Evening star., 1923-05-13

* Is moth eaten ancient history
compared with the uses to
which the high explosives
which this government had manufac-
tured at q rate never before known in
history. to win the world war, are now
being put to brighten and protect hu-
man life and to serve the ends Of jus
uce.
BY way Of Illustration, a few widely
different ways in which these surplus
explosives are being employed for the
peace time benefit Of humanity may be
cited: For clearing land Of stumps and
other agricultural and reclamation
work; TO determine the safest way
to store explosives against the day
the government may need them for
national defense: to get hnger prints
OF explosives; to ascertain the pest
methods Of destroying bombs. dyna-
mite and other explosives seized by
the police, and to observe the be-
havior Of different kinds OF explosives
for use in court practice.
All this was explained at meeting
here of government scientists at the
! iGeophysical Union by DR.. Charles p
Munroe, head Of the explosives d.
vision Of the National Research Coun-
/; ell, who has the distinction of serving
4 at one time five different departments
of the government as an expert on
explosives.
| Undermined German Morale.
| DR.. Munroe pointed out that the
| United States made little or no prepa-
| ration for war, but as soon as we
| entered the conflict we started ar
y 90, fo
munitions In such big way that
| by the time the war ended explosives
were being produced at rate never
! before known to man. He claimed
f! that It was knowledge Of this, leak
ing through to the Germans. that
| undermined their morale and led to
| their capituIation.
| At the time the armistice was signed
! there were enormous quantities of
] explosives In this country, large
| part of which had been taken to the
1 seaboard for shipment, and which had
! TO be stored near large communities.
| The people grew fearful that some of
\ these stores would be accidentally set
! off, with tremendous loss of life and
| property. Pressure was brought to
bear upon Congress for immediate
removal or destruction of this public
| never before been used in industry,
! it was thought that they were un-
| suited for any peacetime work.
| Their destruction was also recon-
| mended by the military authorities.
Dumped Into the Ocean.
| This was attempted by shipping
considerable amounts of high explo-
! sives which were on the tracks at
| Wilmington to New York, taking
them many miles beyond Sandy Hook
and then dumping them overheard
This was found to be extremely ex-
pensive and dangerous. But more
than that, large quantities of dyna-
mite were washed back on the shore
| which necessitated the employment
of agents to gather it up and agar
endeavor to destroy 1t as imperilins
life and property.
I The Secretary of the Interior hat
proposed the reclamation of large
areas of cut-over and swamp lands
to be used for the returning soldiers
and he believed that the work of re
claiming could be done with the aic
of these surplus explosives. So the
bureau of mines took up the study OF
utilizing the explosives. and as re-
suit of extensive experimentation il
has been shown that practically al
of the surplus war explosives can be
so treated as to give complete salts
faction in industry. in fact, where
industry first said, 1T can't be done,
having given practical trial. OF
the recommendation Of the bureau o.
| mines. industry now says. These eX
plosives give the best results we evel
j obtained.
| Millions OF Pounds "Surplus."
As result of the bureau of mine.
study a very large amount Of the eXplo
sives were declared surplus" ant
allotted for industrial use. including
AZ o00, 900 pounds Of T. y. T. trini
trotoluene). 100000 pounds of pic
ric acid, 100000 pounds of grenada
powder. 100000 pounds of smoke
of detonaters, fuses and other device!
used with these explosives.
| Following the instructions giveI
by the bureau of mines in numbel
! of pamphlets prepared by DR.. Nun
roe. cola borating with Spencer P
Howell. explosives engineer of tn,
bureau, including "A Primer on Elk
plosives for Coal Miners, "T. \. T. a!
a Blasting Explosive" "Picric Acit
nuted Smokeless Powder as Blast
ing Agent" these surplus explosive.
! were taken for use by the 'reclama
tion service, the Indian commission
the national parks service. the Alas
kan engineering commission, the bu
reau of public roads. and other agen
cies of the government on govern
ment projects. or in cooperation will
the states, especially in the construc
of network of good roads all owe
| the United States.
In this way all but some s,000,00'
| Ho Of
| pounds of picric acid have been con
[ rarted has given the great tes