40

OUR  MINERAL  RESERVES.

may  be  used.  On  the  Hand,  in  South  Africa,  pebbles  of  quartzite
that  weather  out  of  the  "  Banket  ”  or  conglomerate  are  extensively
used,  and  it  is  possible  that  rounded  pebbles  of  dense  cherty-looking
rhyolite,  a  rock  rich  in  silica,  such  as  occur  in  considerable  abundance ­
  along  portions  of  the  Maine  coast  in  the  Penobscot  Bay  and
Eastport  regions,  could  be  used  for  these  purposes.
SULPHUR.
Sulphur  furnishes  an  instructive  example  of  the  capture  of  the
domestic  market  by  the  American  producer.  In  1903  the  United
States  imported  191,000  tons  of  sulphur  for  consumption  and  produced ­
  only  a  few  thousand  tons  in  Louisiana,  Nevada,  and  Utah.
Last  year  the  imports  of  sulphur  for  consumption  amounted  to  only
22,005  long  tons,  valued  at  $448,504,  whereas  the  value  of  the  imported ­
  sulphur  in  1903  was  more  than  $3,700,000.  In  1903,  moreover, ­
  we  exported  89,221  tons  of  sulphur,  valued  at  $1,599,701.  making ­
  the  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor  last  year  $1,151,197.
The  sales  of  domestic  sulphur  last  year  amounted  to  311,590  long
tons,  valued  at  $5,479,849,  and  a  large  quantity  of  unsold  sulphur  is
still  at  the  mines.  This  immense  increase  in  the  sulphur  industry
is  due  to  the  successful  operation  of  the  F  rasch  process  in  Louisiana
and  Texas,  where  the  industry  has  already  reached  the  point  of
having  its  output  limited  only  by  the  demands  of  the  market.
The  imports  of  sulphur  come  mainly  from  Japan  and  Italy  and
are  almost  wholly  entered  at  the  Pacific  ports.
The  production  of  pyrite  in  the  United  States  does  not,  however, ­
  show  the  same  gratifying  ratio  of  growth.  In  the  last  decade
it  has  increased  from  about  200,000  tons  to  341,000  tons,  but  the  imports ­
  of  pyrite  have  more  than  doubled  in  the  same  period,  and
last  year  amounted  to  850,592  long  tons,  valued  at  $3,611,137,  or
more  than  twice  the  domestic  production.  It  is  evident  that  foreign
pyrite  is  the  controlling  factor  in  the  market,  the  production  in
America  being  insufficient  to  supply  the  demand.  The  principal
States  mining  pyrite  are  Virginia,  California,  Wisconsin,  Ohio,
Illinois,  Georgia,  Indiana,  Missouri,  and  New  York.  The  imported
pyrite  comes  chiefly  from  Spain,  in  which  the  principal  deposits  of
pyrite  occur.  The  imported  Spanish  ore  is  admirably  suited  for
making  sulphuric  acid.
Closely  connected  with  the  production  of  sulphur  and  pyrite  is  the
sulphuric-acid  industry,  which  now  utilizes  to  some  extent  the
sulphur  that  formerly  went  to  waste  in  the  air  as  smelter  gases.
The  by-product  acid  made  last  year  had  a  value  of  $4,346,272.  This
source  of  sulphuric  acid  is  capable  of  much  larger  utilization,  the
production  of  sulphuric  acid  from  smelter  acid  being  limited  only
by  the  demands  of  the  market  available.  These  resources  are  impor-