The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-29
INCREASING THE
 WORLDS POTASH
By HOLLAND


 or two after the European war began men or science began to make researches
 n order to ascertain if among the nat lral resources of the United States there sould be found any which could, through scientific process, be made to yield pot lsh So far as is known there are no potash deposits in the United States sim lar to those in Germany. Occasionally the statement was made by men of fi- nance who were in touch with leaders in German industry, before the United States declared war against Germany that the Germans had little apprehension that the United States would enter into the war because if that were done the potash supplies which Germany furnished us would be cut off. But it was not ne- iessary to wait until the United States became one of the belligerent nations to deprive us of German made potash. The blockade maintained against German merchant marine shut off that source oi supply.
 One of these days highly interesting and in fact romantic story will be told of the researches by men of science with in- tent to discover whether there could be found in the United States naw material from which potash could be extracted, The men of science did demonstrate that tt was possible to obtain potash from the vast fields of kelp in the Pacific ocean near the coast. They did discover that one of the mountains in Utah contained, in mineral combination considerable pot ash. They did learn that the feldspar deposits in the United States might be so worked as to secure the potash which was in the feldspar, although the almost prohibitive lack of transportation made the commercial utilization of the feid- slar mines impracticable.
 At last men of science, either on their own initiative or by. reason of hints which ,ame to them, turned their attention to ement works and also to blast furnaces. Here were industries which were sending to waste certain products which resulted from the manufacture of cement and the utilization of the blast furnace. Could the dust, the smoke, the almost impal- Iable refuse which was belched forth from the chimneys, be so captured and handled as to be made te yield the resi- due of potash which they contained. Science solved this problem and today it has been demonstrated that at least one-third of all the potash which we need can be obtained from the cement plants alone, and probably another third can be secured from what was hereto fore the refuse of the blast furnaces Yet, heretofore. these were dead waste products.
 Nobody dreamed before the European war began that there were certain lakes In Nebraska which contained potash that was simply awaiting the results pvb bich n science SeokiDo order to secure vast amounts of potash Science has now conquered this problem. Science would not have undertaken 1t had we not been compelled to turn to our own resources after Germany began war.
 It is stated on excellent authority that in California there is one lake of vast extent which is so rich in potash that with scientific methods adopted. it will United States for potash for nearly hundred years.
 MAKING US INDEPENDENT
 The emergency and necessity occa- stoned by the war have in many ways turned the attention of the American people and especially men of capital and science to the possible utilization of re- sources which before 1914 were looked upon as waste products or as entirely worthless.
 WHAT SCIENCE DID One of the ablest leaders of the finan- cial district said in July 1914 that he was confident that Germany would not ac- trally begin hostilities because if war be- gan and was continued Germany would lose much the greater part of the great world trade she had secured and would compel the United States to turn to hitherto unsuspected resources in order to obtain commodities which | were formerly almost exclusively secured from Germany. This man was correct in his forecast Germany did lose it's world trade. It did | forfeit the great American market it had | obtained for dye stuffs and potash and t has apparently lost this market for ,ver For our people. put upon their owu .esources called upon science and capital | o aid them in securing commodities in | he United States in such amounts as to l make this country hereafter independent | if Germany. One of the first of the un- | of capital and science was tho | of the dye stuff industry. | When Germany began the war she was | making three-fourths of all the finished | yes used throughout the world and also much of the intermediates which were 1 urnished elsewhere
 Now science and capital working in | larmouy and by reason Df fhA e,nArRan-