Calhoun, Gilmer, Lewis, Upshur, Braxton, Clay, 6. Counties of Kanawha, Boone, Raleigh, Fay. Nicholas and Webster. ette, Greenbrier and Pocahontas. ....24.415 Stuart F. Reed, Rep.. Fleming N. Alderson, Dem... .23,442 .22.762 Wood, Wirt, Adam B. Littlepage, Dem...... .........25,963 Jackson, Roane, Mason, Putnam and Cabell. T. A. Null, Dem.... Harry C. Woodyard, Rep.....!!!!! 22.855 62 62 5. Counties of Wayne, Lincoln, Mingo, Logan, McDowell, Wyoming, Mercer, State Officers. Summers and Monroe. George R. C. Wiles, Dem...... .23,859 Edward Cooper, Rep....... Governor-A. H. Roberts, Dem. Secretary-Houston Golf Young, Rep. .25,563 Treasurer-William S. Johnson, Rep. POTASH PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. At the direction of the president, the chemicals division of the war industries board in December, 1918, turned over to the department of the interior the problem of increasing the potash production of the United States. This action was taken in order that an established branch of the government may permanently set itself to the task of emancipating the American farmer from the grip of Germany's monopoly on the world's supply of fertilizer material. try. Before the signing of the armistice the war industries board had already attacked the problem. Chairman Baruch himself had appeared before a congressional committee in behalf of an amendment to the revenue bill which would give encouragement to private industries which would undertake the risk of establishing potash production in this counThe chemicals division, on the other hand, in co-operation with other departments of the government, had turned its attention to the specific task of extracting potash from waste products. A committee of experts, representing the steel and iron industry of the country and certain scientific departments of the government, was in process of formation, under the auspices of the chemicals division, at the time hostilities ceased. Its purpose was to determine as quickly as possible the feasibility, from a commercial standpoint. of extracting potash from the fumes of blast furnaces. Prior to the outbreak of the war, Germany, by reason of her monopoly of the potash supply, had gradually extended her arm around the food crops of the world. It was to Germany that the farmers of this and other countries had to look for the principal ingredients of their fertilizers. Nowhere else were to be found the vast potash deposits, contained in rock salt, which insured to the German potash exporters a natural supply sufficient to meet the demands of the world for several thousands of years to come. When the outbreak of the European war suddenly cut off this supply the situation of the American farmer was for a time desperate. Under the stimulus of necessity, efforts were launched by private industries to meet the situation, and in consequence there has been a considerable development in the amount of potash produced in this country. By no means, however, has this development approached the requirements of the country. Before the war the American imports of pure potash from Germany for the year ending July, 1914, amounted approximately to 250,000 tons. In 1917 there were produced in the United States 32.000 tons, and in 1918 it was estimated that the output would amount to about 60,000 tons. The war industries board undertook to approach the problem in a larger way, and it is proposed by arrangement between the chemicals division and the department of the interior for the program to be carried forward by the latter department. The suggestion of extracting potash from blast furnace fumes is based on the fact that potash in varying quantities is found not only in the iron ores but in the coke and lime used in reducing the ores. In Alabama the ores are particularly rich in potash. At present this potash is allowed to escape during the processes of the blast furnaces. Divided into microscopic particles of dust it is volatilized and carried off with the waste fumes. Several methods of saving this potash have been suggested by scientists. Of these the most feasible appears to be the electric precipitation process devised by Dr. Fred D. Cottrell of the bureau of mines. This involves cooling the gases as they emerge from the blast furnaces and passing them through a series of sheet-steel tubes eight to twelve inches in diameter. Through the center of these tubes is run a wire, or chain, carrying a high-voltage charge of static electricity. This electric charge tends to electrify the fine particles of potash dust, causing them to consolidate or "colonize" and drop down the sides of the tubes. A fair-sized installation for this process requires as many as 400 of these tubes through which to pass the gases. It is this process which the Bethlehem Steel company has experimented with on a small scale. Another method tried out involves the spraying of the gas fumes with water and passing them through moist bags, which retain the potash. This method has been tried out in extracting potash from the fumes given off in the manufacture of cement. Its first practical application took place when a ce. ment plant located near Redlands, Cal.. undertook, in response to neighborhood protests, to cut down the volume of fumes emitted from its chimneys. Other cement plants have tried it out. and in the east the Security Cement and Lime company at Hagerstown, Md., has been foremost in the recovery of potash from cement dust. Cement mixture contains potash in proportions varying from 1 per cent to 14 per cent. When calcining cement clinkers the addition of salt to the coal that is burned in the kiln renders the potash soluble in water. At a conference of experts held in the office of C. H. MacDowell, director of the chemicals division of the war industries board, the opinion prevailed that it would be entirely feasible to develop commercially a method of extracting the potash from blast furnace fumes, particularly in regions where the blast furnaces are located near ores in which potash occurs in quantities sufficient to insure substantial recoveries. The problem presents many technical difficulties, since care must be taken in developing a by-product process not to interfere with the primary output. At The potash deposits in Germany resulted from the crystallization of sea water. In all of the 202 mines in that country, the potash is found in water-soluble form and for certain purposes can be used just as it comes from the mines without further refining. Searles Lake, Cal., potash in this watersoluble form has been found in small quantities, and two factories have been established there to extract it. In Nebraska it has been possible to recover potash in fair quantities from certain alkali lakes located in that state. In Utah Mr. MacDowell himself established a plant at which pure potash is recovered from alunite. Elsewhere experiments have been made in recovering potash from certain by-products such as beet-root molasses and wool scourings. Other sources of supply being studied are the potash shales of Alabama and Georgia, the green sands of New Jersey and the leucite deposits of Wyoming. There is, in fact, a considerable development now under way in the production of potash from leucite; and production likewise has been undertaken in Utah from certain brines contained in salt deposits west of Salt Lake City. Unquestionably it is going to cost much more to produce potash in Germany and Alsace. War taxes, high food costs and other fundamentals will bring this about so that it will be a long time before European potash is brought to this country at the low cost prevailing before 1914. SHORTAGE IN WORLD'S SUPPLY OF FATS. In support of its policy to keep farmers of the United States fully informed of world food conditions and probable needs for certain commodities the United States food administration in December, 1918, eompleted a summary of unusual importance to producers. The world Commodities of which there were sufficient supplies, if used with economy, were wheat, rye, beans, peas, rice, and feeds other than those high in protein. Sufficient beef was in sight to load all refrigerating ships to capacity. There was enough sugar for our normal consumption if other nations retained their present short rations. If they increased their rations, there would be a shortage. Coffee was the only common food commodity of which there was a world surplus. With the possible exception of high protein feeds, the United States had sufficient food and feed for its own people, but to fulfill its pledge of 20,000,000 tons to Europe by July 1, 1919. there must be continued conservation and avoidance of waste. its The world shortage of fats was explained by Mr. Hoover as 'due primarily to the fact that Europe has been steadily underfeeding dairy herd, has made steady inroads into its herd of hogs during the war, and to the facts that there has been a great degeneration in the production of vegetable oils in certain regions owing to the inability to secure shipping." According to food administration calculations. even with all our supplies and best efforts, the world will be far deficient in its normal amounts of fats for two or three years at least. The future of the American producer who is equipped for general farming seems to lie in liberal crops of meat products and homegrown feeds with which to grow live stock economically. PRESIDENT WILSON'S APPEAL FOR A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS. President Wilson issued the following appeal, to the voters of the United States Oct. 25, 1918: "My Fellow Countrymen: The congressional elections are at hand. They occur in the most critical period our country has ever faced or is likely to face in our time. If you have approved of my leadership and wish me to continue to be your unembarrassed spokesman in affairs at home and abroad, I earnestly beg that you will express yourselves unmistakably to that effect by returning a democratic majority to both the senate and house of representatives. "I am your servant and will accept your judgment without cavil, but my power to administer the great trust assigned me by the constitution would be seriously impaired should your judgment be adverse, and I must frankly tell you so, because so many critical issues depend upon your verdict. No scruple of taste must in grim times like these be allowed to stand in the way of speaking the plain truth. "I have no thought of suggesting that any political party is paramount in matters of patriotism. I feel too deeply the sacrifices which have been made in this war by all our citizens irrespective of party affiliations to harbor such an idea. I mean only that the difficulties and delicacies of our present task are of a sort that makes it imperatively necessary that the nation should give its undivided support to the government under a unified leadership and that a republican congress would divide the leadership. At "The leaders of the minority in the present congress have unquestionably been pro-war, but they have been anti-administration. almost every turn since we entered the war they have sought to take the choice of policy and the conduct of the war out of my hands and put it under the control of instrumentalities of their own choosing. "This is no time either for divided council or for divided leadership. Unity of command is as necessary now in civil action as it is upon the field of battle. If the control of the house and senate should be taken away from the party now in power an opposing majority could assume control of legislation and oblige all action to be taken amidst contest and obstruction.. "The return of a republican majority to either house of the congress would moreover be interpreted on the other side of the water as a repudiation of my leadership. Spokesmen of the republican party are urg ing you to elect a republican congress in order to back up and support the president, but even if they should in this impose upon some credulous voters on this side of the water they would impose on no one on the other side. It is well understood there as well as here that the republican leaders desire not so much to support the president as to control him. "The peoples of the allied countries with whom we are associated against Germany are quite familiar with the significance of elec tions. They would find it very difficult to believe that the voters of the United States had chosen to support their president by electing to the congress a majority controlled by those who are not in fact in sympathy with the attitude and action of the administration. "I need not tell you, my fellow countrymen, that I am asking your support not for my own sake or for the sake of a political party, but for the sake of the nation itself in order that its inward unity of purpose may be evident to all the world. In ordinary times I would not feel at liberty to make such an appeal to you. In ordinary times divided councils can be endured without permanent hurt to the country. But these are not ordinary times. "If in these critical days it is your wish to sustain me with undivided minds I beg that you will say so in a way which it will not be possible to misunderstand either here at home or among our associates on the other side of the sea. I submit my difficul ties and my hopes to you. FOUND EMPLOYMENT FOR MILLIONS. From its reorganization in January until the end of October, 1918, the United States employment service directed to employment, almost entirely in war industry, approximately 2.500.000 workers. It also increased its local employment offices from ninety to 900 in the same period. These figures represent an increase of about 1.000 per cent in both labor-finding activities and in the establishment of local employment offices. The steady rate at which the service has grown in extent and accomplishment is indicated by the fact that in January 62.642 persons were sent to jobs, while in October 547.826 were directed to employment. Furthermore, during the week ending Nov. 2. "WOODROW WILSON." the last week but one of war conditions, 162,754 workers were directed-a rate of 650,000 a month. Returns made by employers and workers show that approximately 2.000.000 of the 2.500.000 workers directed were placed. It is impossible to know how many of the remainder were placed, owing to the failure of some employers and workers to notify the service of the acceptance of workers or jous. These totals are proof that the employment service has made good. For at the outset of the reorganization it was estimated that the war industries of the country would require between 2.000.000 and 3,000,000 workers up to the end of 1918. |