The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-10

/ in abundance, 1 will see that you are
not ruined by the competition of for
| eign countries. / will assure you that
during the war your industry will be
SO stabilized that you will have no diff
fculty in getting your money back
| This is the meaning of the govern
| ment control provided by the bill. To
| Insure against profiteering, the secre-
tary of the interior is empowered to
] punish with a $4,000 fine or. two
years Imprisonment any individual or
corporation that takes advantage of
the government license to make un-
| just or unreasonable profits.
Anthony, bismuth, cerium, chro-
MUM, graphite, iridium, manganese,
Lyrites-thc names of the minerals
| specified in this bill read like the
table of contents of mineralogy. Yet
| their Importance to the nation now is
81 eat, despite the fact that most of
the people in it neve.' heard of them.
Shutting off manganese and chromite
from our munition plants would stop
the war program of America within
month. For the manufacture of
every ton of steel from fourteen to
| fifteen pounds of pure manganese is
| required; and aitho the ore is found
| extensively thru the south and west,
America last yea produced only 80
| per cent of her total consumption of
almost million long tons, importing
| hundreds of thousands of tons from
| Brazil and largo quantity from In
| dia. Before the war the average price
| OF manganese ore was about twelve
| dollars ton. Now it is fetching five
times that sum.and supply is unable
| to meet demand.
Chromite is essential for war needs
| from the tact that every shell must
| be tipped with it, and every piece of
armor plate must contain it as a
strengthening factor. Yet in 1913,
out of $4,000 tons of chromiteE used
1
less than half of l per cent, were inn
ported, mostly from Asiatic Turkey.
| the average price was SIG a ton. Last
year 100000 tons of chromite was
used and the demand far from met
Cutting off the Turkish supply. re-
suited in the importation of inferior
ore from South Africa and Aus
tralasia. Meanwhile the cost has
scared TO $50 or $50 ton, and the
bureau OF mines predicts that before
next January chromite will be fetch
ing $3.50 ton.
Besides its war uses, this mineral
is invaluable in leather tanning
! which is one explanation of the risine
cost OF shoes. 1t is indispensable II
extra hardness and non-fusibility are
required. The Observation-Disclosures
company of Niagara Falls, has in.
| formed the war Industries board tina,
1t must have $4,000 tons of chromite
curing the next twelve months de-
mand which. at present, cannot pos.
! sibly be met
The influence the mineral bill is
destined to have in developing native
| ores is shown by a single incident
Since the introduction of this
measure company has been formed
In Philadelphia to get out large un-
developed chromite deposits in Ian.
caster county, Pennsylvania, which. j
| is believed, will yield at least 10000
tons of the metal yearly. Prior to the
Civil war the deposits yielded large
/ quantities of chromite. The history
| of the rise and fall of the working.
| reads like a romance.
In the summer of 1927 Isaac Ty.
son of Baltimore saw in Belair mar.
ket, near tibet city, cart containing
a large barrel of cider held from roll
ing about by several heavy black
rocks. Tyson had studied chemistry
| in Paris and one glance at the stones
assured him that they were rich IL
the cart and cider barrel put to.
gether.
Until the Civil War large quantitie.
of chrome were taken from the mint
which Tyson established on his prop
| erty, and many of the first railroad
tracks in the United States were hard
| ened in manufacture with the chro
mite crushed from these BLACK stones
/ At the outbreak of the Civil War, how
ever, the Maryland authorities. sym
| pathetic with the South, refused per
| mission to work veins running acros!
the state. border. About the same tins
large deposits of chromite were dis
covered in Asiatic Turkey and were
worked so cheaply as to discourage
| competition from nation in the
| throes of great war.
After the war the workings fell ints
| complete neglect. and lying in an al
most uninhabited section were almos
forgotten until F. Lynwood Garrison
a Philadelphia mining engineer o.
wide reputation, made a recent eur
vey. In his opinion. past extraction.
have hardly touched the surface o.
| the deposits, which, he estimates will
easily produce 10000 tons a year o,
chrome ore of the very highest quail
ity. A company has now been formed
to get out this invaluable mineral ant
transport it to the great steel mills o,
| Pennsylvania for war uses.
Hidden away all over this grea
country are equally valuable deposit.
| of almost all the minerals which
America must now import from ths
ends of the earth. It is the purpose
of the government that this develop
ment of native resources. undertaken
as war necessity, shall be of LASTING
benefit to the nation.