May, 1914
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
administration of a railway line, by enabling more work t o be done per head, checks temporarily rates of promotion, Hitherto, undoubtedly, there has been somewhat too great a tendency to substitute regulations for explanations, and to adopt generally the attitude of the Roman centurion. Direct access t o officers or directors with powers of initiative may do much to make matters work more smoothly, and many of the companies are proceeding on these lines. On the Great Eastern Railway, for example, the company is represented on the Conciliation Board by a special director, and a somewhat similar policy is being pursued by other lines. Much of the trouble experienced in the past has been due to a feeling on the part of the men that the companies were evading the terms of various awards. I t will be the business of these special diplomatists to remove such apprehensions before matters come to a crisis.” IMPORTS O F SPERM OIL DURING 1913 According to the Oil, Paint and Drug annual report the importations of sperm oil during 1913 were as follows: Date April 28 May 25 June 1 June 29 July 14 August 8 August 9 August 15 September 4 October 25 h’ovember 13 November 13
Vessel
Barrels
Hyanthes ....................... Richard W. Clark.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bark Alice Knowles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . Brig Daisy., .................... Schr. Ellen A. Swift.. . . . . . . . . . . . . Schr. A. W. Nicholson. . . . . . . . . . . . Bark Chas. W.Morgan.. ......... Schr. John R. M a n t a . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bark Gay H e a d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schr. E. R. Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schr. Richard W. Clark . . . . . . . . . . . Str. Berlin., . , , , , , . . , , . , , , . , . , . .
150 4,150 650 375 450 550 1,200 200 900 4,555 4,425 1,485
-
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19,090
NOTE-on December grst, the stocks of unsold sperm oil in New Bedford amounted to 1,100 barrels.
420
highly successful results for three years a t the works of the Zellstoff-fabrik Waldhof, Mannhein (a Company having a capital of from $15,000,000 to $~o,ooo,ooo)and another plant on Rlr. Lymn’s system has been built by his German licensees, Messrs. Ehrhardt and Sehmer, for the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik the largest chemical works of Ludwigshafen-Rhein-probably in the world. It is interesting for us to be able to add that Mr. Lymn’s new and improved system has now been adopted by the German Government for their central power station a t Heinitz. This plant is at first being constructed for 3000 K.W., but i t is intended to double it later on. It will supply gas to large engines built by Messrs. Ehrhardt and Sehner.” GERMAN FOREIGN TRADE IN IRON In the year 1913 Germany’s foreign trade in iron, like her foreign trade as a whole, showed a considerable increase. Technik und Wirthschaft, 7 ( r g ~ q )213, , gives the following data: EXPORTS 1912 Iron and iron products.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $296,450,000 157,575,000 Machinery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Totals.
1913 $334,800,000 169,600,000
......................
$454,025,000 IXPORTS 1912 Iron and iron products., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $27,550,000 Machinery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19,250,000
$504,400,000
.
T o t d s . ........................
1913 $26,025,000 20,225,000 $46,250,000
946,800,000
In weight, the iron exports, exclusive of machinery, reached the figure of 6,500,000 tons, while the total output of iron in Germany and Luxemburg was 19,100,000 tons (metric). The amount exported was 7.5 per cent more than in 1912, but the value of the exports showed an increase of 13 per cent. The reason for this is that the exportation of the cheaper forms of iron fell off EXPORTS OF IRON A N D IRONPRODCCTS
POTASH SHIPMENTS DURING 1914 Consul-Geneial R. P. Skinner, Berlin, Germany, states that the executive authorities of the German Potash Swdicate have resolved to authorize the following deliveries for domestic and foreign consumption during the year 1914 in accordance with the provisions of the potash-syndicate law (the amounts being in metric tons of pure potash, K 2 0 ): For domes- For foreign tic conconsumpsumption tion Metric tons Carnallite with a t least 9 per cent and less than 12 per cent KzO. . . ........... Raw salts with 12 to Kz0.. ...... Fertilizer salts with 20 to 22 per cent Kz0.. . . Fertilizer salts with 30 to 32 per cent KzO... . Fertilizer salts with 40 to 42 per cent KzO. including potash fertilizer with 38 per cent KIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chloride of potash.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sulfate of potash with more than 42 per cent KtO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sulfate of potash-magnesia. , . , . , . . Total
.....................
Grand t o t a l . , , . , . , . . ,
,
,
, ,
,
,
,
., ,.,, .,
, ,
.,
7,100 339,000 2,300 4,000
100 141,100 48,300 16,000
Year Metric tons 19 11.. . . . . . . . . . . . 5.380.000 1912. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,042,000 19 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,497,000
in 1913, while that of finished products increased I j t o 17 per cent. The proportion of raw iron to the total iron export was 13.2 per cent and shows a condition similar to that in Great Britain, where the proportion of raw iron to the total iron exported sank from 25.7 per cent in 1912 to 2 2 . 2 per cent in 1913. In the following table Germany’s iron imports and exports for the last two years are classified in four groups: it will be seen here that the amount of machinery exported is seven times as great as that imported, a great increase over 1900, when the exports were only two and a half times the imports.
1912 211.300 69,700
67,000 187,500
1,700 200
55,000 15,000
635,300
531,300
_-
1,166,600
BY-PRODUCT PRODUCERS IN GERMANY Several German companies have had in operation for some time by-product producer-gas power plants built according t o a system invented by an Englishman, A . H. Lymn. The Journal of Gas Lighting and Water Supply, 97 (1914), 715, says: “ A large plant on this principle has been in operation with
EXPORTS
IXPORTS 7
7 -
1913
-
1912
7
1913
Raw iron, scrap, etc. (metric tons) 493,000 451,000 1,911,000 l.754.000 Rolling mills’ products.. . . . . 118.000 125,000 3,304,000 3,801,000 Machinery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , 78,000 88,000 537,000 594,000 Other products., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63,000 42,000 806.000 943,000
It is noteworthy that the exports to Great Britain, British East Indies, East Asia and South America have more than made up for the falling off of the exports to other European countries; even the small amount exported to the United States was doubled. The following table shows the destinations and amounts of, the greater part of the iron exported: Great Britain.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., Belgium., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Netherlands., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brazil and Argentine Republic., . , . , . , Switzerland.,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1910 910,000 753,000 386,000 395,000 26?,000
1912 1,024,000 798.000 555,000 381,000 356,000
1913 1,208,000 648,000 595,000 471,000 333,000
