SUMMARY
More than 90 per cent. of the potash handled in the world’s commerce is used as a fertilizer. The rest is used as a chemical in various industries, chief among which are the manufacture of matches, certain kinds of glass and soap, and the better grades of black powder. The uses specifically mentioned in this paragraph are essential, as no satisfactory substitutes are known.
Up to 1914 practically all of the potash used in the world came from the deposits in northern Germany, which are substantially inexhaustible. Next in importance are the deposits of Alsace, which contain enough potash to meet the world’s present demands for almost 300 years. Other resources are known in Spain, Galicia, Abyssinia, the nitrate beds of Chile, and in deposits in the United States, but it is too early to predict with assurance what part they will play in the expansion of the potash industry.
Germany will no longer be able to maintain a world monopoly of the potash market. The passing of control of the important resources in Alsace from Germany to France foreshadows competition from recognized adequate sources of supply. There are many other possibilities, the mere potentialities of which are sufficient to restrain any tendency to unreasonable extortion by those who control the German fields. Moreover, attention has been so directed to the desirability of developing independent sources, and so much able technical talent is now being devoted toward bringing successful issue from the many undertakings in progress, that it is very unlikely that this country, or any other, will in the future be dependent on one or two arbitrarily handled monopolies.