Evening star., 1926-02-14

spite OF the TACT that ordinary
air Is four-ffths nitrogen. the
United States is at the present
i time in the clutches of foreign
monopolies that control the kind
of nitrogen that can be used to feed
Americas crops, make it's explosives
and furnish raw material for thou
sands of chemical and other industrial
plants.
For nitrogen that can be used in
industry and agriculture occurs nat
urally in workable quantities in prac-
tically only one location, Chile, and
it is expensive and difficult TO take
the free uncombined nitrogen of the
air and convert it into fixed or chemi-
ca.ly combined nitrogen that can be
used in agriculture and industry.
Such American plants as those at
Muscle Shoals, using methods devel-
oped at home and abroad, can success
fully produce American-made nitrates.
Unlike the rubber situation, in
which little relief from foreign CON
troll is in sight for a decade or more,
America can easily become independ-
ent of foreign nitrate in time of need.
S75,OO0,O 900 Worth Used.
American crops and factories use
| nearly $75,000,000 worth of nitrogen
| in one form or another each year, and
oyer $50 900 900 of this comes from
abroad, chiefly from Chile. Other
kinds come as fertilizer from factory
! wastes or as ammonia in liquors from
coal distillation in the making of gas
coke. The rest is made synthetically
from the nitrogen in the air by chemi-
! cal means.
In 1925 the world used 857 900 tons
! of the element nitrogen, exclusive of
in nj
| foods. OF this amount Al per cent
comprised the nitrogen in the output
of Chile saltpeter and 90 per cent
was fixed nitrogen.
A monopoly of nitrate producers
controls practically the entire output
| of the Chilean fields. The govern
ment of Chile is a party to the mo
! nopoly and puts a tax of $l2.34 on
every ton of nitrate that leaves the
country. At present, the price of the
nitrate. artificially loosened by the tax.
sets the standard for all synthetic
| nitrateS and fertilizers.
! 1t is believed that when the meth
| DDS for getting nitrogen from the air
are further improved and more com
monty used. synthetic nitrogen prod
! ucts will turn the tables on the
| Chilean fields. Recently discovered
means OF getting nitrogen from the
| air. where il exists in unlimited guam
! titles and in an elusive form have
/ become Of vital Importance in peace
, and war. BY these means Germany
| freed herself from Chile before the
war, and the United States might do
| the same.
J Vast Need Exists in United states
! As a result of nitrogen fiXation il
! * estimated that so per cent of the
! worlds supply of inorganic nitrogen
/ came out of the air in 1925. Before
/ the war only 10 per cent was obtained
| that way. The plentiful supply of
nitrogen which is in the air and there
| for the taking may make it possible
| for agriculture of the future to meet
! the demands of the vast growing pop
! ulation of the world, which is disturb
! ing the sleep of many an earnest
! economist There is almost unlimited
| room for Improvement in agriculture
| The Department of Agriculture points
! out that in 1925. out OF the forty ode
! millions of acres planted in cottor
| only about Sc per cent are fertilized
| What is done with the nitrogen
! problem in the next ten years vii
! go far to determine American stand
/ ards of living" according to a state
ment of DR.. Harry A. Curtis. former
| chief Of the nitrate division of the
! United States Department of Com
merce. Unless relatively cheap fixed
nitrogen can he supplied 10 agricul
| ture each acre will produce smaller
! crops. while our population will con
/ tinue to get larger"
! Although the processes for getting
; nitrogen from the air are less than
! 20 years old, they already give the