EDITORIAL. 
conditions. Lacking the natural resources of other countries, and 
appreciating the advantages of an extensive expansion, Japan undertook 
a development programme that not only promised to tax her resources 
under normal conditions, but gave little heed to possible upward market 
fluctuations. With the phenomenal rise in the price of silver, the 
bubble burst, and Japan found herself in the predicament of having to 
meet her obligations in silver, obtainable only at a high rate. “It is 
neither surprising nor, on fhe whole, undesirable,” continues the 
Guaranty Trust Company, “that the Japanese adjustment should come 
at an early date, and with a certain incisiveness. It clears the ground 
in Japan for the more orderly growth to which the country aspires, 
and for which its undoubted adaptability furnishes excellent material.” 
That Japan is fully cognizant of the potentialities of large mineral 
holdings is evident from the fact that Japanese syndicates have already 
extended their activities into South America, and have secured coal- 
bearing lands, copper, silver, tin, and lead mines, and kaolin and other 
deposits in Chile, in addition to tin and other mines in Bolivia and Peru. 
One of the causes of “the error in judgment” seems to have been due 
to Japan’s assumption of large commitments in the development of 
Chinese resources; but it appears obvious that the country has no inten- 
tion of placing all its eggs in oné basket, and having gained experience 
in what may be regarded as domestic affairs, there is little possibility 
of a repetition elsewhere.—Ungineering and Mining Journal. 
FUEL ECONOMY IN. GERMANY. 
Dr. A. Gradenwitz gives some particulars of what the Germans 
are doing in the study of fuel economy, states The Technical 
Review. Reference is made to the Fuel Research Institute, set up at 
Dusseldorf for the training of fuel engineers, and to the heating and 
ventilation department established at the Berlin Technical College, 
which deals with the fuel problem from a household stand-point. Pro- 
fessor Brabbee, the director of the new department, states that if it 
were possible to apply the results arrived at.in the laboratory to all 
the dwelling-houses in Germany, a fuel saving of 25-30 per cent. could . 
be effected. The stoves of the usual tile type used are tested against 
a standard stove in two special rooms fitted up in exactly the same 
way. After the test stove and the standard have been fired for the 
same time with exactly equal quantities of fuel, the changes in air 
temperature in the rooms are tested with thermographs. Another 
method consists in connecting up the less efficient stove with an electric 
fire, the current being controlled by the heat generated in the ordinary 
stove. The standard stove designed by Brabbee makes first use of all 
of the radiant heat and afterwards of the thermal conduction of the 
gases of combustion. Dampers are climinated, and the air passing 
under the grate is previously heated in a separate chamber to 180° C. 
The new type of grate contains one small opening, into which is let a 
secondary opening covered by a regulating vane. A standard iron 
stove of a similar design has also been constructed for purposes of 
quick heating, and has shown satisfactory results. Boiler and central 
heating furnaces are tested in a similar manner. These plants were 
previously designed for a minimum external temperature and not for 
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