The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-12-09
MODERN DAY MIRACLES
The Stored-U Up Sunshine Of Other
Ages Is Handed Down as Heti-
tage to Modern Civilization.
(BY JOHN RAYMOND.)

Coal may well be described as pre-
historic sunshine. Ages before the
dawn Of our own era vast forests COW
cred large portions of the earti's sur
face. In this ancient vegetation were
stored up the treasures of nature and
after the lapse of ages it became the
heritage of civilization.
For centuries after it came into use
coal was looked upon as valuable only
as fuel. Later. coke was obtained
from It, then sulphur and lampblaclx,
and finally gas for purposes of illum-
ination That seemed to be the limit
Of its. possibilities a few years ago,
but today it would be difficult to
enumerate all the articles of COM
merce extracted from its byspro-
duets.
Coal contains a little of everything
that goes to make up trees, but II
would be a mistake to imagine that
everything that comes out of coal tar
Is contained within it. While there
are only about a dozen primary pro
ducts extracted from coal tar, from.
these the chemist is able to deveIop
hundreds Of thousands OF new sub
stances. This is synthetic chemistry.
or the. process Of building up intIa :.
cate compounds step by step.
Raw material for the development
OF these coal tar -products-war
materials, fertilizers, colors, drugs
and a host OF other things-exists ia
abundance in this country, but we
must be sufficiently interested in our
future Independence to save ii. We
cannot go on Indefinitely wasting bill
lions of dollars worth of this yalua-
bic substance if in future years we
hope to stand on an even footing with
those nations that long have recog-
nized its value.
The development OF these products
and compounds goes back to the color
industry. This is not large business
In itself but 1t certainly is a strate-
gic one because American industries
employing more than two million
workers and producing approximate
" three billion dollars worth OF pro-
ducts every year are directly depend
ent upon dyes Take. for instance.
textiles. leather, paper and paint.
New wonders are constantly being
discovered IN coal tar Recently
French scientist succeeded in produc-.
ing several small, perfect diamonds
and synthetic rubies have been on
the market for some time. Instead of
sending traders on perilous quests to
the four corners Of the world for
needed things a man may now stay at
home and trust TO the chemists to
produce every necessity and most Of
the Injuries. No longer need we be
dependent upon the potash deposits
Of Germany If we make Our own fer
tilizers. Far off rubber trees are not
so Important II we manufacture our
own rubber in the laboratory =
Brigadier General Amos a. Fries.
chief ct the chemical warfare service.
q s. A. IN a.reesnt paper said
aat thrill # must have Htven
mo German hlmsele when h Realised
the almost lirnifiess pozer che cen-
troll sc the aye industry would give
barn when gng war TO feit TIA
N3ta that eeQfeal re seuI6 Tia a war
against the Whole wssia AID few 81
deed Hna knaw Just han slase Ger
many eaEna e winning thai war. Tie
lesson vhich ghat bit ok history
teaches rs IS g maze ourselves nlaa-
ters eE Vie chemical industry III al
its ramiflcations. resting secure IN
the knowledge that If we ever do so
no power on earth can overcome us
for lack OF war materials