Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-08
In TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

How dependent is the safety of the
United States upon the production
and conservation of a bagful of gas!
Everybody knows that
For want of nail, the shoe was lost.
For want Of shoe, the horse was lost
For want Of the horse, the battle was lost.
| A horseshoe nail is more tangible
| than a bagful of gas. In the next
war;" according to our military lead
ers-a war which may be delayed be-
yond the present generation or might
break "tomorrow"-the fate of the
Nation will depend upon our bagfuls
of gas. Today there is only one bag
| full of helium gas in the world, and II
| is possessed by the United States. If
| 1t were destroyed, our two great air
ships would be as useless as a battle
| ship without fuel or ammunition. II
is conceivable that critical conditions
might make that one bagful of he
| lium worth more than a similarly
huge bagful of pure gold-"more
precious than rubies."
All standards of values are rela-
| tive. If, in all the world. there were
only one storehouse of food and one
cask of water, we might appreciate
| the valuation of a starving traveller
who was lost upon the Sahara, when
he discovered a purse dropped from
|
mere pearls-not life-saving nuts.
Battles have been fought to secure
a crucial bridge, when the original
cost of constructing that bridge had
no bearing upon its vital Importance
at the moment of struggle. Heroes
have given their lives in defense OF
| battery or a flag. But never yet
has a struggle ragged, as 1t may soon
| be fought, over a nations world
l. .,f ho win O. a
sixth the weight of admissible, In
| tangible and inert, refusing to COM
bine with anything.
Not only does the control of ma
tional safety lie with the poss ession
of that bagfu1 of helium, but SO also
| lie the possibilities Of the study OF
the sciences and of the proximate
development and prosperity OF the
| Nations commerce.
On January 25 there will be q total
eclipse of the sun, and civilized ma
lions are sending their astronomers
to distant mountain peaks that they
may observe the phenomenon from
stations above smoke and clouds. Our
own astronomers will ascend with
their great Photographic equipments
| in the one airship available, but can
not use the second airship because
| there is no helium sufficient to initiate
| both at once.
Helium was so named from "helas,
| the Greek for sun, because the gas
was first discovered by the spectre
scope of the sun, and was not thought
| to exist upon the earth for some years
afterward. Yet, after years OF
| familiarity with it's unique qualities
we have only half enough of this
| sun gas" to fill the bags of our air
fleet, that our scientists may wit
ness the sun going into eclipse. There
| is no practicable substitute.
| A statement made recently by the
| aeronautic branch of the Navy con-
| tanned this:
| THE Los Angeles was filled with
hydrogen (when it crossed the Atlantic
| for delivery to the United States), but
| the successful termination of the
| flight cannot be taken to mean that
| hydrogen is safe, for the airshir
| records are too full of complete dis
/ asters to warrant such an assumption
| The Shenandoah has always been
| filled with helium, and had this not
| been the case she might have been
| added to the list of disasters when
| she broke away from the moorine
mast at Lakehurst in a violent storm
about a. year ago. That
| proves beyond doubt the absolute
1 safety in the worst kind of weather
Lot the airship when handled by =