The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-27
EXPLOSIVES ARE
 GREATER AID IN
 PEACE THAN WAR
Dynamite, Says King, Is So Valuable Because
 Of Easy Control

NEW YORK, July 26.-Gunpowder, dynamite, any mention of explosives, calls to mind thoughts of war, toppling bridges, ruins, shambles. But to George T. King, head of the Institute of Max CTS of Explosives, these weapons of war conjure up totally different pie ture. Thanks to the lessons the war taught, man has so harnessed the enOr- nous power of explosives that in the pursuits of peace their aid is called in many and varied ways. Thus these death-dealing combination of chemi- eals-as we used to think of them only . few years ago-are today amongst mans greatest allies in his ordinary workaday life.
 Developed as it has been along high ly scientific lines, there is for the i'm aginative a romance in the story or explosives second only to that con- tained in the tale of the radio. And in each case the interest is sustained and can never wane merely because the seekers have barely scratched the sur face of a field under which lies mine of untouched and virgin knowledge.
 Peace hath her victories no less re- nowned than war;" said MT. King, ''and certainly America, the home of the most wonderful engineering feats of the world, must admit that she owes much of her success to the enormous and, so far as is yet known, unlimited power of explosives"
 Dynamite Most Useful
 Dynamite, Mir. King told me, is the greatest and most useful explosive we have at present. It's greatest utility" he says, flies in the fact that it can be controlled" During the war, trini- truolene, T N T, as it is so popularly known, came very much before the pub lie. Its destructive power was terrible. Yet it is the least dangerous of all ex- plosives to handle. A gunshot fired directly into it will not explode it. It may be melted over a flame and molded into convenient shapes, but in times eff peace the modern explosives engineer does most of his work with dynamite, as 1t is about twice as strong as T N T. This is surprising to many of us, but 1t is the case.
 Mir. King pointed out that American engineers with the help of modern ex- plosiyes are doing greater work today than anything the past can show. The high explosives of the present time can force way through any obstacle erect ed by nature. Every day records in drilling tunnels are being broken. The Shandaken tunnel in the Catskill mountains, the MCffat tuni.el in the west, the Hetchey tunnels in Califor- mia, are instances of the enormous efficiency of modern explosives. The research work on, and the subsequent development of explosives such as dyna- mite, which can detonate under water, have greatly simplified submarine en- gineering. Channels are deepened and harbors improved by blasting and shat tering reefs hundreds os feet below the sea. As a consequence, the work of this kind which could never have been done before owing to the lack of proper means IS being accomplished with ease today.
 Uses In Agriculture
 Agriculture is profiting also from the growing use of modern explosives About twenty million pounds of dyna- mite are being used every year on farms. They are digging drainage ditches with it in the south to control malaria and mosquito pest. Towers, old buildings and structures which have to be replaced are being razed with dynamite, which demolishes the walls economically and does away with the costly and laborious method of taking them down by hand or machinery.
 The day is now past, Mir. King calmly assures us, when the very men tion of dynamite whirled our minds to thoughts of death and human smith, ereens. The modern explosive is safe If handled according to rule. The great improvement in their compost, tion and employment has opened up a new avenue of quick, cheap, and eff cient work. They are the basis of the good roads movement now being ex- tended in this country. It is interest Ing to note, he says, that each mile of good roads represents approximately enc thousand pounds of explosives. Be cause of this efficiency and adapta- 6llity to modern industrial conditions MT. King predicted, the use of expIo, sIves will be greatly extended during the next few years. To the imagina. tive mind this idea opens up a sphere Of thought entirely new and very fulI of interest. The enormous probabili- tles that present themselves in the way or changing the miracles that may be worked on the face of the world, set the brain staggering at the immensitv