The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-05-09
American Needs for English Clay.

Most Of lis think clay il something a.
common and abundant as sand or gravel
/ Consequently it comes as a surprise tc
be told by the shipping board committee
on mineral imports and exports IN Wash.
| ington, that even in this day Of great
shortage Of ocean going ships we have
| to import from England every year 200,
| 900 to 100000 long tons OF clay Last
year we imported more han 100000 tons
over the ocean.
! Furthermore, a great part OF this clay
comes over in steamers loaded full and
| the rest in big steamers loaded with clay
/ up to 50 per cent and more of their max
imum carrying capacity. These ships put
into Fowev, England, for their freight.
To get this clay on and off the boats
requires ten days on each cargo, An in,
significant percentage of the clay Is
shipped as ballast. This represents small
lots loaded into big liners at Liverpool
But 1t will be seen that the importation
of English clay consumes an important
amount OF ship tonnage measured in
freight.
Why do our manufacturers pay the
high freight rates now necessary in or
der TO obtain an article like clay from
abundance Of clay in this country A
great deal Of high grade clay is produced
here, and OF character suitable for pot.
terry, porcelains and other articles which
require elays of special excellence in
their manufacture But not much over
half of clay of this grade that our in
dustries require is domestic When war
broke out in 1914 only third of it was
domestic We have not been able to
develop and equip our deposits fast
enough to make these English clay i'm
ports unnecessary. In fact, it is doubt
full whether we viii produce as much
high grade clay in 1918 as we did in
1917. Our manufacturers want the clay
but they can not get anywhere near as
much a. they want, The reduced out
put is due to railroad and operating con
ditions and is not related To the eharac-
ter or size of the deposits which are ca
pable OF large production. !
Domestic producers do not mine their
LAY quite as cleanly a. their English !
Nor is the domestic clay
ire uniform in character. Ii will not +
bring the high prices paid for English
lay. But more could be sold If it could
De produced and carried TO its market.
still more could be marketed IL cleaner 1
more uniform clay was produced for in
hat event the consumers would Use a
,reater percentage of domestic and cor
less English clay in their
mixtures.
However, our complete dependence
ipon English clay continues. We must
ely on English clay as a chief ingredient
{ the dishes we eat from, the paper in
ur books and magazines, the porcelain
n our electric light sockets and half
dozen other articles of less general
Sc.
Fortunately it is a fact tina, far less
.ngiish clay Is necessary 10 proper man
fscture OF paper than is now used Be
des domestic clay there are many other
instances Of domestic origin that could
e used in the body, not the finish OF
his paps~ Also over half Of the Eng
sh elay We use i consumed in making
aper. 80 that il a shortage Of English
az should develop il would not be high
serious until the shortage became very
-eat, until there was only half Of the
primal supply or less available