INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY—BAEKELAND. 239 
the use of the wind, or the tide, or the heat of the sun, represents, up 
till now, nothing much beyond a mere hope of future possibilities. 
In the meantime it so happens, unfortunately, that many of the 
most abundant water powers of the world are situated in places of 
difficult access, far removed from the zone of possible utilization. 
But, precisely on this account, it would appear, at first sight, as if 
the United States, with some of her big water powers situated nearer 
to active centers of consumption, would be in an exceptionally favor- 
able condition for the development of electrochemical industries. On 
closer examination we find, however, that the cost of water power, as 
sold to manufacturers, is in general much higher than might be ex- 
pected; at any rate, it 1s considerably more expensive than the cost 
of electric power utilized in the Norway nitrate enterprises. 
This is principally due to the fact that in the United States water 
power, before it is utilized by the electrolytic manufacturer, has 
already to pay one, two, and sometimes three profits to as many inter- 
mediate interests, which act as so many middlemen between the 
original water power and the consumer. Only in such instances as 
in Norway, where the electrochemical enterprise and the develop- 
ment of the water power are practically in the same hands, can electric 
current be calculated at its real cheapest cost. 
Neither should the fact be overlooked that the best of our water 
powers in the East are situated rather far inland. Although this 
does not matter much for the home market, it puts us at a decided 
disadvantage for the exportation of manufactured goods, in compari- 
son again with Norway, where the electrolytic plants are situated 
quite close to a good sea harbor open in all seasons. 
Some electrochemical enterprises require cheap fuel just as much 
as cheap power, and on this account it has proved sometimes more 
advantageous to dispense entirely with water power by generating 
gas for fuel as well as for power from cheap coal or still cheaper peat. 
At present most of our ways of using coal are still cumbersome and 
wasteful, although several efficient methods have been developed 
which some day will probably be used almost exclusively, princiaplly 
in such places where lower grades of cheap coal are obtainable. 
I refer here particularly to the valuable pioneer work of that great 
industrial chemist, Mond, on cheap water-gas production, by the use 
of a limited amount of air in conjunction with water vapor. 
More recently this process has been extended by Caro, Frank, and 
others to the direct conversion of undried peat into fuel gas. 
By the use of these processes peat or lower grades of coal, totally 
unsuitable for other purposes, containing, in some instances, as much 
as 60 to 70 per cent of incombustible constituents, can be used to 
good advantage in the production of fuel for power generation. 
