The Washington times., 1924-04-24
FORBID
EXPORT Of
HEL|Dh
Chemist Says Monopoly Of
This Gas d Tremendous
War Asset.

Expectation Of heiiUm, non.in.
6lamnaabie gas, should be forbidden
by Federal legislation. a. the United
States has practical monopoly OK
this product. the petroleum chem
intry division Of the American
Chemical Society was told today BY
DR.. Richard B. Moore, former chief
chemist Of the Bureau Of Mines, In
Central High School.
Room a0l OF the school building,
whore the divisional meeting was
held, was packed TO the doors when
DR., Moore addressed the scientists.
He bitterly accused Capt. Anton
Heinen. Of the dirigible 6henan'
doah, Of making Il "a special
poInt publicly. and on all possible
occasicne, tO knock the ues Of
halium and boost the use o. hydro
gen. IN heavier-than@atE cfaft.
DiUnude Disaster Cited.
sIIe recently went 20 Ear in
public statement" said DR.. Moore
araR to claim that the French
gevaFnEnant had deliberately lied IN
connection with tts report concern
lng the disaater to the ptxmude.
"70w anyone in this country with
no personal kn0wiedge Of the facts
could make such . statement h
difficult 10 understand, and simply
confirms the belief that the attitude
Of this engineer il far from belns
q diainterestad one.
The Dixnaude. the ZR-2 and the
Roma all might have been saved
from burning by the use Of helium,
Dr. Moore told the chemists.
'sIn each case" he said. "the
disaster was preceded Or accom-
panied by mechanical troubles, but
these need not necessarily have beeH
fatal to any q the crew had these
airshipa been filled with helium,"
Big Asset In War.
DR.. Moore declared that ''helium
gives this country q TREMENDOUS as
aat IN time Of war"
S"If Il were necessary" said he,
lit would be possible to fill 100 air
ships twice the size Of the 6henan-
duAh with helium and keen them
in, the air for several years, Even
one-fourth of this number might
be sufficient to decide q contest in
which the United States some day
might find itself involved"
This country. according 10 DR..
Moore. has the only large supplies
Of helium,hearing SOS in the world,
the gaa belt extending Through
Texas, Oklahoma, southeastern Kan.
sas, Ohio. Pennsylvania, New York,
West Virginia and Kentucky. The
richest gas u found in Texas, Okla
homa and Kansas.
Because heliun cannot be set on
fire. Il would be necessary, in time
/ OF war, to Ftn the bags 10 pieces by
bombing or Smelling before inco-
Ipacitating a helium airship. DR.
Moore said. On the other hand, .
single incendiary bullet would set
afire q hydrogen ship and destroy
~ completely,
I'm future wars" the scientist
predicted, ''airships will be built SUI
ficiently large to carry . number Of
small fighting airplanes. and these
can b dr0pped or recovered by the
aiFshtp at win.
cit is not dtffieult to appreciate
what . feet Of such airships could
DO TO q city like New York, London
or Paris.
"This country has practically a
Imonopoly Of heliuTn gas and Il IL
strongly advisable, az Ia provided IN
the Kahn bin now before Congress,
that expectation Of thia valuable
asset should not be allowed"
Other Subjects Up.
Central High Scnool today was
cornpletely taken over by sectional
meetings Of the chemists Educa-
ton was discussed in the library.
Celluloae held attention IN room 10.
IN room sos. the division Of biology
cal chemistry held forth. The gen-
eral attention. however, eentered on
the petroleum chemistry room.
whore chemists of all branches
sought to hear DR.. Moore's address.
The 3.oO0.odd delegates and guests
Of the society were received by
President Coolidge ct the White
House at noon, And after luncheon
many went by boat or train to Mt.
Vernon, Group ana fraternity din
ners and other social affairs were
prepared for the early evening.
Motion pictures Of the Bureau Of
Mines will be shown TO delegates In
the ballroom Of the Raleigh Hotal
tonight at 8 o'clock. Agricultural
films are scheduled for the Cosmos
Club at 7:S0