Evening star., 1932-12-27
DIAMONDS CO UP
AGAINST THE TREND
investments for Stability in
Depression One Of
Causes.

While most commodities have been
scaling downward to lower price levels
during the last two years, diamonds,
often classed among luxuries, have more
than held their own. Lately prices OF
these gems have turned sharply up
ward.
Two reasons stand out in accounting
for the diamonds amazing ability to
move against the trend" says bull
letin from the headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society. I'm times
of depression there Is q tendency
among certain peoples to condense and
stabilize accumulated wealth by putting
1t into gems; second, and most i'm
portant, more than half Of the worlds
production in diamonds, in quantity, Is
used each year in industry.
Keep Trade Lanes Open.
"Sparkling health in the diamond in
dustry is good news to at least two
producer and exporter of diamonds and
the United States is the worlds greatest
diamond consuming country. While
South AfricaS export of diamonds does
not all go to the United States, nor
does their bulk fill the hold OF ships,
still the transport of SO valuable COM
modify help to keep open the 1000
mile ship lanes between the hemi-
spheres, and it serves to lower freight
rates for other cargo.
las far as mere bulk is concerned.
If all the diamonds produced in peak
year-say. 1929-could be made into a
cube, it would be about the height OF
an average man, weighing approxi-
ma ately a ton and half. In 1880 more
than half a million carats of diamonds,
valued at over $30000,000, entered the
country. Were the entire diamond
holdings of the United States divided
equally among the Nations population,
each family would own between $50
and 5000 worth of diamonds.
Diamonds, a close relative OF coal.
have been found on all the continents.
One of the earliest known sources Of
the worlds diamond supply was India.
and few of the gems are still mined
there
Second Largest Producer.
t'Next to South Africa in importance
as a diamond producer is Brazil. Once
10000 miners dug in Brazls diamond
fields. but the greater richness of the
African mines and the greater ease Of
recovering the stones in Africa finally
eclipsed Brazilian operations. Brazil,
however. still exports diamonds. and SO
does British Guiana. the other i'm
portant source Of the gem in South
America.
Most Of the other diamond fields are
IN out-of-the-way places. In the East,
Borneo, Australia and Tasmania pro-
Iot
come out of Siberia. Neither Europe
nor the United States figures i'm
portantly in mining operations, although
diamonds have been found in the Ural
Mountains of Russia and in Lapland,
and small stones have come to light in
al:uvial deposits in various parts of the
United States.
while the employment Of the dia-
mond in industry is by no means new,
research engineers in the last few years
have found many additional uses for a
substance which is SO hard that it may
be used for bearings and drills where
ordinary materials would quickly break
down.
Ten Times rs Fine as Hair.
I'm watches, chronometers, electric
meters and other precision instruments
and laboratory apparatus. diamond
bearings long ago proved their worth.
Now holes are drilled in small diamonds
and slender wires OF platinum, silver,
gold and other rare metals are drawn
through them. Tugsten pulled through
diamond dies has come out in an almost
invisible strand 10 times as fine as hair.
These wires, coiled 1890 turns to the
linear inch, form sprinklike flaments
for electric light bulbs.
Other industrial uses for diamonds
range from drills for glass, porcelain
and similar substances to cutting edges
fol- rock drilling and saving. Only the
imperfect and less valuable stones are
used in industry. The 'patrician dia-
monds,' as in ages past, 60 into jew
cry"