The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-24
U. S. FACTORIES
NEED CLAY FROM
ENGLAND BADLY
More Than Quarter of Mil
lion Tons Imported to
This Country Last Year

Most of usst11ink clay is something
as common. and abundant as sand or
gravel. Consequently it comes as
surprise to be told by the Shipping
Board Committee on Mineral Imports
land Exports in Washington, that even
in this day of great shortage of ocean
'going ships we have to import from
England every year 200,0 to 100000
long tons of clay. Last year we i'm
ported more than 100000 tons over
'the~ocean.
Furthermore, a great part of this
clay comes over in steamers loaded
full and the>rest in big steamers load
ed with clay up-to so per cent, and
more of their maximum carrying ca
pacity These ships put into Fowey.
England, for their freight. To get
this clay on and off the boats requires
ten days on each cargo. An insig-
nif1cant percentage of the clay is ship
ped as ballast. This represents small
lots loaded into big liners at Liver
pool. BUTT will be seen that the i'm
portatton Of English clay consumes an
important amount of ship tonnage
measurediin days time lost because of
natural delays incident to the trans
port of thisafreight.
Why do-our manufacturers pay the
high freight rates now necessary in
order to obtain an article like clay
from England? There is, as we all
know, an abundance of clay in this
country. A great deal of high grade
clay is sproduced here, and of a char
acter suitable for pottery, porcelains
and other articles which require clay
.1N ~,
facture. But not much over half Of
clay of this grade that our industries
require is domestic. When war broke
out in 1914 only a third of it was do
mestic. We have not been able to
developA>and equip our deposits fast
enough to make these English clay
imports unnecessary. In fact it is
doubtful whether we will produce as
much high grade clay in 1918 as we
did in cit. Our manufacturers want
the clay but they can not get any
where near as much ae they want. The
reduced output is due to railroad and
operating conditions and is not related
to the character or size of the depos-
dts which are capable of large pro-
duction. .-.
Domestic producers do not mine
their clay quite as clearly as their
English competitors. Nor is the do
mestic clay as uniform in character
1t will not bring the high prices paid
for English clay. But more could be
sold if it CKauld be produced and car
ried to its market Still more could
be marketed if cleaner and more uni
form clay were produced, for in that
event the consumers would use a
greater percentage of domestic and
correspondence less English clay in
their mixtures.
However, our complete dependence
upon English clay continues. We must
rely on English clay as a chief in
gredient of the dishes we eat from,
the paper in our books and magazines,
the porcelain in our electric light
sockets and half dozen other arti-
cles of less general use.
Fortunately it is fact that far less
English clay is necessary to proper
manufacture of paper than is now
used. Besides domestic clay there are
many other substances of domestic
origin that could be used in the body.
not the finish, of this paper. Also
over half of the English clay we use
is consumed in making paper. So that
If a shortage of English clay should
develop it would not be highly seri-
GUS until the shortage became very
great, until there was only a. half of
the normal supply or less available.