1146
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
delay incident to obtaining permission and the sales handicap which comes in offering for sale a commodity which, when the order is finally obtained, may not be deliverable. Undoubtedly the aeronautical experts of other countries still number many who actually prefer hydrogen, because of its greater lifting power, and are willing to take their chances. Another obstacle is the cost of helium delivered in Europe, which would approximate sixty dollars per thousand cubic feet, including transportation and 730 pounds of containers. The annual supply required to make up losses and repurification are other deterring factors. The disaster to the R-101 aroused the deep sympathies of the world, and has given rise again to the discussion of helium export. Surely so long as our own aerial program is not restricted and our supplies are kept a t a maximum for defense, there can be no objection to the exportation of helium for peace-time and commercial uses. The plant operated by the Bureau of Mines a t Amarillo is believed to be capable of supplying our immediate requirements a t home. The exportation of helium should not be undertaken by the Government, but if a demand for the gas develops it should be met by helium produced by commercial concerns. This would enable these firms to continue their developments and operations independent of government orders and would leave the federal field to the Amarillo plant. I n addition, we would then have fully developed commercial facilities available to supplement federal resources should an emergency arise, Such a policy not only would seem to be favorable to the defense of the United States, should defense be necessary, but would greatly aid in the development of commercial aviation by dirigibles without the frightful hazard necessarily present xherever great quantities of hydrogen are employed. The disasters which have been all too numerous have not shaken confidence in the ultimate usefulness of lighter-than-air craft. They have, however, served to show us how fortunate we are in possessing helium and how great a factor it can be made for the maintenance of peace.
The Sport of Kings I N AX address a t the dedication of the new college for men of the University of Rochester, the Secretary of the Interior, himself a noted educator, described the growth of endowed educational institutions in the United States as a new sport of kings. Horse racing affords excitement as well as an outlet for surplus cash but, as some philosopher has remarked, the outcome is never really in doubt, for in the vast majority of cases, as is to be expected, one horse is a little faster than another. While horse racing is still popular in many quarters, the financial kings of the modern time have turned in considerable numbers to a new sport, no less exciting, no less costly, but far more certain in its constructive contribution. To endeavor to list those whose financial support has made possible the great chain of endowed institutions back and forth across our country might take the pages of an issue. Wherever this is read there will spring to mind a dozen, fifty, a hundred names of men and women who have taken from their surplus generous and substantial sums to endow their particular unit in the field of education, that better facilities in faculty and physical equipment may be available. The real competition is not between these institutions per se, but between their products. If uncertainty in the outcome of a competition is what gives it zest, then surely we have it here in great measure. It takes years to prove whether the investment is fully justified. The attainments of the individuals who have taken advantage of what is offered are the criteria.
VOl. 22, KO.11
Go about any of the academic institutions, whether they be those like Rochester, Duke, Chicago, the new downtown campus of Northwestern, the “white” campus at LIissouri, or Leland Stanford Junior which in a sense have been complete and ready-made, or go t o schools that have grown more slowly through the years. Regardless of the size, you will find buildings inscribed with the names of those who have indulged in this new sport of kings. It must be a satisfactory type of sport; otherwise its indulgence would not be so universal nor its cultivation proceeding on an ever-widening scale. The race is already on, gentlemen, but there is still time ‘and opportunity to place bets.
“The New Oil Scandal” F LATE considerable space has been given in some sections of the daily press to a discussion of ‘%henation’s new oil scandal,” in which headlines alIege the people of the United States have been victims to the extent of not less than twenty billion dollars. The startling disclosures all center around the oil shale deposits and their exploitation. But in view of technical developments of the last few years, the statements appear to be gross exaggerations, and the danger is that some clever individual will see an opportunity for promotion and stock sales which will have no justification in basic economics. There is no difference of opinion as to the extent of our oil shale deposits, nor of their oil content, and perhaps authorities might even agree as to the quantity of fuels and lubricants that can be procured by one process or another from these shales. The experienced technologist will immediately see in the situation a repetition of what he has frequently seen before-namely, you can do what is proposed so far as technology is concerned, but can you do it economically? Can you do it and pay a modest return on the investment? Can you do it and compete with other sources for the same final products? There was a time when it seemed that in the very near future we should have to begin to work the oil shales and suffer the consequences, even though they are far removed from the greatest centers of consumption and their treatment involves handling a quantity of shale which seems large in proportion to the yield. Since then, however, a great deal has been learned about the better utilization of the more readily available crude oil. Also advances have been made in the absorption and other methods of separating gasoline and the like from natural gas and from casinghead gas. Our readers scarcely need to be reminded of the progress in cracking and more recently in hydrogenation. Notwithstanding the predictions of early famine, we find ourselves with a surplus of gasoline and in a position to increase its yield from a given volume of crude just as rapidly as the demand or, to put it in another way, the economics justifies or makes attractive. There is a sound basis for the view that our known deposits of bituminous coal will be drawn upon for motor fuels before we go to oil shale. I n other words, the oil shales are valuable because of the future and should be regarded in that light. The investor attracted to oil shales should have in mind an estate for his grandchildren, or perhaps his great-grandchildren, and not an income for his wife. KO one can properly say, therefore, that the shales today are worth any particular sum. The advance of science and technology has postponed their utilization to such a distant date that events in the interim may find the shales of no greater value than they are today, or they may be of a value too great t o be predicted.
