The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-12

sion" And tho war department got
busy. 10 could not function in war
without nitrogen any more than n
plant can grow without nitrogen or
an automobile run without gaso-
lene. A great nitrogen from -air
plant was built AZ Muscle Shoals
The only misfortune Is that the
expenditure was made under emer-
Rency conditions. quickly, extrava-
gantly. OF necessity. and now the
plant ana location are about to he
sold. probably to Henry Ford. The
Same money. spent under tho sane
conditions OF peace, should havo
given Ms n great nitrogen Industry.
a bulwark OF prosperity In time OF
peace and our first line OF defense
In war.
As II Is. We are still dependent Tor
much OF our nitrogen on the good
will OF chile and on keeping open
against U-boat or airplanc attacks
the Panama canal, through which
move the nover-ending cargoes Of
white treasure. nitrate Of soda.
Chilc's Nitrate Industry.
Tho nitrate OF soda goes to fer
tilizo our fields. Heated with sui
phuric acid, on the other hand, II
gives nitric acid. the pig iron OF our
dye, our celluloid and ivory pyrnlin,
our picture film and OF our
explosive industries.
This nitrate Is found I'm the north
ern part OF Chile, In n narrow strip
Of plateau, whore the Andes noun
tains fatten out before finally
plunging into the sea. The nitrate
lies on the top OF the ground or
near 1t; Il is soluble In water, az
sugar is in tea, and its preservation
from geologic ages OF long ago
speaks eloquently for the dryncss Of
that portion OF the desert. One rides
for days and sees hardly n living
being save the men and beasts i'm
ported for the exploitation OF the
deserts resources. Vegetables are
noneNisteht and canned corn from
the United States Is a Sunday dim
ner dellcacy at the nitrate works.
The ore contains about 90 per
cent of the nitrate. The ore is
ground, then treated with boiling
water TO dissolve the soluble salts.
The liquid. after draining from the
solid material, is allowed to cool to
deposit crystals of the nitrate of
commercial purity,
From n fow hundred thousand
tons before the war, our imports OF
this Chile snltpeter rose I'm 1918 to
1,S45,ll2 tons. Then, after the
armistlce, the demand for Il In
manufacture OF munitions OF war
ceased; the imports fell to 07,457
tons In 1919, Wiseacres shook their
heads: we knew this nitrogen
bubble would burst" But in 1920
the tremendous consumption in our
peace-time industries drew down
the stocks carried over from the
war plants and required In addition
fresh imports from Chile of 1,32l,-
922 tons, valued at $63,129,l96.
Truly, a great industry is this nitro
gent
Known mineral resources are fin
lite. As you remove ore from the
earth, more does not grow, as do
potatoes. Particularly is this true
OF nitrate OF soda. With the grow
Ing appreciation of the value Of
nitrate fertilizer, the complete eX-
haustion of the Chilean beds Is n
matter OF a few decades only. Then
what? WIN we turn to Germany
and pay tribute I'm dollars and self
respect to her foresightedness and
genius In drawing from the atmos-
phere an ineXhaustible supply OF
nitrogenp Or will we harness the
water power of our turbulent
streams, add 10 It human ingenuity
and keep at home the hundreds of
millions OF dollars yearly that would
otherwise go abroad?
Nitrogen From the Air.
As long as r hundred years ago,
with chemistry still in its infancy,
an English chemist, Cavendish,