840 THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY Vol. 12, NO. 9 The deposits of salt in the United States are unimportant. If the Geological Survey and the Agricultural De- The country possesses no really considerable salt industry partment will make the search they will earn the ever- but is supplied so far as interior consumption is concerned to lasting gratitude of the farmer, and release the strangle- a small extent by brine springs. hold which European potash has on this country. The principal supplies, however, are derived from England, Pending that time, the only hope for normally priced and the shores of Spain and Portugal. The same remark potash is for the final successful development of the applies to Canada. processes for recovering potash from greensand or This statement was probably made about 1860 to feldspar, one very large plant for which is nearing com- 1870 and was doubtless true then, but in 1887 the pletion ih New Jersey, which will produce potash United States produced over I,IOO,OOO tons; in 1900, of the highest grades of all salts required. By the z,8oo,ooo; and in 1,913,4,800,000 tons. Likewise the sale of its valuable by-product at ordinary prices its price of common salt in 1866 was about $13.00per ton, potash cost will be less than nothing. and in 1887, $3.50 per ton at the mines, while in 1913 The Government’s potash search reminds me of the it got as low as $2.00 per ton. golfer who, after losing the hole, looking for his ball When the potash deposits which are surely there are in the heavy “rough” where his unscrupulous opponent developed, $5 or $IO per ton for 80 per cent “thought it went,” finds it too late nicely placed in the muriate of potash will be a high price, and no greater fair green where “there was no use looking as it benefit can accrue to the farmer than this. couldn’t have come that far.” OUR FOREIGN TRADE IN CHEMICALS By 0.P. Hopkins 1824 BELMONTROAD, WASHINGTON. D. C Two years of peace have not weakened the com- year of America’s participation in the war, and the manding position in foreign trade attained during the year just closed. Apology is offered for the groupings war by the American chemical industry. Official in this table, and also for the fact that 1918 has been statistics for the fiscal year 1920 demonstrate that this selected in preference to any one of several others. It country has been able to keep its trade in chemical is, of course, impossible to arrive at such totals for quan- and allied products very near the high mark set during tities, but in the more detailed tables that follow, quan- the war, despite the loss of markets for purely war tities have been given wherever possible, values being supplies, and despite the pressing demands that must stated only when quantities were not available. All be met in the domestic market compilations are based upon statistics of the Bureau In almost all lines, except munitions, the exports in of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Washington, D. C. 1920 exceeded in value those in 1918,a fact that can SUMMARYOF FOREIGNTRADS IN CHEMICALSAND ALLIEDPRODUCTS be explained in some cases, perhaps, by rising prices, (In Millions of Dollars) -IMPORTS- -EXPORTS- but which nevertheless warrants the assertion that CLASSES 1914 1918 1920 1914 1918 1920 the position has not been weakened. These exports, Chemicals .................. 72 109 8.5 15 140 92 Drugs medicines, etc ......... 9 11 20 11 21 41 which very greatly exceed those of the last normal Dyes ’dyewoods.. ........... 10 9 6 (2 17 26 Explhves .................. 1 8 2 379 28 pre-war year, are made up almost entirely of manu- Fertilizers .................. 28 5 39 12 6 33 Gums, resins, etc.. .......... 88 227 330 20 11 37 factured products. Oils, fats, waxes ............. 75 199 319 194 367 607 Paints, pigments, etc.. ....... 2 1 2 7 17 27 Imports have more than held their own and com- Tannine materials. .......... 5 7 12 1 4 6 Pa~GZXpulp............. 30 66 106 6 30 33 prise raw and partly manufactured products required Miscellaneous productsl.. .... 120 253 701 44 132 324 for further advancement by American chemical manu- Miscellaneous materials.. .... __8 -6 -9 -2 -3 -4 f acturers. TOTAL............... 448 901 i63i 318 1127 1258 1 The importance of this class is due to the inclusion of sugar, The A very rough estimate puts the total value of exports articles making up this class are shown in the detailed table of miscellaneous products. of all chemical and allied products at a billion and a z$400,000. quarter dollars in 1920,a slight increase over the total THE TRADE IN CHEXICALS’ for 1918, and about four times the figure for 1914, There has been a falling off in the value of both the last normal year. Imports, estimated in the same exports and imports of chemicals since the war, but rough way, were valued at more than a billion and a the decline is due almost solely to the cessation of the half dollars in 1920, an increase of some 80 per cent demand for war supplies. Exports of picric acid, for over 1918,and nearly four times the total for 1914. instance, have practically ceased, and this was an Both exports and imports have quadrupled since 1914. item of prime importance in the total for the war year Sugar is included in these totals and accounts for much 1918. Aside from war supplies, the statistics indicate of the increase in imports. that the exports of chemicals have as a whole been Although values are no longer a reliable guide in maintained since hostilities ceased, and have for some making trade comparisons, asummary table of values has groups been increased. Sodas have more than held been compiled to show at a glance the tendencies in the their own, owing largely to the insatiable demand for chemical trade for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1914, 1 The term “chemicals” is here used in the usual restricted sense, BS 1918, and 1920; that is, the last normal year, a full not including drugs, medicines, and dyes. Sept., 1920 THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY 841 caustic soda the world over. The war stimulated the CHEMICALS,DRUGS, DYES, ETC.(Concluded) ARTICLES 1914 1918 1920 growth of domestic industries in all countries, and Imports many of these industries require caustic soda. The Soda: Cyanide lbs.. ............. (1) 84,652 8,629,502 230,000,000 lbs. of this alkali exported in 1920 repre- Nitrate,’tons.. ............. 564,049 1 607 020 907 041 All other salts of, value.. ... $487,038 $389:384 $1,6421589 sent an increase of more than 70 per cent over the Sulfur tons ................... 19,389 282 47 Surnai. lbs.. ................. 10,770,340 14,046,662 21,180,414 quantity shipped in 1918, while the foreign sales in All other chemicals, drugs dyes, etc., value. .................$13,676,032 $18,881,465 $6,727,411 1914were not important enough to be stated separately Exports in the official statistics. In a few cases, such as cal- Acids: Carbolic, Ibs.. ............. 8,688,554 2,223 205 cium carbide and acetate of lime, the 1920 figures are Nitric, lbs.. ............... 961 494 820’517 Picric, lbs.. ................ 56,193:952 8:073 lower than in 1914,but for the class as a whole the Sulfuric, Ibs.. .............. 12, $35,750 67$5:673:707 654 722 32 336 893 All other value.. .......... $357 035 $5:291’987 trade is greatly in excess of the pre-war totals, as will Alcohol, wdod, gal, ........... 32,845,6491,598:776 2 538 001 687:008 be seen in the table entitled “Trade in Chemicals, Calcium carbide, lbs.. ........ 28:869:68653.955 2 1,164,404 Coal tar bbls... ............. 22,150 81,640 Drugs, Dyes, etc.” Coal-tar‘distillates, n. e. s.: Benzol, lbs ................ 25 400 852 17 282 368 Imports have fallen off as compared in value with All other value.. .......... $5:620:851 $3:611:514 Copper sudate, lbs.. .......... 15,164,078 4,s 11,724 those of 1918,but considering the rise in prices, the Dyes and dyestuffs: Aniline dyes, value. ........ ( 9 $7 298 298 $1 7,130,397 total is probably about the same as in 1914. Logwood extract, value.. ... (9 $7’284’1$2’339’480 10 1,832,231 All other, value.. .......... $356 919’ f 6,829,937 TRADEIN CHEMICALS,DRUGS, DYES, ETC. Extracts for tanning, value.. .. $639:941 $3’804’5 63 ARTICLES 1914 1918 1920 Formaldehyde, value.. ....... (9 $866:038 $%$:% Imports Glycerol, lbs.. ............... 36,409,619 1,875,531 2 257 623 Infants’ food. value.. ......... (9 $1,908,14 1 $3:032:330 Acids (except coal-tar acids) : Lime. acetate of. Ibs.. ........ 68,160,224 15,490,032 32,885,132 Oxalic, lbs.. 8 507 850 792 383 1401 547 ............... Chioride of, 16s.. ........... (1) 13,060,401 31,252,379 All other value.. .......... $1:133:252 $3,051:634 $4:004:018 Medicinal and pharmaceutical Albumin ehg Ibs ............. (1) (1) 8,956,845 preparations value.. ..... $6 721 978 $10 190 188 $20 118 271 Ammonik, mhate, lbs.. ...... 9,176,729 1,120,074 5,344,028 Perfumery and c&metics, value $2’309’027 $3 ‘965 ’465 $7’979’237 Argols, lbs.. 29,793,911 30,267,388 26,638,337 ................. Petroleum ..jelly, value. ....... $661:889 S1:278:658 $3:156:286 Arsenic or orpiment, lbs.. ..... 4,432,793 9,260,768 6,470,700 Potash: Balsams, not containing alco- Chlorate.