, every ; thing connected with the fighting in {. Europe depends upon mineral resources of one kind or another. The war is a : ight of metals as well as of men, and - the forces that can produce the best combinations and can command the raw materials to do so will come out vic- torious.
 The necessity for the principal min erals is well known. We have these in abundance. We were producing 40 per
 cent of the worlds coal output before the war began, and almost three
 fourths of the petroleum. Nevertheless, we had a famine in coal last winter, and there is now danger of shortage in gasoline. As to iron, which forms the basis for everything in transportation and fighting machinery, 40 per cent of l. that mineral comes from the United . States, and our smelters have been pro- ducing half of the worlds copper and about one-third of it's lead and zinc All of these minerals are of enor- . nous value as to the war, but in the { use of them to make the best fighting machines other minerals are required, some of which until now we have been importing from various parts of the ; world. Our output of iron ore last year . was over 70,ooo,oo tons, but that used Sin making high-speed tools, ordnance , armor plate and the stronger parts of airplanes and automobiles had to be- mixed with other metals, the names of 7 which are hardly known to the ordinary reader. Among these are molybdenum, vanadium and uranium, cobalt and chromium. tungsten and manganese. Vanadium and chromium are em- ployed to make steel hard and tough, and able to resist the shock of an 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 distance of the great silver and copper deposits of Ger TO de Pasco. I visited them during my last trip to the Andes. They were owned oi1SlltaIis by an Italian, but were sold by hinn-to capitalists in Pittsburg who now control the chief source of the worlds supply. We are now producing about one-sixth as much as Peru.
 The Germans are using Chromium alsd to make up their shortage of tungsten It is especially valuable for making hard cutting tools and for automobile axes and springs. It is used for cannon lin ings and in armor plate, and is one ct the metals specified in certain parts Of the Liberty motor. Chrome steel can be made so that it will not rust, and all together it is so valuable military metal that the bureau of mines recon mends that the government provide for at least one years reserve supply. Until within the past two or three years near ly all Of our chromium came from British South Africa and the French islands of the Pacific, but now we are producing thousands ot tons, the most of which comes from Shasta and Fresno counties, 1 California. We have the metal in Ore | gon and other western states as well, and some has been quarried near Balti- more, Mo.
 As to uranium, the Germans have taken all of that metal they can fra and are using it in their steel works