MINERAL  PRODUCTS.

47

there  is  little  opportunity  to  substitute  the  American  product.  The
Arkansas  output  of  diamonds  is  valued  at  only  a  few  thousand  dollars ­
  a  year,  and  this  sum  is  exceeded  by  the  value  of  the  annual  production ­
  of  emerald,  ruby,  opal,  tourmaline,  and  turquoise.  The
sapphires  from  Montana  constitute  the  only  domestic  factor  of  importance ­
  in  the  precious-stone  market,  stones  valued  at  about
$200,000  being  mined  each  year.
Common  salt  continues  to  be  imported  in  considerable  quantity,
more  than  a  million  barrels  coming  to  Atlantic  ports  last  year.  The
country  is  amply  able,  however,  to  supply  the  entire  home  demand,
as  the  capacity  of  its  salt  mines  and  works  is  in  excess  of  the  present
output.  The  imports  last  year  were  only  3.2  per  cent  of  the  total
consumption,  whereas  in  1890  the  percentage  was  17.2.
Secretary  Lane  has  called  particular  attention  to  the  “  long-felt
want”  in  the  United  States  of  a  chemical  industry  based  on  coal
tar,  a  raw  material  of  which  our  gas  and  coke  retorts  yield  an  abundant ­
  supply.  The  commercial  production  of  coal  tar  in  1912  was
about  125,000,000  gallons  (approximately  1,000,000,000  pounds),  to
which  should  be  added  the  tar  that  is  at  many  works  burned  for
fuel  or  allowed  to  go  to  waste.
The  extent  to  which  this  tar  is  manufactured  in  the  United  States
is  practically  limited  to  simple  distillation  for  recovery  of  the  light
oils  (such  as  gasoline),  creosoting  oils,  and  pitch.  Coal  tar  is  the
raw  material  from  which  carbolic  acid  is  manufactured,  and  the
crude  tar  contains  about  10  per  cent  of  this  extensively  used  chemical, ­
  yet,  so  far  as  the  Geological  Survey  is  informed,  no  carbolic  acid
is  made  in  this  country,  the  acid  in  the  tar  going  into  the  creosoting
oils  used  in  the  preservation  of  railroad  ties,  bridge  timbers,  and
other  wood  exposed  to  the  decaying  action  of  air  and  water.
We  exported  last  year  36,500,000  pounds  of  coal  tar,  30  per  cent
of  it  to  Germany  and  20  per  cent  to  Belgium,  for  which  we  received
$150,000.  Of  carbolic  acid  alone  we  imported  over  8,000,000  pounds,
one-third  of  it  from  Germany,  for  which  we  paid,  exclusive  of
freights,  commissions,  and  profits,  $675,000.  We  imported  altogether ­
  chemical  products  of  coal  tar,  including  dyes,  colors,  and
medicinal  preparations,  to  the  value,  duty  paid,  of  about  $12,000,000
at  the  points  of  shipment.  The  need  of  aniline  color  and  dye  works
in  the  United  States  is  now  self-evident,  as  is  also  the  opportunity
for  other  branches  of  the  chemical  industry.
Several  medicinal  articles  of  which  petroleum  forms  a  large  percentage ­
  have  been  imported,  especially  a  very  carefully  refined  oil
having  about  the  consistency  of  a  very  light  lubricating  oil.  This
has  been  made,  for  convenience,  in  Baku,  Russia,  and  some  of  it  has
been  manufactured  in  the  United  States  from  petroleum  distillates
imported  from  Russia,  and  has  been  sold  as  “  alboline,”  “  petrolatum