Evening star., 1938-05-29
y. S. to Quit Taking Supply
OF Phosphorus for Granted
President Places Before Congress Problem of
Conserving Adequate Resources of Element
at Low Cost

Farmers knew in general that phos-
| phorus is essential to good crops. It Is
one of the three basic elements of fertiliz-
ers Only within the last decade or 10
did various specific effects Of phosphorus
hunger" begin to attract attention. Cattle
in certain areas showed signs of a queer
disease. They were "runty," in spite OF
supposedly good pasture. And they showed
a strange tendency to chew bones and gnaw
on wood, like dogs This was very quee.
indeed for herbivorous. ruminant animals
Investigation showed that the trouble was
with the soil from which came the forage
they ate. 1t was exceptionally poor in
phosphorus. The animals were trying to
make up for something lacking in their
diet which is essential for health and prob
ably. over any extended period, even for
life itself.
Also. it was noted. when the soil was
deficient in phosphorus good pasture
plants did not grow. High quality grasses
and legumes, as is stressed by Secretary
Wallace, slowly die out and their places are
taken by plants with little nourishment
IN them, like poverty grass, broomsedge
and red sorrel. Not only do these fail to
nourish stock, but perhaps even more
serious in the end, they fail to hold the
soil. Their roots are weak and shallow.
Erosion sets in and becomes worse and
worse. Eventually all the good top-soil is
washed into the seas. What little phos-
phorus was there originally is lost and the
result is wrecked agricultural area which
can hardly be repaired in a generation.
Still another result. noted even more
recently and stressed by President Roose-
welt in his message to Congress asking for
study OF the Nations phosphate re-
sources. is the effect on people living in
phosphorus-hungry areas. Children grow
up weak and spindly. Even in spite of
sunshine and supposedly good diets there
are signs Of rickets. Phosphorus in cereals
eggs and meat is essential for bones to
grow.
No Phosphorus, No Brains.
One might draw fantastic picture Of
world without MISUNDERSTANDING
that life could have gotten started any,
way in such a world. About the highest
evolution that would have been possible
would have been to the exalted status of
Jelly flsh. Bone would have been impos-
sible without phosphorus. The element
made it possible for life to walk erect, to
come out Of the sea bottoms into the sun.
shine, to soar in the clouds, to swing
from tree branches and hence to develop
brain Brains also probably would have
been impossible without phosphorus. There
is lot of the element in them. It plays
some part in the infinitely complex CO.
ordination of nerve impulses which consti-
tutes thought. So the jelly-fishes of the
phosphorus-less world probably would have
been brainless jelly-fishes
1t so happens that the prospect of phos-
phorus starvation is very remote for the
United States. The Nation has enormous
phosphate rock deposits vast quantities of
them on Government-controlled land and
to great extent, unexploited. 1t is the
worlds largest producer of phosphates.
Western Europe is not quite so fortunate.
1t Is poor in the essential element and the
worlds largest consumer Phosphorus must
compllcate any map-shattering plans of
ambitious dictators. France seems to have.
or had until very recently, almost a
monopoly on the phosphorus supply
through the enormous deposits in her
North African colonies of Tunisia and
Morocco. But, according to latest reports,
Russia is developing vast sources of phos-
pilates in that mineral wonderland beyond
the Arctic Circle which the Moscow gov
ernment is developing rapidly, the Kola
peninsula.
u. S. Has Sufficient
But so far as all this is concerned the
United States needn't worry. No other
power can cut the Nations phosphorus
lifeline. As pointed out by President Roose-
velt IN his message to Congress, the total
supply of phosphate rock in the country
amounts to little more than 1000, 900 900
tons. A little more than per cent is in
the East-chiefly in Florida, but some in
Tennessee and other States. Nearly 81
per cent is in the four Western States,
Idaho, Montana. Utah and Wyoming The
total supply will last long time. But as
stressed by Secretary Wallace in his COM
ment on the Presidents message: THE
smallest part, less than 10 per cent, Is here
in the East-and that Is the supply we have
been using almost exclusively, because
phosphate fertilizers have been used mostly
in the East. With an enormous amount
lying out there in the West practically un-
touched, we have been digging more and
more heavily into the Eastern deposits,
which will last only tenth as long as the
Western. The probability is that we are
not anywhere near the peak use of phos-
pilates in this country. Judging from
everything we know now, we need to use q
great deal more"
The trouble is that, at present, the cards
are stacked against using these Western
deposits. They are too far away from the
East which needs phosphates. Shipping
costs are too high to compete with the
Eastern phosphate supplies. As Secretary
Wallace says:
Prom the standpoint Of conservation
and wise use Of our resources We ought to