Evening star., 1924-03-28
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

The possibility of talking with Mars
is not half so thrilling az the commu-
nfcation which has come from the
sun, written in bright yellow upon the
spectroscope.
This message has told that there is
something new under the sun
Hamlet guessed right when he de-
clared. There are more things in
heaven and earth Horatio. than you
or have ever dreamed Of
The sun is the great propagandist
which is now lobbying in the United
States Congress for a new line of leg
islation. bidding fair to make safe the
roads of the skies and to double the
mower of every electric generator.
Scientists are amazed. Itilitarlans
are dumfounded. The last three
months have astounded even the
knowing. Helium gas is the sun
The United States holds q world
monopoly of it. There has been no
discovery of similar magnitude since
Copernicus and Galileo found that the
world rolled round the sun.
= * y -
Very recently helium was discov-
cred IN the natural gas and oil Of gov
ernment land in Utah and President
Coolidge has set aside for conserVa-
ton 100 acres. This is the first dis
covery upon public lands. How much
is there cannot be estimated; IL may
be only a pocket. For years 1t mas
been found in small percentages in
Texas gas and oil-notably near Pc
trolia. 100 miles north of Fort Worth,
where it runs as high as l per cent.
During the war the government
spent millions of dollars seeking to
accumulate this new gas IN su,nc1ent
quantities TO use in place of hydro
gen in initiating diriSible balloons
Hydrogen is dangerously lnfamma-
BILE, while helium is non -combuStlble
and has 90 per cent OIL the Iitlhs
newer of hydrogen the 1ightest gas
known. a helium-filled balloon might
be penetrated with incendiary bullets
without danger of fire, while a single
spark would explode hydrogen ana
destroy the balloon and its passen-
gers. When the Shenandoah tore
loose from. it's mast in the storm
few weeks ago all that prevented
repetition Of the several catastrophes
Of similar dirigible airships was the
fact that it was minated with helluin
instead of hydrogen.
When the armistice ended the
world war the United States govern
ment had upon the New York docks
many cylinders filled with the new
secret-this gas being called "argon
to carnoufiage it, but really helium.
II was TO fill war balloons, which
would have sailed immune from fire
hNdrn0Hn
Looms of the enemy would have been
death traps. The nation when held
such a monopoly held the world with
in its grasp.
There is bill pending in both
branches of Congress which will enl-
power the government to enter ali
privately owned gas and oil fields
and conserve the helium. The heiium
extraction. from oil or gas purlfles
them and makes them Of greater
value than when mixed with the IN
combustible heiium.
ESve wears ago the cost of helium
was $500 a cubic foot; three months
ago it was 500 per 1000 cubic feet;
last December it's production was re-
duced to s65 per 900 feet, and with
in the next few weeks it will be made
for 3 cents a foot--aS cheap as hy-
Idrogen, aside from the fact that when
1T becomes polluted ii can be puri-
fed as hydrogen cannot be.
X X X x
Helium is an unmixed element.
Every gas sends out its own peculiar
light, with it's own color. When all
their rays are mixed we get white
|light-sunlight. When a beam of
sunlight passes through a spectre
scope prism each ray-having it's own
angle of bending or refraction = is
separated from other rays and falls