SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 SOURCES OF NITROGEN COMPOUNDS IN 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 BY 
 
 CHESTER G. GILBERT 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 (PUBLICATION 2421) 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 JUNE 30, 1916 
 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 SOURCES OF NITROGEN COMPOUNDS IN 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 BY 
 
 CHESTER G. GILBERT 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 (PUBLICATION 2421) 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 JUNE 30, 1916 
 
AtTIMORB. MD , 0. S. 
 
SOURCES OF NITROGEN COMPOUNDS IN THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 BY CHESTER G. GILBERT 
 
 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 Nitrogen by itself under normal conditions is a gas. Chemically 
 it is a notoriously sluggish inert element in its gas^piis 'molecular 
 state, indisposed toward the activity of entering into mineral- forming" 
 combinations with other elements. In the general 'process :pf <?ja$a 
 evolution its more energetic elemental competitors have effected the 
 various mineral combinations and progressive readjustments involved 
 m the formation of the outer lithosphere, relegating the passive nitro- 
 gen element almost exclusively to the atmosphere. Thus it happens 
 to-day that, with four-fifths of the bulk of the atmosphere made up 
 of nitrogen gas, the relative amount entering mineralogically into the 
 make-up of the earth's immediate exterior as a whole is inappreciable. 
 Thus, too, with nitrogen dominating the very air itself in all its inti- 
 macy of relationship to life, the world has nevertheless been brought 
 to face a vital problem in the scarcity of nitrogen in substantial form. 
 
 Passive and inconsequential though it is in the simple form of 
 nitrogen, combinations with other chemical elements, once formed, 
 are some of them capable of the greatest chemical energy and prac- 
 tical utility. Familiar examples are the particular combination of 
 nitrogen with oxygen, yielding nitric acid, and that with hydrogen, 
 forming ammonia ; and it is the bringing about of such combinations 
 on the part of free nitrogen which is implied in the technical expres- 
 sion nitrogen-fixation. Another important form of nitrogen com- 
 pound, though less familiar in everyday use, is the deadly poisonous 
 one with carbon, known as cyanogen. In addition to nitric oxide, the 
 basis of nitric acid, nitrogen and oxygen also combine in three other 
 ratios, and there are an almost endless number of other chemical 
 compounds in which it appears, from simple ones where it assumes 
 the basic role, such as nitrogen sulphide, to highly complex ones, 
 such as the nitro-phenol derivatives especially noteworthy for their 
 explosive properties. The latter, however, have only specialized uses, 
 and are mostly prepared by the employment of nitrogen already fixed 
 in one or another of the first named forms, so these three that of 
 
 745915 
 
2 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 nitrogen with oxygen in the form of nitric acid and the nitrate salts, 
 that with hydrogen in the form of ammonia and ammonia salts, and 
 that with carbon in the form of prussic acid and the cyanide salts- 
 constitute the fundamentally significant group of fixed nitrogen com- 
 pounds. It is these for which constant search has been conducted 
 in the realms of both organic and inorganic nature with ever- 
 increasing pressure of requirement throughout the history of modern 
 civilization; and more recently it is the inadequacy of the returns 
 from natural sources which has led the search further afield from 
 tin- rcaluis Af.t.hejrcal into those of synthesis, and led to the develop- 
 'hkrit oL nJtrbg'eiiVfixation processes. 
 
 : t CJ^euu?aJ elements' toiay be totally insignificant as factors in earth 
 stViii : HriH?Vand*Vet" % c"entribute very substantially to localized occur- 
 rences ; in fact, this is commonly the case. Nitrogen, however, has 
 been handicapped with the serious disadvantage of having no 
 stable form of mineral occurrence which is not readily soluble in 
 water. Obviously then an arid climate is essential to the accumu- 
 lation of mtrate mineral deposits on any great scale. Including with 
 this special requirement the natural indisposition of the element itself 
 toward mineral-forming activity, the combined requirements have 
 proven so nearly prohibitive that so far as is known the desert areas 
 of Chile and Peru alone have been able to meet them to the extent 
 of providing deposits of any great economic importance. 
 
 The organisms of life contain nitrogen, and some of this is carried 
 over into such derivatives as peat and coal. As a matter of fact, 
 nitrogen is regularly occurrent in association with carbon, not only 
 in the coal series but also in that of the hydrocarbons. As much as 
 10 per cent of nitrogen has been reported in this association, but the 
 percentage lies rather uniformly between I and 2. Such amounts 
 are. of course, in themselves negligible, and this form of nitrogen 
 occurrence only began to assume importance with the modern devel- 
 opment of industrial chemistry's capabilities along the lines of by- 
 product recovery. In a by-product capacity the nitrogen content has 
 already come to be a significant factor in connection with a wide 
 range of chemical industries operating on the products of organic 
 life, both of the present day and of the geologic past. Thus far the 
 list of by-product fixed nitrogen sources in this category includes 
 by-product coking, with its more or less closely related illuminating 
 gas. producer gas. and blast furnace associations, peat treatment, oil 
 shale distillation, sewage disposal, garbage rendering, wine manu- 
 facture, and bone carbonizing. Of this list, the coal product group 
 nets the only really important yield at present. Along the other lines 
 
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS GILBERT 3 
 
 either the supporting industries themselves are as yet undeveloped, 
 as in the case of oil shale operations, or, as in the case of blast furnace 
 operations, the opposite may be true, in the form of a development 
 too mature to afford the flexibility of adaptation to by-product modi- 
 fications. It is safe to say, however, that the range of possibilities 
 for nitrogen recovery in this general direction has by no means been 
 exhausted, and that other instances will be added to the coal product 
 one, wherein combined nitrogen will appear prominently in contrib- 
 uting to the profit-forming margin by which new or reorganized 
 lines of chemical industry are supported. 
 
 With the extension of chemical needs such as are offered by the 
 development of cyaniding in metallurgy, and of refrigeration in the 
 preservation of foodstuffs, and more especially with the extension of 
 the need for artificially provided fertilizers, nitrogen compounds have 
 ,come to be necessary not only to the welfare, but to the very existence, 
 of a people living under modern conditions of economic development. 
 At the outset the Chilean mineral nitrate deposits bore the brunt of 
 the responsibility in providing for these growing needs.; but more 
 recently the gradual development of the by-product feature in chemi- 
 cal industries, more especially in the field of coal products, has intro- 
 duced a very material competitor with the natural sources, matching 
 their two and a half million tons of annual output in nitrate of soda 
 with around two million tons of sulphate of ammonia. Even the 
 combined sources have, however, proven insufficient to maintain 
 reserves with which to meet the world's ever-increasing demands. 
 In 1898 Sir William Crookes called attention to this inadequacy and 
 pointed to atmospheric nitrogen fixation as the only preventive rem- 
 edy for an -impending economic breakdown. Recent events have 
 emphasized the truth of this prediction, and brought the United States 
 to a consideration of its national responsibilities in this direction. 
 
 Various means have been evolved in the chemical laboratory for 
 effecting the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen through enforced 
 combination, such as that with atmospheric oxygen or with hydrogen, 
 both of which resultant combinations are absorbable in water to form 
 nitric acid and ammonia water, respectively. Nitrogen, however, 
 owing to the extreme inertness of its gas molecule, is difficult to 
 stimulate into combination, and as a result most of the processes 
 evolved have been found to offer such little encouragement toward 
 efficient commercial practicability that to include all of them in any 
 purely industrial discussion would serve only to introduce so many 
 profitless elements of complexity. Accordingly, while any one of 
 
4 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 the several other processes of more or less claim to merit may in 
 some future time force its way to the front over what seem now to 
 be insurmountable obstacles, there are to-day only three methods 
 which have stood up under commercial test sufficiently to warrant 
 definite consideration in a summary discussion. The three are known 
 as the arc method, the Cyanamide process, and the Haber process of 
 nitrogen fixation. Adding then the coal products source of fixed 
 nitrogen, there are four currently prominent commercial sources of 
 fixed nitrogen available for development to meet varying needs 
 within the country. 
 
 I. ARC METHOD 
 
 If a current of air be passed through an electric arc some of the 
 oxygen and nitrogen of which the atmosphere is composed enter into 
 chemical combination as oxides of nitrogen, which may then be 
 treated chemically for complete oxidation and absorbed in water to 
 form nitric acid. Thus a limitless source of the requisite ingredients 
 is provided right on the spot without the least cost whatever; the 
 chemistry involved is apparently of the very simplest, most direct 
 order, and, moreover, the method is in actual operation on a commer- 
 cial scale. Superficially, therefore, the project would seem to be just 
 about ideal, and presents one of the most alluring prospects offered in 
 the field of chemical technology. The underlying difficulties in this 
 problem are to be found in the inherent fact that nitrogen is chemi- 
 cally inert and extremely difficult to stimulate into the activity of 
 entering into combination. This fact is forced home by the reflection 
 that throughout the ages of the earth's existence its atmosphere has 
 consisted of the self-same oxygen and nitrogen most intimately 
 mixed, and had there been the least susceptibility on the part of the 
 nitrogen, its complete combination with the oxygen would long ages 
 ago have been effected, and instead of our now being engaged in 
 trying to make them combine, there would be an atmosphere devoid 
 of life-sustaining oxygen, and in place of water our oceans would be 
 of concentrated acid. That same property of chemical inertness on 
 the part of nitrogen which is the salvation of life itself on the earth 
 has proven well-nigh disastrous to the commercial practicability of 
 the arc method of nitrogen fixation, owing to the enormous electric 
 power consumption involved. 
 
 In its present state of efficiency the arc method operations require 
 roughly 2.75 to 3.00 H. P. year of electric power per ton of nitric 
 
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS GILBERT 5 
 
 acid yield. 1 Now the average private cost of power-site develop- 
 ment in this country has been over $120 per horsepower. Counting 
 an operative interest rate of 8 per cent to finance the development 
 proposition, and then including the other necessary items of deprecia- 
 tion, overhead charge, etc., a total of 12 per cent or 13 per cent on 
 each horsepower of development, or about $15 per horsepower year, 
 is a fair estimate of costs under present-day conditions in this country. 
 Then the 2.75 H. P. requisite for the fixation of the nitrogen in one 
 ton of nitric acid means a cost, roughly, of over $40 per ton of product 
 in power expense alone. 
 
 The item of $40 per ton of nitric acid, it must be remembered, takes 
 into consideration power costs alone, and, moreover, represents a 
 product for which under ordinary conditions there is no great market, 
 so it would have to be converted to calcium nitrate for use as fertilizer. 
 But calcium nitrate absorbs moisture with avidity, and has not proven 
 itself adaptable to American fertilizer requirements where the cost 
 of labor renders mechanical sowing desirable; and, moreover, its 
 fertilizer equivalent in Chile nitrate of soda is already available at 
 around $40 per ton, so the arc method cannot be made to stand on 
 its own feet in this country under present conditions to the extent 
 of contributing significantly toward the country's material well-being. 
 Owing to the opportunity for securing lower interest rates, it would 
 be possible for the Government to develop power at a much lower 
 cost, commonly estimated at $8 per horsepower year. This would 
 cut the power costs to around $22 per ton of nitric acid, but even then 
 the enormous power requisites and the inadaptability of the product 
 remain as unsurmounted obstacles. 
 
 The Government has under consideration at this writing a 
 $20,000,000 project for atmospheric nitrogen fixation primarily as a 
 military measure, and it may be of interest in passing to interpret 
 the efficiency of such a project in terms of the hydroelectric arc 
 method. If the entire sum were to be put into power-site develop- 
 ment, it would furnish somewhere around 150,000 H. P., capable of 
 
 1 The atmospheric nitrogen fixation industry is still in its first stages of 
 evolution, and the figures available for the various processes are only such 
 as are divulged from sources still actually involved. Moreover, the whole 
 proposition is one offering no criteria for estimates other than those derived 
 from actual operations. Accordingly, no credit for originality belongs with 
 the publication of this paper, and on the other hand the only responsibility is 
 for an honest attempt at interpretation. Every care has been exercised in 
 checking up figures before their employment and there is every reason, short 
 of actual operative proof, for their acceptance. 
 
6 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 yielding in the neighborhood of 50,000 tons of nitric acid, or about 
 one-fourth the estimated military emergency requirement alone ; and 
 at that, the entire cost of the plant installation and operation, running 
 into the millions of dollars, would have to be additional. To satisfy 
 Government estimates of around 200,000 ton war-time requirements 
 would entail a power generation of around 600,000 H. P., or some 
 50,000 H. P. more than the total Niagara power development. Such 
 a project would cost around $80,000,000 to eventuate, and in its 
 operation during peace times as an agricultural proposition in com- 
 petition with other sources would necessitate an annual subsidy run- 
 ning into the millions of dollars, without offering a single advantage 
 excepting as a preparedness measure. Norway, with three or four 
 dollar power, has been able to develop the arc method on a self- 
 supporting basis, but with a power consumption of around 3 H. P. 
 per ton the difference between $3 and $15, or even the possible $8 
 of Government cost, is precisely that between success and failure. 1 
 
 II. CYANAMIDE PROCESS 
 
 The so-called Cyanamide process of nitrogen fixation is dependent 
 upon the fact that calcium carbide may be induced with comparative 
 ease to absorb nitrogen, thus forming a combination of calcium, 
 carbon and nitrogen, known commercially as cyanamide. Thus, un- 
 like the direct arc product, cyanamide involves raw materials in the 
 form of limestone and coal, or, rather, their derivatives, lime and 
 coke. The lime and coke are fused together to form carbide, which 
 is then inserted in finely ground condition in an electric furnace where 
 a temperature of 1,000 C. is maintained, while a stream of nitrogen 
 gas already separated out from the oxygen of the air is fed in and 
 absorbed by the powdered carbide. The product is a mixture of 
 cyanamide, excess carbide, and lime, which, after being hydrated to 
 get rid of the free carbide and caustic lime, is ready for the market 
 as nitrogen-bearing fertilizer. By treating this cyanamide with 
 superheated steam its nitrogen may be released to enter into com- 
 bination with the hydrogen of the steam, forming ammonia, which, 
 if 4esirable, may in turn be burned with air to form nitric acid. 
 
 1 It is to be borne in mind throughout this paper that any and all estimates 
 and deductions refer purely to developments of -nationally significant scale, 
 and have not the least bearing upon the feasibility of localized private enter- 
 prises with the special opportunities which may be afforded. The one attempt 
 to apply an arc process in this country, the purely experimental one at 
 Nitrolee, South Carolina, may, however, be quoted in substantiation. 
 
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS GILBERT 7 
 
 Thus the Cyanamide process affords three main products in direct 
 sequence from the raw ingredients employed, namely, cyanamide, 
 ammonia, and nitric acid, with nitric acid the end point instead of the 
 first product to be derived, as is the case with the employment of the 
 arc method. Carrying the process clear through to the nitric acid 
 stage, the power consumption is approximately J H. P. year per ton 
 of nitric acid, or about one-sixth to one-fifth that requisite for the 
 arc method ; the raw materials employed are roughly a half ton each 
 of lime and coke ; the labor items involved in the two processes are 
 to all practical purposes equal ; and the normal peace time first 
 product from the Cyanamide process, calcium cyanamide, has proven 
 thoroughly applicable to agricultural use. Comparison of the two 
 processes with reference to their relative values toward meeting the 
 country's needs offer, first of all, a saving of four-fifths to five-sixths 
 the power consumption in favor of the Cyanamide process. To 
 appreciate the significance of this item it is only necessary to reflect 
 that, whereas the country's estimated 200,000 tons requirement calls 
 for a power supply of over a half million horsepower year in the one 
 case as against one of only 100,000 H. P. year in the other, the 
 difference is not merely one of economics, but of availabilities as well. 
 Again, the normal product from the arc method is one whose chief 
 demand is founded upon abnormal war times, while the normal first 
 product from the other is an agricultural one, fitting into normal 
 conditions. Again, the regular product from the arc method is not 
 convertible to meet peace-time requirements adequately, while the 
 product from the other is readily convertible to the emergency nitric 
 acid form. Standing alone in prominent opposition is the fact that 
 raw ingredients enter into the manufacture of the cyanamide 
 product; but even this one opposing element will hardly loom so 
 conspicuously when the carbon electrode consumption involved indi- 
 rectly in arc method procedure is considered. Ignoring indirect 
 elements, however, the raw materials employed entering into cyana- 
 mides involve a resource expenditure about the equivalent of a fifth 
 that of arc method power under average American conditions. The 
 difference between the two in significance amounts to that of three- 
 fifths to two-thirds of the total power involved in arc method manu- 
 facture, plus the value of a product normally in demand as against 
 that of one for which there is very little normal demand. 1 
 
 1 Since power cost is the dominant item of expense m the arc method while 
 it represents only about a third of the fundamental expense connected with 
 the cyanamide method, it is obvious that as power costs are reduced the purely 
 
8 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 III. HABER PROCESS 
 
 Bearing in mind that ammonia is a chemical combination of nitro- 
 gen and hydrogen in the ratio of one atom of the former to three 
 of the latter, synthetic ammonia would result if a properly propor- 
 tioned mixture of the two gases in purified condition can be prevailed 
 upon to react chemically. With the two essential ingredients readily 
 available, the one from air, the other from water, the only problem is 
 that of inducing chemical reaction. By what is known as the Haber 
 process a means of effecting the necessary stimulus has been pro- 
 vided, and the Haber process of fixation is on a commercial basis in 
 Germany, where, from the last available figures, it was netting at the 
 rate of about 200,000 tons of ammonium sulphate per year. The 
 agency for combination employed in the Haber process is compres- 
 sion of the mixed gases in the presence of a catalyzing agent. This 
 results in a partial combination of the two gases to form ammonia, 
 which may be absorbed out and the uncombined portion of the origi- 
 nal gaseous charge returned for renewed treatment. The process 
 does not make the high demands on electrical power required by the 
 other processes of atmospheric nitrogen fixation in use, but involves 
 technical difficulties in the way of manipulation which have prevented 
 the proportionate extension of its use, even in Germany under pres- 
 ent exigencies. No opportunity for an analysis of comparative costs 
 is available, but the fact that the use of the process has not been 
 extended proportionately even in Germany, where cheap skilled labor 
 and military exigency have combined to give it every advantage over 
 conditions in this country, may well be taken as evidence that the 
 process has not yet been perfected to a point where it is able to qualify 
 for final consideration. 
 
 IV. BY-PRODUCT AMMONIA 
 
 Mention has already been made of combined nitrogen as a by- 
 product from chemical industries based upon the products of organic 
 life both of the present day and of the geologic past; and coal- 
 product operations were cited as the most advanced forerunner in 
 this direction. With the wastefulness of method characteristic of 
 
 financial aspects of the two methods converge. These converging lines cross 
 at the point indicated by $5.00 power. It would seem, however, out of the 
 question that under present-day conditions power on sufficiently huge scale 
 to carry a significant arc process plant is capable of development in this 
 country, and, accordingly, the fact of convergence toward a $5.00 H. P. 
 year point, while interesting, can hardly enter as a determining factor. 
 
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS GILBERT 9 
 
 American industrial practice, by-product development, even with 
 reference to coal, has been unreasonably slow, and out of a possible 
 700,000 tons the actual combined nitrogen recovery in the form of 
 ammonium sulphate is only about 225,000 tons. Of late, however, 
 the rate of increase has been stimulated to such an extent that with 
 the completion of the by-product ovens now building the annual 
 capacity for output will be around 400,000 tons, and it is fair to 
 assume that if the tendency is unchecked by external influences the 
 full coking yield of ammonia will be available to the country's use 
 within the next fw years. 
 
 The actual development of combined nitrogen returns from other 
 by-product directions has been negligible, and they assume signifi- 
 cance only in their possible bearing upon the future establishment 
 and growth of industries important to the country's welfare. From 
 this viewpoint their potential significance is scarcely less real than it 
 is with reference to by-product coking. This country is bound to be 
 the greatest coke manufacturing one in the world, and the desirability 
 of developing the enormous by-product possibilities thus opened up, 
 entirely apart even from the half million to million tons of ammonium 
 sulphate now directly under consideration, is scarcely to be over- 
 estimated. The country cannot afford to take any step which will 
 further hinder progress along these general lines. 
 
 The normal first product from the arc method of atmospheric nitro- 
 gen fixation is nitric acid ; that from the Cyanamide process is 
 calcium cyanamide; that from the Haber process is sulphate of 
 ammonia ; and that of by-product derivation is also ammonia, either 
 in the form of ammonia liquor or ammonium sulphate. For muni- 
 tions use the acid form is required, while agricultural and other more 
 usual requirements employ either ammonium sulphate or some other 
 neutralized form of combined nitrogen. The original character of 
 first product is not necessarily of any great moment, however, in 
 view of the fact that, once fixed, the form of combination is suscep- 
 tible of change. Thus, the original nitric acid of the arc method 
 may be neutralized to a nitrate salt, usually that of calcium because 
 of the cheapness of the calcium source in limestone ; cyanamide may 
 be forced to yield up its nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which in 
 turn may be oxidized to nitric acid ; and the same is true of the Haber 
 process sulphate. By-product ammonia, however, offers at present 
 an obstacle to such flexibility of application, in the form of impurities 
 which stand in the way of effecting the delicately balanced reactions 
 involved in the oxidation of ammonia to nitric acid. 
 
10 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 In view of the feasibility of effecting chemical readjustments, the 
 problem before the country is not one purely or even primarily of 
 military exigency, but rather of agricultural betterment with military 
 reservations. The country is capable of absorbing an indefinitely 
 greater amount of nitrogen compounds agriculturally, and of doing 
 so to ever-increasing advantage to all concerned, provided only there 
 is no sudden glutting of the market demand for it and that the cost 
 is maintained sufficiently low to put a premium on intensive land 
 cultivation. The real problem, then, is that of developing sources of 
 combined nitrogen such that their costs will not, as they do to-day, 
 counterbalance the farmer's returns, making intensive effort profit- 
 less, and at the same time of avoiding any such precipitancy of action 
 with reference to new sources as will tend to demoralize the market. 
 If it fails to do the former, now that the matter has come up definitely 
 for action, it will be failing to meet national responsibility of the 
 greatest importance ; if it fails to do the latter, consequences as dis- 
 astrous to the country's welfare as any nitrogen shortage will result 
 in the further hindrance of by-product development. 
 
 The nitrogen situation is one involving the whole structure of the 
 country's economic development. Off hand, exception may be taken 
 to this assertion on the grounds that the fundamental issue is one of 
 military importance and may well be kept within those confines. Let 
 any one who is disposed toward such an opinion evolve a solution 
 whose efficacy is based purely upon a military need; then let him 
 proceed to work out a balance sheet covering the operation of the 
 resultant project over a period even of only five years. The scope 
 of the issue broadens to include an agricultural aspect. Since nitro- 
 gen compounds may be prepared which are convertible between 
 agricultural and military needs, and since an adequate nitrogenous 
 fertilizer supply constitutes an invaluable economic asset, it may 
 appear next that the situation resolves itself fixedly into the mere 
 problem of determining the means calculated to provide the largest 
 output of convertible nitrogenous compounds at the least cost. But 
 industries no less important than a nitrogen-fixation one to the coun- 
 try's economic balance are involved in this field, and any governmental 
 action in the nitrogen situation which would be disastrous in its effect 
 on private initiative in the related industries would be inadvisable. 
 Thus the scope of the issue widens not only beyond the strict con- 
 fines of military need, but beyond those of agriculture as well, and 
 action, to be of well-founded, permanently constructive value, must 
 take cognizance of the whole situation. 
 
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS GILBERT II 
 
 SUMMARY 
 
 To summarize a situation of such magnitude adequately in a few 
 pages is not only difficult, but becomes increasingly so the more it 
 unfolds with study. Accordingly, in the foregoing pages the aim 
 has been rather to point out in a general way the nature of the 
 problem confronting the country than to attempt any analysis of its 
 various factors, much less to offer any complete solution. In sub- 
 stance, the following expressions with reference to conditions and 
 the inferences seemingly afforded are offered : 
 
 Nitrogenous compounds are essential not only to self-defense but 
 to the country's capacity for self-support, and to be effective the 
 source must be such that the product may be adaptable to meet either 
 requirement. 
 
 The arc method has not thus far demonstrated capacity to meet the 
 agricultural requirement at all, or even the defense requirement 
 efficiently. 
 
 Definite knowledge concerning the Haber process is lacking, but 
 its record of achievement is against it, and it would seem, moreover, 
 unsuited to American conditions, at least in the present state of its 
 development. 
 
 The Cyanamide process is capable of a development which will 
 meet the requirements for a cheapened nitrogenous fertilizer source 
 whose form of nitrogen content is readily convertible to nitric acid. 
 The process is already a prominent factor in the economic well-being 
 of most countries of older civilization, and is capable of similar exten- 
 sion in the United States. 
 
 By-product coking operations afford a source of nitrogenous com- 
 pounds netting the country an annual production at the rate of over 
 200,000 tons of ammonium sulphate now, and due to raise this total 
 to about 400,000 tons with the completion of the ovens now building. 
 A total of about 700,000 tons would be possible if all coking were of 
 by-product nature, and this total should be attained within the next 
 few years. No practicable means for its oxidation to nitric acid 
 have yet been found in this country. 
 
 By-product ammonia constitutes the country's one actual asset in 
 the form of nitrogenous compounds. It has a rapidly growing yield 
 of very great importance in itself , but of even greater importance as 
 a factor contributing largely to the commercial possibilities of a 
 number of industrial lines, especially that of coal products. The 
 country cannot afford to run any risk of checking development along 
 these lines. 
 
12 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 The evolution of a practicable process for the oxidation of by- 
 product ammonia to render present resources available, with the 
 development of an atmospheric nitrogen fixation output by the Cyan- 
 amide process carefully timed to meet growing demands following 
 a reduction in the retail price of nitrogenous fertilizer, would appear 
 to be the desirable governmental procedure as being the one least 
 liable to disastrous consequences. 
 
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