THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINS-
"I Tine of Peace"
(By W. Bernard Butler) aluminum, and other electrolytic for the factories which produce these
From peace to war, dye to poison products. Congress still holds up ac- materials are potential munition
gas, or fertilizers to high explosives fion, and the issue threatens to go into plants. The only safety lies in equal-
within an hour, is a possibility in Ger- the political plank of some party. ity of preparedness."
many, according to the statement Professor White believes that the To look at the' question from its
made by Alfred H. White of the chem- types of factories which will have the other aspect, that of peace, all of us
ical engineering department, in a re- most complete knowledge of explosive are wont to think of agriculture as
cent talk on "Explosives and Fertil- materials for the next war are the the typical peace-time occupation.
izers," before a meeting of the Insti- dye plants. How important this subject is, was
tute of'Chemical Engineers. "The connection between the dye stressed by the late Theodore Roose-
"The intimate connection between industry and the manufacture of velt in 1912, when he said in the Out-
explosives and fertilizers," says Pro- poison gases has been frequently dis- .look:
fessor White, "has- been well-known to cussed. The relation between the dye "I have always been fond of history
the scientific world, but the stupen-i tndustry and explosives has not been and of science, and what has occurred
dous explosion at Oppau in Germany emphasized. The operations of nit'ra- in Spain, to Palestine, to China, and
a few weeks ago has perhaps accen- tion are fundamental both to the dye to North Africa from the destruction
tuated it, and has certainly brought industry and to the manufacture of of natural resources, is familiar to
vividly to the lay mind the possibility explosives,.and certain materials such me. I have always been deeply im-
of the use of the same material. for as picric acid and di-nitro-phenol are pressed with Liebig's statement that
two widely different purposes. The in themselves explosives as well as it was the decrease of soil fertility,
mechanism of that unexpected explo- products of the dye manufacturer. The and not either peace or war, which
sion, which took four hundred lives, relation of explosives to poison gas was fundamental in bringing about
is still a matter of conjecture, but, is so very close that it is not possible the decay of nations. While unques-
it seems clear that a warehouse re- Ito say with certainty where one be- tionably nations have been destroyed
ported to contain seven thousand tons gins and the other leaves off, but I by other causes, I have become con-
of a mixed salt of ammoRxiom nitrate cannot refrain from giving one speci- vinced that it was the-destruction of
and sulphate, intended for fertilizer fit instance of the ready adaptation the soil itself which was perhaps the
and believed to be entirely safe, un- of a dye works to the manufacture of most fatal of all causes."
expectedly exploded with all the vio- poison gas. Dr. C. G. Hopkins, of the University
lence- of a high explosive." "The Badische Anilin and Soda- of Illinois, among other authorities
For hundreds of years explosives Fabrik of Germany has a capacity to on this acute agricultural situation,
have been a decisive factor in warfare. produce 800,040 pounds of indigo dye points out the fact that the nitrogen
When England won her victory at each month. The process begins with of our soil'-is being squandered as
Crecy, gunpowder and artillery decided alcohol which is converted into ethy- are our petroleum and natural gas
the outcome. The United States al- lene and then into ethylene chlorhy- products. We are told that 2,250,000
ways has experienced unnecessary drin. This latter produft is heated tons of nitrogen are removed from
hardships in the larger wars because with aniline and the oily residue is our soil by our grain crops alone, so
of the shortage of explosives. In the fused with caustic potash; from this that unless this content is replaced, 51
words of Napoleon, "God is on the side fusion, indigo is at once obtained by to 105 years will find even the richest
of the heaviest artillery." solution in water and oxidation by prairie soils tatally exhausted.
During the recent great war, Great air. Were Germany to be drawn into The Illinois Agricultural Experi-
Britain, in 1914 and 1915, was unable war, this plant might be converted ment Station says, "The nitrogen
to cope with Germany's superior fire. into a. mustard gas plant in scarcely
The Allies asked this country first for an hour's time. The first two steps
explosives when, in 1617, we entered in the process are identical. In the
the war, because their shortage was third step, sodium sulphide,, a cheap
acute, due to lack of raw materials. chemical, is substituted for aniline
The United States responded to the and the solution thus obtained is con-
call of her - allies, but most of the centrated and treated in large tanks
plants have since been scrapped. with hydrochloric acid. The oily
Germany has enormous nitrate plants product settling out. of the bottom is
now turned to peace time efforts, but the well-known mustard gas and may
only two of ours have been retained, be drawn off at will." VJld
the U. S. Nitrate Plant No. 1 and the "Disarmament in chemical warfare
No. 2 at Muscle Shoals, which Henry is impossible," continued Prqfessor
Ford seeks to buy for a great indus- White, "unless the world is prepared
trial development for the fertilizer, to forego colors and synthetic drugs,
problem is the most important prac-
tical problem confronting the Ameri-
can farmer."
'"The technical developments of ni-
trogen fixation have progressed far
enough, said Professor White, "so that
it is a safe resource for military pur-
poses, but it is not economical enough
for fertilizer. The economical fixation
of nitrogen still challenges the chem-
ical engineer, for the most promising
process demands the direct combina-
tion of combustible gases in steel ves-
sels at a red heat operating under
pressures measured in thousands of
pounds. If all the nitrogen now re-
moved from the soil by grain crops
were to be replaced by nitrogen
drawn from the air, it would require
fifty plants of the size of the govern-
ment plant at Muscle Shoals."
Sir William Crookes, the great
English Scientist, twenty-five years
ago warned the world against the ex-
travagant dissipation of the nitrogen
content from the soil: "The fixation
of nitrogen is vital to the progress of
civilized humanity. Other discover-
ies minister to our increased com-
fort, luxury, or convenience; they,
serve to make life easier, to hasten
the acquisition of wealth, or to save
time, health or worry. The fixation
of nitrogen is a question of the not
far distant future. Unless we can
class it among the certainties to
come, the great Caucasion race will
cease to be the foremost in the world,
and will be squeezed out of existence
by races to whom wheaten bread is
not the staff of life."
fC OO
Cheanngr
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