NATURAL, RESOURCES LITTLE. 229 
two large Government cyanamid plants were started, though these 
were not completed until well into 1916. According to figures con- 
tained in the final report of the nitrogen products committee of the 
English Government, which was issued in January, 1920, Germany 
had a producing capacity in 1915, which carried through into 1916, 
of 500,000 metric tons of cyanamid, which is roughly equivalent 
to 90,000 tons of nitrogen. When one realizes the importance of 
nitrogen and its derivatives in military operations, one can see to 
what purpose Germany's early experiments in its production were 
directed. 
Germany did possess a highly developed by-product coke and 
dyestuff industry, with all its collateral advantages in the manufac- 
ture of high explosives from benzol, toluol, etc., and she had a vast 
and highly organized and elastic industry, which is at least as essen- 
tial to military success as the natural resources and raw materials 
of a nation. 
Having thus in mind a few of the more salient features in the 
situation of our chief antagonist as to ultimate supplies, and keep- 
ing still before us the compelling and inclusive demands of military 
necessity, let us consider briefly the more direct relationships of 
these demands to specific natural resources. 
Coal puts the bone in the teeth of battleships, and though petro- 
leum may for a time make the bone look larger we shall ultimately — 
and it may be soon — return to coal for driving power. Its energy 
turns the propellers of steamships, transports, cargo carriers, and the 
countless other vessels whose sailing orders are determined by the 
needs of war. It hauls foodstuffs, munitions, and raw materials. 
It smelts ores, converts hematite and limonite to steel. It furnishes 
light and heat and power. Through its distillation coal supplies 
benzol, toluol, ammonia, and phenol for explosives; coke for carbide; 
acetylene and carborundum ; graphite for electrodes and for lubri- 
cants; and coal tar for dyes. The distillation of a ton of average 
coal yields 1,500 pounds of coke, 10,000 cubic feet of gas, 22 pounds 
of sulphate of ammonia, more than 2 gallons of benzol, and 9 gallons 
of tar. Under the stimulus of war the output of our by-product coke 
ovens was increased to more than one-half the total coke output in 
1918. Such increase was highly important since it forms the basis 
for the coal-tar industries, including dyestuffs, high explosives, and 
synthetic drugs, as salvarsan. 
Germany has more coal than other European countries, but only 
one-eighth as much as the United States, which has 21 times as much 
as Great Britain. Moreover, the output of British coal was for a 
time jeopardized by the lack of mine timbers from the Baltic ports. 
France has always depended largely upon Germany for coal and must 
12573°— 21 16 
