The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-07

possoHceS, drug stores, etc, brought
tne total of separate buildings up Ia
lI.Seo. costing. with the necessary
strce.s, sidewalks. nre protection. etc,
The military powder factories con-
struc.ed by the company and It's SUBJ
sialaTy' the Dp Pont Engineering COM
pany; cover fourteen square miles.
eQuai 70 twice the built-up area of the
ctyt Of Wilmington and costing abou,
double the assessed valuation Of thai
city.
These plants have an annual capac-
Ivy or SS3,0o0,000 pounds of expio-
sises, which. In carload lots. would
i Ie 9' & irn1a ealtiwfe p Nsy .xazk-ltpp
AZ the ,h eight Of the work the rate
OF yearly expenditure was three times
as great a. that Of the construction
OF the Panama camel
The. fect0ries have handled 1870.
100000 pounds of cotton, or 2.66O, geo
bales. 'N'"0'
me production of nitric acid, l.
handing IL aRs1ads oeau bounds the os
nitrate OF soda. brought from Chile.
suipnuric acid was produced TO the
totai OF 00.000,000 pounds, reouir-
ing s22,oo0.000 pounds OF sulphur.
Inc factories handled 216.5o0, 600
gallons OF alcohol, Of which 5000, 600
saiiohs have been consumed and the
balance recovered for reuse. This
recovery was made possible by meth.
ods/devised after the war began.
Great Gift to Govern. ent.
one OF the very interesting sections
OF the report deals with the building
OF the old hickory plant for the gov
eminent near Nashville, Tenn. The
sohtract Tor this was signed January
Es' 1913, and ground was broken
Marcn ..
Immediately after the signing of the
contract work was started on seven
nues OF railroad to take building ma
terlais 10 the plant site. This line
was completed on March 3, twenty
nine Gays after 1t was begun.
me contract called for IA factory
capaoie OF producing 100000 pounds
VI hhiiitary smokeless powder day
any mere were to be nine complete
uLits OF ioo,0o0 pounds capacity each
me Iirst sulphuric acid unit, Of as
WV TONS annual capacity began con-
'ihuous operation on June list, six ~
seven Gays after breaking Of ground
Otner units came into operation in
'"piu order
~. was produced ,June 2srd.
Inc Iirst finished powder was gran
uiated on July End. or li6 days after
breaking ground. and 12l days ahead
oI contract requirements. The other
units came inlo operation in such
quick succession that The sixth powder
unit was ready for operation when the
armisiice was signed and at that time
the other five were producing 60l.-
Voo IDS. per day. AT that lime the
plant was % per cent complete and
the manufacture of powder was
ninety-six days ahead of schedule
time and 100000 lbs. ahead of
contract requirements.
The cost OF this construction, estt-
mated at time when it was impos-
sible to foresee the fluctuations OF the
labor and raw material market, was
stopped by the ending of the war, the
contract would have been completed
with an over-expenditure not 10 ex-
coed per cent exclusive of the in
creased wage schedule fixed by the
government. Under the contract no
profit was to be paid for the con-
struction work. This was done by
Du Pont Engineering company for a
remuneration Of one dollar.
The company was to be paid for the
work of operating the plant and pro-
duClng the powder. The total PROM
after paying taxation" the report
says, will probably amount to sl.-
100000 on transactions covering
$l25. 358.6o0 or at the rate Of / per
cent"
However, the directors always
this work military neccs-
sity and they never had expectatlou
of profit adequate to compensate for
the disadvantages of the burden as
sumed."
In addition to the great capacity
for smokeless powder, which Ia called
a propellant, the company developed
an annual capacity for the manufac-
ture of disruptive explosives of 1872
0o0. 900 pounds a year. These ex-
plosives are those used in shells.
mines, and the like; the famous T.
N. T.. being the most common.
Prospects for the Future.
The report deals with the human
side of the great work in a section