The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-20
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J.. HAsxIN, Director,
Washington, d. C.
THE AWAKENING OF ZINC.

4
small feet. but that 1t. has many vir-
tues and is being kept in the back
ground, unaderned, while it's bolder
sisters iron, copper. lead, gold, plati-
Enitn. are paraded brazenIy and with
much acclaim of their merits. So it
comes about that the man in the street
knows zinc only as a name. is quite
tazy as to the qualities peculiar to It
or the usefulness it serves.
Now appears the American Zinc in
stitute as a foster father to this neg
lected industrial child. It proposes to
dress hee- up and show her to the
world for what she is. 1t proposes
T that her sisters and brothers shall 10
longer borrow her charms without
giving credit 1t proposes that, when
zinc saves the life of ron by prevent
ing it from rusting out that the prod
uet shalf be called .zinced iron" and
not galvanized irefr." 1t proposes
that zinc. the metal, shall no longer
be called spelter, but shall be. known
BY its own true nanle.
Zinc is an element. This means
that 1t stands alone as a thing apart.
II is not dependent on any other eIe-
nent for the qualities which it pos
sesses. It is an Individual, There is
nothing like it in all the world. 1t
mas; qualities that. enable 1t to play a
role which no other existing thang can
play.
In the mining industry there are
five metals closely related, both as to
geologic occurrence and the metal
iurgical treatment which they require.
They are gold. silver, lead, copper and
zinc. Wherever one is mined the
others are likely to appear as by-prod-
ucts. There have been many inter-
esting examples of mines which
started out to be one thing and ended
by being another There was the
great Anaconda mine in Montana. for
instance. 1t started out to be a silver
nfnes , Later it was found that there
was a greater value of copper than
silver in its ores. Time wore on and
zinc began to appear as valuable
by-product. Today zinc is nearing a
dominance in Importance a Anaconda.
Most of the ziret. however, is recov-
cred in mining lead. The big lead
mines in Missouri are major producers,
while New Jersey has zinc mines of
large yield unacconpanied by other
metals As in many other raw ma
tertalS. the United States is the world
dominating figure in the production of
zine. 1t yields ten times as much of
the metal as its nearest competitor,
Great Britain. Before the war Bel
gium was one of the chief producers
of zine, importing the ores from
abroad, refining them and manufac-
turing the zinc into articles for use
and export.
just now in America there is more
than a passing interest in zinc The
general public is not posted on the
uses of zinc as fully as it is on the
utilities of other metals. In it's uses
zinc is not called zinc. When it is
used to coat steel sheets and wire to
preserve them from weather corrosion
1t is called galvanized steel; as a
principle compound in making brass
it's name is lost in the mixture and
thereafter it is called brass" In view
of the fact that fully 80 per cent of
the annual zinc output is used in coat
ing steel and in compounding brass, a
superficial public is justified in losing
sight of the metal
1t is only when zine is rolled into
sheets that the public comes into con-
tact with the metal, and then only in
a limited way. The public does not
probe into ammunition boxes to see if
they are lined with zinc sheets, the
lintngs of tea caddies and the inside of
humidors are not objects of frequent
inspection. The tips on shoe laces and
corset stays, the surface of the wash
board or the top of the glass fruit jar
are little details that the public might
overlook.
ferrous metals. This means that it is
not of the rustingiron group. It ranks
with copper and lead in tonnage and
utility to man. In 1918 there was
smelted in the United States 900, 900
tons of zinc one-half of which
amount was used to weather-proof
steel sheets and wire; about 40 per
cent in compromising brass, and less
than 10 per cent rolled into sheets.
Ones likeliest chance of familiarity
with zine is in the form of kitchen
utensils These are not zinc, however.
but iron coated with zinc. II one has
a mailing list which Is cut on metal
strips and run thru/an addressograph,
the stencils are made of zinc. If the
housewife has a stencil by means of
which she paints an orange on the
back of the dining room chairs 1t is
likely to be made of zinc. The barbed
wire on all the ranches of the west is
preserved endlesSly, tho exposed to
weather. because it is coated with zinc.
Zinc will not rust. 1t is a. soft metal
the corners of which will not scratch.
1t is good-tempered and yielding. 1t
therefore has peculiar uses.
Zinc ore, sometimes called Jack"
or 'sulphide," is found in paying guam
titles IN thirteen or more states, and
the fifty or more smelters are located
seither in the ore-bearing states or at
points where cheap fuel is accessible.
The pig zinc or the finished product
of the sTnelter was called spelter, and
it IS in this form that the bulk of the
metal is sold
But because. zinc was not called
zinc, and has been fast losing its iden-
tity in yielding its strength and sub
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