Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-11-27
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
By ]. E. Jones.
AN INFANT WAR INDUSTRY


ords in the building of young city
and created probably the largest plant
in the world to manufacture ammon-
ium nitrate from the air, has been
proving most interesting to Congress-
men in Washington, who have been
holding sort of post norton on war
efforts trying to determine how big
government undertakings created for
defense, may be best turned into
peace time industry. All the world
knew of Hopewell, Virginia, as city
of 25 900 people, built by the DuPont's
in 1914, to manufacture explosives;
but the lid of secrecy was so care
fully calked that the building of
another city equally large, at the in.
stance of our own Government, at
tracted very little attention. Just
how Germany "snooped" out so many
things not intended for her to know
about is hard to understand; but it is
certain that the enemy was astound-
ed when it found it's own fne-spun
plans for taking nitrogen from the
air, completely surpassed by the
United States, which it knew to be
novice at the game. The Germans
stood paralyzed with fear as they
confronted the Aladdin-like methods
of Uncle Sam in pouring soldiers in
upon their frontier, while at Muscle
Shoals, Alabama, a plant had sudden
ly sprung out of the earth capable of
producing thirteen per cent of all the
high explosives needed by the Allied
armies on all the fronts in the ex-
pected drive of the following Spring
Ground was broken for perman-
ent plant building at Muscle Shoals
on February Is, 1913, and on the
twenty day of the following
October, or eight months and eight
days later, the wheels of manufacture
started revolving in the production of
ammonium nitrate. The great plant
that was completed, and which stands
enterprise and brains, is fitted to be-
come one of the great sources of fer
tilizers for the land of the United
States. 1t is this feature of the
problem as to what to do with the big
plant that is appealing strongly to
the Congressman; and in their belief
that it should be put in operation
along these lines they are supported
by every intrest in the Agricultural
Department of the Government that
has long been looking for solution
of the farming question in the South,
where fertilizers and industry are
needed to complete the setting made
by Nature, and to turn vast idle acres
into productive agricultural areas.
From explosives to fertilizers is not
very big jump in industrial expan-
sion; and of course high explosives
was the prompting reason for the
Muscle Shoals project When the
United States entered the war it was
providing the enemies of Germany
with explosives, and with four million
of our own men added to the fray it
became necessary to get quick action
for enormously increased production.
The principal raw material for explo-
sives was nitrate of soda, and this had
to be brought from Chile, four thous-
and miles away Ship bottoms were
so scarce that the Allied countries and
the United States decided to sweeten
themselves without sugar from Java,
and that was only thousand miles
farther off than Chile. But nitrate of
soda had to be brought in at any cost
and at any sacrifice. And after it
was brought here the necessary time
had to elapse to permit treating it
with sulphuric acid to produce nitric
acid, which is an essential of ammon-
ium nitrate. The sulphuric acid sup
ply was reaching it's limit and new
methods of delivering the goods
or explosives, We're demanded The
SoNS OVSllS were uOHlS IilclI level pest
all over the country. in producing am
monia, but even at that their capac-
ity was only quarter of the de-
mand. The Ordinance Department
came forward with the solution of the
difficulty and it showed that cynamid
a commercial fertilizer, had for some
years been successfully manufactured
at Niagara Falls under a German pro
cess, which had been secured by Frank
Sherman Washburn, head Of the Amer
lean Cyanamid Company. Muscle
Shoals was selected as the most avail
able spot in the United States to put
the war industry to work. How well
the plan succeeded is shown by the
foregoing.
NITROGEN FROM THE AIR
In the belief that the process OF
"axtractinp nifrOroy, fyo,,, +bo :, ~,