Evening star. [volume], December 14, 1951, Page A-12, Image 12

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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*—H * FRIDAY. December 14, 1951
Another Wasted Opportunity
Mr. Truman has just added another de
pressing chapter to the scandal-riddled story
of his administration.
There had been hope that when he returned
to Washington after a month’s vacation at Key
West he would do a quick and thorough
Job of cleaning house. The chairman of the
Democratic National Committee encouraged that
hope by saying that the President was angry
at those who had sold him down the river and
that drastic action was forthcoming.
It may still be forthcoming. But there was
no evidence of it at Mr. Truman’s press confer
ence yesterday. The President was on the
defensive. His attitude was that things aren’t
bo bad, that the newspapers have been making
mountains out of molehills, and that, anyhow,
appropriate action had been taken by the execu
tive branches of the Government, and that that
was the way it should be.
But that story won’t hold water. As the
President phrased it, he had been on to Mr.
Caudle for a long time. If so, why wasn’t that
worthy fired long ago? And if the President
knew all about Mr. Caudle, why did Attorney
General McGrath testify this week- that Mr.
Caudle had been fired on the basis of informa
tion furnished the President recently by the
King subcommittee? Mr. Truman cited as an
other example of drastic action taken by him
the case of James Finnegan, dismissed St. Louis
collector of internal revenue. That is the same
Vcase Secretary of the Treasury Snyder testified
'about last October. There was nothing drastic
about the handling of the case as Mr. Snyder
'described it. He said he had suggested to Mr.
|Finnegan that he resign in August, 1950. But
'Mr. Finnegan stayed on for another seven
months, and he testified that he tried to resign
three times but was advised by the White House
to stay Ih office.
From these circumstances, it is difficult to
believe that the executive branch of its own
volition would ever have taken the kind of action
called for by the disgraceful scandals that have
been exposed by congressional committees. And
It is difficult to believe that appropriate action
will be taken now, unless the President changes
the tune he was playing yesterday.
The President professes to think that the
scandals will not be an issue in the 1952 cam
. paign, and if he really thinks this he may try
jto ride out the storm. If that is to be his attitude,
however, he can expect that matters will go
}from bad to worse, with very serious consequen
tial damage to his own position and to his entire
program. And if that happens, he will have no
one but himself to blame.
Passing of Hybla Valley Airport
The passing of Hybla Valley Airport is
lamented by Charles Parker, aviation enthusiast,
in a letter to The Star published elsewhere on this
page. There are many private flyers in the
Washington area who .share Mr. Parker’s con
cern over the shrinkage of small airport facili
ties since the war. Hybla Valley’s field is only one
of several privately operated airports which have
succumbed to a combination of factors within
the past year or so. More will go unless govern
mental aid is forthcoming to help private owners
of the fields withstand rising costs, dwindling
patronage and encroachment by residential or
commercial developments
Things were booming at the fields scattered
around the District just after World War II,
thanks largely to the impact of the GI flight
training program. But that program has
tapered off until little of it remains. Meanwhile
inflation and defense production have had de
pressing effects on hobby flying. Planes which a
few years ago cost $5,000 now cost double that
amount, in some cases nearly three times, as
much. Parts, too, are higher and harder to get.
Several popular-type craft no longer are on the
market, as factories are converting to defense
production. Airport maintenance costs have
risen sharply since the war, along with taxes.
And the general outlook is darker still.
Against this background the sale of Hybla
Valley Airport—largest privately-owned field in
this region—to real estate interests is not sur
prising. The owner had sought to interest Alex
andria in the field as a municipal airport,, but
without success. The State of Virginia has no
special interest in preserving the airport, al
though its,Aviation Commission has recognized
its importance in the general pattern of private
air facilities in Virginia. Neither Virginia nor
Maryland has an aid program of the type that
exists in some States, where special considera
tion has been given to encouraging development
of private flying fields.
Hybla Valley has done a good job of train
ing flyers and providing convenient landing and
servicing facilities for thousands of private flyers
since it was established in 1924. Some 60 planes
have been using the field regularly in recent
months. They will have difficulty in finding
other accommodations. Nearby Springfield Air
port was closed more than a year ago when its
owner was recalled to active Reserve duty.
Congressional Airport, near Rockville,' is being
gobbled up piecemeal by warehouse interests
which have bought acreage vthere. Queens
Chapel Airport was sold some time ago to a real
estate developer. Today there are only eight
private fields available in the Metropolitan Area
and this number is expected to be reduced before
very long.
There seems to be no way to halt this pass
ing of the small airport, short of governmental
aid—and none is in sight. Neither Virginia nor
Maryland is particularly concerned with airport
problems in the vicinity of Washington. There
is no Federal-aid program which touches the
privately-owned fields. There is not apt to be
an^ new legislation unless Congr^s can be
•hewn that the fields have substant^l civil de
fense or military value. It Is not easy to make such
a showing when there are large Federal air
ports here. Thus, the future of private flying
in the Capital area is anything but promising.
The German Attitude
In his quarterly report to the State Depart
ment, United States High Commissioner John J.
McCloy has drawn a somewhat disturbing but
not surprising picture of the West German frame
of mind. The picture, more than six years after
the end of the war, is one of “occupation fatigue”
expressing itself in a “rising tide of dissent”
against the Anglo-French-American allies. The
dissent, which reflects “a mood of impatient
rebellion” against restrictions imposed by the
victors, has taken on many forms, and it exists
among all groups in tfie population.
ThuS, according to Mr. McCloy, the van
quished are voicing grave doubt as to the good
will and intentions of France, Britain and the
United States. They are inclined, further, to
♦exaggerate their grievances, present excessive
demands, and display an uncompromising atti
tude quite inappropriate to the realities of their
position today or their past role in upending their
own country along with most of Europe. Above
everything, through the opposition Socialist Party
headed by Kurt Schumacher, they have been
making a domestic political football of the cur
rent negotiations between the Anglo-French
American occupiers and Konrad Adenauer’s con
servative government at Bonn for a “peace
contract” designed to convert West Germany into
an almost-sovereign nation to be integrated into
the defensive system being built up by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
However, although all this raises' a dis
quieting question as regards the future role
likely to be played by the West Germans in the
NATO alliance, Mr. McCloy—while sharply criti
cizing them—has voiced the belief that their
present viewpoint does not warrant a great deal
of worry. Psychologically and otherwise, their
Behavior, in his opinion, is by no means un
natural. As he sees it, it does not spring from
any “basic antagonism.” Instead, it is “the
normal outcome of protracted foreign occupa
tion of a country which is rapidly recovering a
sense of independent statehood”—a country
whose people anticipate an early release from
irritating allied control, are aware that they are
wanted and needed as partners in the defense of
free Europe against the Soviet threat, wish to
build up their national ego, and therefore feel
disposed to try to drive hard bargains and kick
up their heels with increasing vigor (something
which the East Germans, of course, cannot do).
Actually, in Mr. McCloy’s judgment, there
is “good reason to hope” that this mood will
have little real bearing on the final decisions
resulting from Bonn’s negotiations with France,
Britain and the United States. As he has put it,
“most Germans have made their choice to
identify their lot with that of the West”—a view
that has the support even of the anti-Adenauer
Socialists, who in their latest statement, although
criticizing the Big Three, have made a special
point of declaring that they have long since
aligned themselves with the principles of the
free world, as far back, in fact, as “the time
the American Government still saw democratic
comrades in the rulers of the Kremlin.” The
truth is, after all, that Germany on this side of
the Iron Curtain can hardly do otherwise if it
wishes to escape Soviet domination and be its
own master.
Accordingly, Respite the "rising tide of dis
sent,” the chance seems considerably better
than even that West Germany, with its 50
million people, will in the not-too-distant future
—as Mr. McCloy has suggested—become party to
a “peace contract” that will strengthen both it
self and free Europe as a whole. As for the 19
million East Germans, they live under a tyranny
that does not allow them to express themselves,
but when their compatriots in the Anglo-French
American zones achieve near-sovereignty as allies
of the Atlantic community, they will surely take
heart in a way that should be much less than
helpful to the Kremlin.
Justice Clark's Duty
Associate Justice Tom Clark has a duty to
himself and to the Supreme Court to explain the
circumstances under which T. Lamar Caudle
was picked for a top job in the Department of
Justice.
It is not enough to say that Justice Clark
will “follow a long-established custom" of the
court and make no comment on this matter. In
ordinary circumstances that is a sound policy.
But it is not sound if, as here, the result will be
to leave unexplained an adverse reflection on the
Department of Justice, on Mr. Clark himself, and,
indirectly, on the Supreme Court.
There have been two versions of Mr. Caudle’s
appointment as Assistant Attorney General in
charge of the Criminal Division. One—Mr.
Caudle’s—is to the effect that “the wheel just
stopped on me.” The other, much more dis
quieting, has come from James H. Thompson, jr.,
formerly an FBI agent and now a judge in
Richmond, Va.
The Thompson version has to do with a
report of an FBI investigation of Mr. Caudle
prior to his appointment, and of a subsequent
interview with the then Attorney General, Mr.
Clark. This report was mentioned in the current
congressional tax investigation, but has never
been made public. The indications are, however,
that it enumerated certain alleged indiscretions
on Mr. Caudle’s part. Mr. Clark, according to
Mr. Thompson, was told about these matters in
the interview, and, of course, the Attorney
General had the FBI report. But Mr. Clark,
again according to Mr. Thompson, seemed to be
interested mainly in ascertaining whether Mr.
Caudle had really done anything wrong, whether
he knew his way arouQd, and whether he would
“embarrass me.” '
This may be a garbled or an incomplete
version of what actually occurred. But the facts
can be established. The report, if released, would
reveal some of the facts. And Mr. Clark’s own
version of the conversation would reveal the
others.
Remember that this was no petty appoint
ment. Mr. Caudle was being named to the high
est law-enforcement post in the Government,
excepting that of the Attorney General.' It was
a post in which he would be in direct charge of
the FBI and the overseer of the enforcement of
the criminal laws. It was a post that should
have gone to a man of the highest competence
and highest integrity. Instead, it went to Mr.
Caudle—and after a question had been raised as
to his fitness.
It is difficult to think of more than two
possible explanations. One is that overriding,
though unworthy, political pressures dictated the
appointment. The other is that Mr. Clark dis
played a shocking indifference to his responsi
bility, as Attorney General, to exercise great care
in choosing a principal subordinate.
Whatever the explanation, the people, if
they are expected to have any confidence in their
Government officials, are entitled to know the
truth. And Mr. Clark should not be a party to
suppressing the truth by taking refuge in any
long-established cu^om of the Supreme Courts
It Ma^ Be Nonsense to Congress. But...
By Francis P. Douglas
PAMPHLETS, brochures and other
publications printed by the Federal
Government are frequently blanketed as
"waste” by economy-minded members
of Congress, Yet millions of Americans
_ • ,y*f - f '
are willing to pay for the information
contained in these same publications.
Last year, for instance, 56 million
copies of various publications brought
from the public $4,152,000. It was taken
in by the superintendent of documents,
Roy B. Eastin, whose office is a branch
of the Government Printing Office and
who has charge of the sale of Govern
ment publications.
Ironically, the demand for a publica
tion sometimes is stimulated by refer
ence to the publication in Congress. An
all-time Government best-seller is "In
fant Care,” a Children’s Bureau pam
phlet first put out in 1913 and since
revised. More than 7 million copies of
it have been sold.
The late Senator James A. Reed of
Missouri used to storm when he talked
about the enormity of “an old maid in
the Children’s Bureau telling mothers
how to bring up children.” But that
never stopped mothers from sending in
. 15 cents for a copy of "Infant Care,” nor
did it deter other members of Congress
from sending free copies to young
parents in their home districts. More
than 800,000 copies were mailed by
Congress last year. ✓
Woe to the Senator who tries to make
something of the pamphlet titled “This
Is Ann . . . She's Dying to Meet You.”
This one is not for sale but was dis
tributed free by the Army in its fight
against malaria. Ann, of course, is the
anopheles mosquito?
A writer some time ago poked fun
at a publication dealing with “Inter
action of Sex, Shape and Weight Genes
in Watermelon.” Few people up to then
had heard of it, but the Agriculture
Department immediately started getting
requests
The current best seller is “Survival
Under Atomic Attack” (10 cents). It
has been published only a relatively
short time but the public has bought
1.741,000 copies.
Here are some other titles: “Your
Federal Income Tax,” “Aircraft Power
plant Handbook,” “Care and Repair of
the House.” “Family Fare,” “Stain Re
moval From Fabrics,” “Growing Annual
Flowering Plants,” “Make Cellars Dry”
and "Practical Uses for Second-hand
Boxes ” The last is one of the “You
Can Make It” series which also includes
"You Can Make It for Camp and Cot
tage” and “You Can Make It for Profit.”
Some of the publications are thick,
bound volumes. There is "Industrial
Mobilization for War,” for example.
After the start of the Korean war 547
copies were sold quickly at $3.75 each.
Another publication goes by the mys
tifying title of “Electric Quadropole
Coupling of the Nuclear Spin With the
Rotation of a Polar Diatomic Molecule
in an External Electric Field.” Nuclear
spin is a characteristic of the atom
and the paper concerns an important
phase of nuclear physics. It was pub
lished originally in the Bureau of
Standards’ Journal of Research.
| , , , -r-i £■» , Pen-names may be used if letters carry
TO I HP Ntnr writers’ correct names and addresses.
I—I i Jiui . . All letters are subject to condensation.
Free World Union
Congratulations on your feature edi
torial of December 9 on ‘‘Free World
Union.” I liked your clear survey of the
difficultie^coupled with a thorough re
alization * the urgency of finding a
solution to the problem.
As you so aptly pointed out, an over
all solution may succeed where piece
meal attempts are doomed to failure.
By an extension of this same reasoning,
might not a federation of the entire
world be the most likely of all to be
successful?
The nations of Western Europe are
reluctant to federate unless Britain is
included to balance Germany. Britain
cannot regard the idea favorably unless
the Commonwealth and the United
States are included. The United States
is not anxious to join a federation be
cause we naturally are reluctant to sub
mit the control of our armies and fac
tories to an international high com
mand, especially since we already pos
sess within ourselves such a large por
tion of the total fire and productive
power.
Under a federation of the entire world,
however, world disarmament would be
possible and this obstacle disappear.
Of course, world federation runs into
another obstacle which might seem to
make all efforts in that direction futile.
Since Russia has turned down our pro
posal of disarmament based upon real
inspection safeguards, how could we ever
expect her to accept a proposal of world
federation? Since the men in the Krem
lin depend upon secrecy and ignorance
to maintain their positions of power,
how can we even hope for an improve
ment in the world situation short of
overthrowing the Russian government
by all-out war?
The answer to these questions lies in
the virtue of the proposal itself. If we
propose world federation often enough,
sincerely enough, loudly enough, and In
clear enough terms: if we carry that
message to all parts of the earth by
every means of communication known
to man, the time will come when the
Russian rulers will no longer be able to
repress the demands of their subjects
for an accounting and explanation.
John T. Harcourt.
A A
I congratulate you for your fine Sun
day editorial feature December 9 on the
subject of world federation in which
you said, ‘‘Persons who, a short few
years ago, would have scorned such talk
as visionary, now agree th^t some way
must be found whereby national sov
ereignties can yield to the needs of a
higher co-operation.”
The only complaint I have is that you
neglected to mention the organizations
for world federation through which in
dividuals who want to be sure their
‘‘voices are heard" can become part of
a Nation-wide (and world-wide) grass
roots movement for peace through a
‘‘higher co-operation.”
The two largest of these groups are
the Atlantic Union Committee and
United World Federalists. The latter
organization has branches in almost
every State and also maintains liaison
with many world groups working for
similar goals.
Mrs. Ben Hall Lambe,
Chairman, D. C. Branch, United
World Federalists.
* *
Your excellent feature, ‘‘Old Idea of
Free World Union Takes New Lease on
Life," is exceedingly helpful in placing
in broad perspective the trend toward
union now evident in both Western
Europe and the North Atlantic.
.The reality of this trend in the North
Atlantic has now been shown by a num
ber of developments. At the Ottawa
meeting of the NATO Council in Sep
tember, the possibility of Atlantic union
or federation was discussed officially by
a conference of foreign ministers. The
council declared its intention to con
solidate the North Atlantic Community
and established a ministerial committee
neaded by Lester B. Pearson of
Canada to recommend ways of co-ordi
nating foreign policies and achieving
closer economic, financial, social and
cultural co-operation. The report of
this committee, expected by February,
may lead to some concrete results.
Within the United States support for
the Atlantic Union Resolution has grown
progressively and now comprises 28
Senators and 110 Representatives. This
resolution requests the President to in
vite Canada, Britain, France, Belgium,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg to join
us in sending delegates to a convention
to explore how far these countries, and
any other democracies they may invite
to attend, can apply among them the
principles of federal union. Such a
convention would be a direct, over-all
approach to the "only practical solution
to hard, immediate problems, probably
of life-or-death urgency.” i
Livingston Hartley.
Lighted Church Windows
A letter from “Midwesterner” Decem
ber 6 urged that Washington churches
illuminate some of their best stained glass
windows during the Christmas season.
For the information of this correspond
ent, the rose-type window over the en
trance to Grace Reformed Church at
Fifteenth and O streets N.W., is not only
spotlighted- from behind at the Christ
mas season, but on every night through
out the year.
Incidentally, this is the window which
is used as a background for this year’s
Christmas poster of the United States
Marines. Robert W. Olewiler.
Minister, Grace Reformed Church.
Wants Columnists Classified
It amuses me no little that your Fair
Deal columnists (need their names be
mentioned?) are putting forth such
strenuous advice to the Republicans in
their choice of a presidential candidate,
floor leader, etc.
They are so funny that I never look
at your comic section any more. -Tire
items that appear on the page opposite
your editorials supply me with all the
laughs that I need.
May I suggest that you separate this
page into two parts and label them
"Right Wing” and "Left Wing”? On
second thought, skip it! The by-lines
speak for themselves!
Harold B. Goode.
Hybla Valley Lament
The utter lack of planning and fore
thought regarding airport development
in the greater Washington area for
other than airline activities is deplor
able. I speak as an aircraft owner and
pilot basing his plane at the Hybla
Valley Airport in Alexandria. The air
ports that were developed by private
capital and initiative around Washing
ton and which have provided an ideal
pattern in the urban area are due to
become extinct. Little interest appears
to be forthcoming from any adjoining
towns or States to try and preserve
such facilities.
The trend is emphasized in late in
formation telling that Hybla Galley has
just been sold to a real estate interest
with little concern by the town. Beacon
Field, in Alexandria, in a choice hous
ing location, is now virtually surrounded
by housing developments with no op
portunity for expansion. How long avia
tion operators, offering a facility open
to all and serving a public purpose, yet
penalized with increased taxes and
fighting encroachment of their very
safety as at J. D. Benn’s Airport at
Bailey’s Crossroads, is problematical.
Springfield Airport of course closed
nearly a year ago.' The squeeze-play is
on. Meanwhile, facilities at the once
thriving Congressional Airport are now
largely being utilized by trucking con
cerns, with aviation just one step from
complete disappearance. Rumor also
has it that one of the close-in Maryland
airports may w>ell be headed for a hous
ing development.
All this goes on at a time when air
port development in the peripheral area
of any center is taking on new impor
tance. The trend and desire are to re
move and segregate smaller aircraft
operations away from the concentrated
airline terminals, but at the same time
provide facilities for them and bring
the personal, company and industrial'
aircraft owner nearer to his ultimate
destination or location around about any
city. In addition, such smaller airports
are of increasing importance, particu
larly in a highly strategic military target
area as in Washington, in connection
with civil defense. Yet, with such trends
in evidence, the District. Virginia and
Maryland continue their passive interest
toward the recession of such airport
facilities. As time goes on, the greater
Washington area will need outlying air
ports as personal, industrial and business
flying continues to increase, which is
now giving every indication of being the
next great new expansion in the field
of aviation.
When the adjoining States and towns
wake up to the need, it will most likely
be too late to find any suitable locations
and great expense will be required to
establish any such airports. Some
timely plans now will do the job. States,
counties, or towns, at relatively small
expenditures, could now buy or lease
certain landing areas (not entire air
ports) now in existence, to preserve
them and lessen the tax load on the
private investor who has been providing
this useful public service. Such public
action would then help assure the con
tinuance of facilities that are becoming
as integral part of any aggressive com
munity as is a section- of main street
or a town dock. .
Charles Parker,
Washington Director, National Avia
tion Trades Association.
Pentagon Security
For once I am puzzled—completely
baffled—by the “security" regulations
imposed by the military.
In trying to send a letter to a friend
stationed at Headquarters of the Far
Eastern Command in Tokyo, I called the
Pentagon to get the number of the Army
Post Office (APO) serving that head
quarters. I was told by the duty officer
that such information could not be given
out over the telephone and that I could
obtain it only by appearing in person at
the Pentagon in regular office hours.
If I were searching for classified in
formation, I wouldn’t do it over a tele
phone—I’d just go and stand in the
halls of the Pentagon and listen to the
would-be big shots blabber about every
thing that happens in their offices. My
showing up in person would be no guar
antee that I would be authorized to re
ceive classified information of any kind,
including APO numbers, since any one
possessing two legs and the bus fare
can enter these hallowed halls.
Let's put security where it belongs and
stop releasing stories on our newest
weapons, and declassify APO numbers
and similar “vital” information.
B. Wildered.
This and That . . . ey Charles E. Tracewell
Billie Blue Jay, scion of the well-known
Jay family, was ehtering on his first full
year of life.
He had been at it since June, and now
was a fine looking bird, erect, handsome,
full of vim and vigor.
The question was, Where would he
sleep this winter?
This is a perennial question with all
Jays. They do not like being squarely
out in the open.
“A little protection,” said Grandfather
Jay, “never hurt any one.”
* *
Billie Blue Jay thought this a perfect
sentiment.
He culled it over in his mind, and tried
saying it the best he could.
Human listeners would not have re
cognized it, however.
To them it would have sounded more
like, ‘Toodle, toodle, toodle!”
Billie was fond of making this sound.
He repeated it day and almost night,
and sometimes wound himself up with
apparently great effort, but actually it
was no work at all for him.
He bent his knees, threw back his head,
and just went ‘Toodle. toodle, toodle."
* *
At other times he crecked, “creek,
creek, creek,” something on the order of
one of those rachet affairs children used
to whirl at parades.
I Billie Jay had also worked up a very
fine scream,, the trade-mark and signal
of all the Jays.
He was now first at any cat baiting.
There was a striped cat living in a
vard two doors away from his own.
His own yard, of course, was the one
in which he had been bom in the big
locust tree, just at the crotch.
Billie visited it, now and then, to see
how it looked. It looked very well.
The big yellow cat had been named
Amber, but, now, for some reason or
other, Billie didn’t exactly know why,
everybody called it Asparagus.
Or was is Rhubarb?
Billie Blue Jay wasn’t quite sure, but
he regarded it as a pure scoundrel, any
way, by whatever name it was known.
* *
Rhubarb, indeed!
“Cat, cat, cat!” screamed Billie Blue,
leading the pack in the attack.
Old Asparagus, or Amber, or Rhubarb,
whichever it was, looked wickedly out of
his green eyes, and tried to run away.
But Billie Blue Jay wouldn’t let him.
He sailed in at ear level, and pecked
the big cat squarely in the middle of
the back.
Rhubarb snarled and bit backward,
but his ugly old neck was too thick, and
Billie sailed away with a triumphant
scream.
Billie the Jay already had saved two
or three sparrow babies, and was never
so pleased as when he obtild call "Hawk,
hawk, hawk,” to the assembled birds at
the feeding station.
It was a full life he led, and now he
was looking for winter quarters.
He looked and looked, but could find
no place to suit him exactly He was a
particular bird.
At last he came to the big locust tree
in which he had been born.
It was the center of the world, wasn’t
it?
Billie Blue Jay looked the 30-inch
trunk over critically.
Then, all of a sudden, as the French
birds say, he noticed the ivy. It covered
the trunk all around, and was at least
4 inches thick.
Idea!
It all came in a flash to Billie Blue
Jay, smartest of the Jays. He poked his
head in betwen the leaves, then all
his body
There he sat, covered by overlapping
leaves. He was as snug as the famous
bug in a rug, and a thousand times as
big, but every last feather of him hidden
from the cold, cruel world.
“Not so bad,” said Billie the Jay, as
he poked his head out between the leaves
and screamed again.
This sudden movement and sound
were too much for old Rhubarb or As
paragus treading quietly below. Rhu
barb lit out for home as fast as he could
go, and as his yellow hide vanished
around the house, Billie Blue Jay purred
contentedlyyJiToodle, toodle, toodle.”
Big Source of Uranium
Seen in Farm Fertilizer
Process Sought to Extract
Element in Phosphate Rock
By Thomas R. Henry
Theoretically a great untapped source
of the now precious element uranium,
necessary basic material for any atomic
explosive or for atomic energy, is the
phosphate rock used in millions of tona
annually for fertilizer.
In much of this rock, analysis hits
shown, there is from two to four tenths
of a pound of uranium per ton, says
Shelton P. Wimpfen of the Atomic
Energy Commission’s raw materials di
vision. About 3 million tons of phos
phate rock are processed annually by
the fertilizer industry.
Data on present uranium production
in the United States necessarily is re
stricted and how much of the phosphate
rock contains an appreciable amount of
the element is unknown. But even if
one-fourth of it would yield two-tenths
of a pound per ton the resulting 35 tons
of uranium would be an appreciable
addition to amounts available.
The problem is to extract the uranium
by some process which will be economi
cally feasible. Two methods are used in
fertilizer manufacture, the wet and dry
processes. In the former the method of
extracting the uranium now is clear
after extensive research carried out for
the commission at Massachusetts Tech,
the Battelle Memorial Institute and Dow
Chemical Co. laboratories. The uranium
in the rock is dissolved when the rock is
treated with an excess of sulphuric acid.
It then can be recovered from the phos
phoric acid which is formed.
“Dry” Method of Recovery.
By far the greater part of the rock,
however, is treated by the so-called "dry
process” in which the uranium recovery
is much more of a problem. Several
possible methods have been studied by
commission scientists and one has been
found which separates the uranium with
reasonable efficiency. A fairly large
pilot plant, built with the co-operation
of a major phosphoric acid producer,
now has been in operation for several
weeks and results to date have been
satisfactory. On the success of this
plant largely will depend any decision
on erecting a full-scale plant.
At the same time a full-scale pro
duction plant now is in operation for
recovering uranium from the wet
process method used by one of th«
Nation’s largest producers of phosphate
chemicals. The future is complicated
by lack of knowledge as to the amounts
to be expected. It is known that the
large Florida phosphate rock deposits
contain respectable amounts of the ele
ment. So do some in the West. On the
other hand, the extensive Tennessee
phosphate beds contain, at the best,
only infinitesimal amounts of uranium.
The estimate of from two-tenths to
four-tenths of a pound per ton is for
marine phosphate rocks—that is, beds
laid down under ancient seas. Possibly
the phosphate formations have had a
tendency to attract some of the vast
but unrecoverable amounts of the ele
ment present in sea water.
The source is bound to become more
important in the future, Atomic Energy
Commission scientists believe, as more
and more fertilizer is required to keep
up the productivity of American farms.
It has been estimated that at least a
million more tons of phosphates will be
required by 1960.
Not Beneficial to Plants.
At first there was some question as to
■whether extraction of this uranium
might not be robbing Peter to pay Paul
—that is, whether uranium itself might
not have a definite value in fertilizer.
A series of experiments sponsored by
the commission apparently has estab
lished that uranium is not a plant nu
trient nor a trace element in any way
beneficial to plant life. There is no
difference in the effectiveness of ferti
lizer made from the Florida or Tennes
see phosphate rock.
A project demonstrating this, It is
announced, has been carried out by the
Aericulture Department in co-operation
with more than a dozen State experi
ment stations over a two-year period.
No plant benefits whatsoever from the
uranium could be found.
The wet-process method of extraction
apparently already is economically
feasible and several plants plan to in
stall uranium recovery facilities.
The uranium obtained from the
phosphates will, presumably, be the
same mixture of isotopes as in any other
uranium. The super-precious U-235,
the starting point for any atomic energy
process, will be found in a ratio of one
atom per thousand.
If the various methods of extraction
from phosphates prove as feasible as is
indicated by the pilot-plan operations.
Atomic Energy Commission scientists
admit, the additions to the available
supply of the exploding element will b«
appreciable.
Questions and Answers
The Star'* reader! can get the answer to
any Question of fact by either writing The
Evening star Information Bureau, 1200 I street
N.W.. Washington 5 D. C.. and inclosing 8 cents
return nostage or by telephoning ST 7303.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Is it dangerous to have a stove
that burns bottled gas in one’s sleeping
room?—K. A. W.
A. The Bureau of Mines says that the
use of bottled gas, also known as
liquified petroleum gas, in the home is
just as safe as the use of natural gas
or manufactured gas, and many thou
sands of homes are using bottled-gas
appliances safely. The appliances
should be those recommended for use
with the bottled gas, should be installed
by a competent serviceman, and should
be maintained in the proper working
condition throughout the time of use.
Q. How much profit do the producers
expect to obtain from an average
feature-length motion picture?—D. R.
A. A profit of 100 per cent is con
sidered normal, and returns as high as
300 per cent have occurred.
The Prisoner
There is no way that we can now release
From crystal bonds of ice the winter
brook.
Winter, white jailer, keeps his prisoner
Tightly locked up where all may come
and look.
Accept this sentence of the frosty year
And beg no pardon for the shackled
stream,
Confined, so still, between its snowy
banks
Where silver chains do not disturb
its dream.
The day will come when, running free
once more.
The winding brook will flow upon its
way.
Released to glide where greening wil
lows bend,
• Babbling to catkins on a sunlit day.
? Louise Darcy >