parent during
the war. Germany was the only nation which had developed other sources
of nitrogenous material to any great extent. The other nations were
dependent in a very large degree on the mineral nitrates, both for
fertilizer and munition purposes. Total demands far exceeded the total
output from Chile, requiring international agreement as to the division
of the output among the nations. The stream of several hundred ships
carrying nitrates from Chile was one of the vital war arteries. This
situation led to strenuous efforts in the belligerent countries toward
the development of other sources of nitrogen. The United States, under
governmental appropriation, began the building of extensive plants for
the fixation of nitrogen from the air, and the building of by-product
coke ovens in the place of the old wasteful beehive ovens was
accelerated. Germany before the war had already gone far in both of
these directions, not only within her own boundaries, but in the
building of fixation plants in Scandinavia and Switzerland. War
conditions required further development of these processes in Germany,
with the result that this country was soon entirely self-supporting in
this regard. One of the effects was the almost complete elimination in
Germany of anything but the by-product process of coking coal.

War-time development of the nitrogen industry in the United States for
munition purposes brought the domestic production almost up to the
pre-war requirements for fertilizers alone. With the increasing demand
for fertilizers and with the cheapness of the Chilean supply of natural
nitrates, it is likely that the United States will continue for a good
many years to import considerable amounts of Chilean nitrates. It may be
noted that, although this country normally consumes about one-fourth of
the Chilean product, American interests commercially control less than
one-twentieth of the output. Presumably, if for no other purpose than
future protection, effort will be made to develop the domestic industry
to a point where in a crisis the United States could be independent of
Chile. Particularly may an increase in the output of by-product ammonia
from coke manufacture be looked for (see also pp. 118-119), since
nitrogenous material thus produced need bear no fixed part of the cost
of production, and requires no protective tariff.

The reserves of Chilean nitrate are known to be sufficient for world
requirements for an indefinitely