4o6 



NATURE 



[January 24, 19 18 



will have the advantage of the knowledge and 

 experience of the largest, while the latter will 

 benefit by the combined knowledge, experience, 

 and advice of all the rest of the trade. In many 

 cases new sources of raw materials will have to 

 be found and new methods of finance devised. 

 The problem of the best way to secure 

 adequate representation of British industry in 

 foreign markets will have to be solved, and 

 the best way of utiUsing the new part-time con- 

 tinuation schools considered. In all these ques- 

 tions labour will be consulted, and the employed 

 will take an equal part with employers. The 

 watchword of reorganisation is " Unity of indus- 

 trial interest." 



The general principles voiced by the Whitley 

 report have received recognition on all hands, but 

 some organising force is necessary to give them 

 practical effect. This is the purpose of the Indus- 

 trial Reconstruction Council. It is desirable that 

 some obviously disinterested body should take 

 the first step towards establishing a council in a 

 particular trade. The I.R.C. is prepared to send 

 representatives to a meeting, large or small, of 

 any association of employers or employed in order 

 fully to explain the mode of formation and func- 

 tions of an industrial council. The Ministry of Re- 

 construction can be approached at a later stage 

 when the scheme has been drafted by the industry. 

 An industrial council consisting of equal numbers 

 of employers and employed has already been 

 formed for the pottery industry. This council 

 will establish committees for dealing with special 

 branches, and may co-opt outside experts upon 

 them. Among its special duties will be that of 

 making the manufacture of pottery as hygienic as 

 possible. 



The aims of the Labour Party, of course, go 

 far beyond the organisation of particular trades. 

 The chief appears to be to form the dominant 

 party in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, 

 the promoters look forward to a perpetuation of 

 the system of party government ; but if all the 

 workers by brain, as well as by hand, combine 

 into one party for the government of the State 

 on democratic lines, party government will prac- 

 tically cease, because one party is equivalent to 

 no party. Scientific men will certainly not be 

 disposed to support any system of party politics, 

 and they would be more likely to take part in 

 the new programme if It were made clear that 

 the Labour Party signified a federation or organ- 

 isation in which brain and hand were united for 

 common welfare rather than the narrow interests 

 of one particular section of the country's life. 

 The question has been asked, "Will the 

 brain-worker secure adequate representation in 

 the councils of the Labour Party? " Provided 

 that the community of interest between hand and 

 brain is fully recognised, the hand may be trusted 

 to make use of the brain, and the brain will not 

 suffer from failure to take part in the work of 

 the world. May v^'e not hope that government 

 by dialectics will belong to History? 



NO. 2517, VOL. 100] 



THE FERTILISER SITUATION IN THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



FOR some time after the war had opened, and 

 in particular when the unrestricted submarine 

 campaign began to assume important dimensions, 

 the United States found that its supplies of the 

 three most important fertilisers were seriously 

 compromised : instead of being, as many had 

 imagined, wholly a producing country, it was 

 found to be dependent on other countries for these 

 vital raw materials. Chile supplied nitrate of soda, 

 the most potent nitrogenous fertiliser; Spain sent 

 the pyrites necessary for the manufacture of sul- 

 phuric acid, which in turn forms the basis of the 

 superphosphate and sulphate of ammonia indus- 

 tries ; while Germany sent potassium salts, without 

 which many mixed fertilisers are incomplete. 

 With characteristic promptitude the situation was 

 carefully reviewed, and a statement has been 

 issued by the Smithsonian Institution 1 showing in 

 as much detail as is judicious how the United 

 States now stands in the matter. 



The situation in regard to phosphatic fertilisers 

 is rather peculiar. The United States claims to 

 possess within its borders the largest known 

 deposits of rock phosphate in the world. The 

 annual output is three million tons. Most of this 

 (about 75 per cent.) comes from Florida, where 

 there are three types of deposits : rock phos- 

 phate, pebble phosphate, and soft phosphate, 

 all superficial horizontal beds of solid rock 

 or loose pebbles representing a residue of phos- 

 phate left after the associated rock had been 

 dissolved and washed away. These deposits can 

 be worked by large open pits, and being situated 

 near the coast, the material can be readily trans- 

 ported to other parts of the country or to Europe. 

 Other deposits occur in South CaroUna, Ten- 

 nessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas, but by reason 

 of their smaller output and less favourable situa- 

 tion for transport they are less important than 

 those in Florida. 



In course of time these supplies must become 

 exhausted, and rather gloomy pictures have been 

 drawn of the days when lack of phosphates would 

 jeopardise, and finally terminate, man's existence 

 on this globe. Great interest, therefore, attaches 

 to the discovery made in 1906, and since con- 

 firmed, that a belt of country stretching from Salt 

 Lake City, in LTtah, to Helena, in Montana, con- 

 tains a number of beds of phosphatic rock. The 

 amount is said to be larger than in any other 

 known deposits. 



So far, therefore, as the rock phosphate is con- 

 cerned, the United States is in a very strong posi- 

 tion. But, unfortunately, rock phosphate alone 

 is not wholly suitable as a fertiliser. In some in- 

 stances, especially where the soil Is rather acid, 

 it acts very well, and Dr. Cyril Hopkins and 

 other well-known agricultural experimenters have 

 studied these cases In some detail, thus accumu- 

 lating very valuable Information. 



In many other cases, however, better result- 



''"The Mineral Industries of the United States." By J. E. Po; 

 Smithsonian Institution Bulletin No. 102, 1917. 



