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By AIME AIME

NAPOLEON'S dictum that an Army travels on its stomach has not changed in this present war, but the things an Army's stomach calls for would be more than strange to Napoleon. Today one of the main articles of diet for the mechanized army is oil and gasoline, and the chief and most efficient source of 'apply overland is the pipe line. It was a flexible 4-in. pipe line that supplied the voracious appetite of tanks, trucks, jeeps, and planes across the North African desert. and it is the 1800-mile pipe line from Calcutta to Kunming, Yunnan Province in China, the longest in the world, that supplied oil and 100-octane gas for the trucks, tanks, Jeeps, and planes fighting on the Assam-Burma-China front in recent months. Completion of this approximately 1800-mile pipe line to China over rivers that had never been bridged, over hill that towered 9000 ft., and over swamps

Jan 1, 1945

By Joseph W. Roe

MaNY questions arising in the work of the mining engineer may be solved quickly and with suffcient accuracy by the methods of descriptive geometry; but, unfortunately, this subject is more often considered from a mathematical view-point than as an effective tool for solving practical problems. Some of the principles involved are merged into the ordinary operations of mechanical drawing, and are used unconsciously by the engineer in his every-day work. The rest are stowed away on the book-shelf with his forgotten or rarely-used college text-books. One reason for this condition of " innocuous desuctude " may lie in the uifortunate and often cumbersome notation which it has been found necessary to introduce. If some of these principles can be recalled to the engineer's attenti011 in terms of' every-day use they may prove of practical hearing. Recently, in talking with several mining engineers, I used some of the drawing-room methods of a machine-designer, to the evident surprise of those around me. These men were perfectly familiar with the methods, but their application to mining-work had not occurred to them. At their suggestion the present paper is offered, not in ally way as a treatise, but merely to suggest a certain point of view, in hope that it may lead others far more familiar with mining-problems to pursue the subject further. I. To Find the Strike. As the simplest and most fundamental problem, let it be required to find the strike of a vein when the location and elevation of three points on the outcrop are known. It mill be assumed for the present that the rein is a plane.

Jan 1, 1911

By Verne C. Fryklund, S. Warren Hobbs

The Coeur d'Alene district in the panhandle of Idaho is one of the major lead-zinc-silver producing areas in the world. The value of recorded production to date has exceeded $2 billion. Country rock comprises six formations of the fine-grained, highly siliceous, and slightly metamorphosed Precambrian Belt Series. Small stocks of monzonitic rocks and several varieties of dikes intrude the sediments. The district is at the intersection of a north trending major anticlinal uplift and the west northwest-trending Lewis and Clark line of which the Osburn fault is the dominant feature. The district structure is complicated and comprises folds, some of which are overturned, and a complex of faults of diverse ages and directions of movement. Late Cretaceous stocks but are also probably Cretaceous in age. The productive veins are localized within a series of 12 subparallel, straight mineral belts that trend approximately N65°W and that appear to be controlled by deep fractures in the basement rocks. The mineral belts are in two groups, separated by 15 miles of post-mineralization movement on the Osburn fault. Veins and ore shoots are variously disposed within each mineral belt. Many crop out at the surface, but others apex several thousand feet beneath it. Local controls that influence the position of ore shoots within the mineral belts include the brittle character of host rock attitude of bedding relative to the mineralized fracture, and the amount and direction of movement on faults. Depth appears to have had little effect on the occurrence or type of ore. Ore occurs in a series of steeply dipping replacement veins of relatively simple mineralogy. Six periods of mineralization, ranging from Precambrian to Tertiary in age, are recognized. The productive galena sphalerite-bearing and tetrahedrite-bearing veins-of the main period of mineralization-are younger than the

Jan 1, 1968

By W. M. Peirce, R. K. Waring

Zinc of high purity offers definite advantages in certain fields. A process by which zinc of 99.99 + per cent purity is produced by pyro-metallurgical methods is described in this paper. The process consists of a fractional distillation following the primary reduction; this fractional distillation employs the principles of rectification for the separation of lead and other high-boiling impurities and cadmium and other low-boiling impurities. Theoretical Considerations Involved in Production of High-purity Zinc by Distillation Fractional distillation, fractional condensation, and rectification are recognized methods of separating mixtures of liquids. In the field of organic liquids these methods are widely used but not commonly to effect as complete a separation of liquids as is done in the problem under consideration. Zinc boils at 905" C., cadmium at 778" C. and lead at about 1620" C. Zinc may contain from several hundredths of one per cent to over one per cent each of cadmium and lead, and the problem is to reduce these impurities to a few thousandths of one per cent. For lead and zinc, the spread in boiling points is substantial, 715° C., while for zinc and cadmium it is only 127" C. The basic limitation of any separation by distillation may be found from the relation between the equilibrium composition of the vapor and the liquid for all mixtures of the two substances involved. If a mixture of constant boiling point is found, or if a stable compound that vaporizes without dissociation occurs, there is a definite theoretical limit to the degree of separation that is possible when operating at atmospheric pressure with respect to that mixture. Otherwise, any degree of separation is theoretically possible. The equilibrium composition of vapor in contact with liquid mixtures of zinc and cadmiurn at the boiling point has been determined experi-

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

THOUGH the dust-control systems in the crushing plants and other buildings at Morenci do not differ materially from similar installations in other large copper reduction works, it is probable that in few other plants has as much attention been paid to the dust problem. Possibly the most striking feature of the Morenci installation is the manner in which the necessary equipment has been built into the various structures, and the absence of unsightly pipes, ducts, and fan houses. That this result has been attained is due, in no small part, to the basic conception that the control of the dust in a milling plant should be an essential part of the process itself and not something to be tacked on later after the plant is in operation. The control systems were designed and developed along with the general plant construction program and when the first car of ore was dumped into the crusher the dust-control equipment was ready.

Jan 1, 1942

By G. S. Cole, G. F. Bolling

ThIS note accompanies a study of grain structure changes in metal ingots produced by the alteration of fluid motion.1 Although the Prandtl Number of aqueous solutions is much higher than that for metals, it is quite instructive to see the simulation of freezing, as pointed out by Jackson and coworkers.2-4 Accordingly we have observed the effects of natural thermal convection, the changes induced by a steady-state rotation in one direction, and the changes under oscillation.' Temperature measurements were made under duplicate conditions whenever the visual observations appeared interesting. A solution of 15 pct NH4C1 in water was chosen. In each case the solution was preheated to 90°C in a 4-in.-diam Pyrex beaker filled to a level of about 5-in. depth and covered to prevent convective air cooling. The beaker was then placed in a container of iced brine, suitably arranged on a rotating table for movement about its cylindrical axis. Upon immersion in the brine under static conditions, fluid flow was observed near the wall of the beaker before the onset of crystallization, which generally commenced only after the temperature fell to 51.5"C. The region of flow extended about 1 mm from the wall and could not be observed elsewhere. The measured radial temperature increased sharply within 1 cm from the wall and thus over a distance considerably greater than that observed for the flow. However, we note that this difference of approximately one order of magnitude between hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers should be expected for aqueous solutions, in contrast to metallic liquids. Beyond this layer the temperature was isothermal at a given height and in general nearly 10°C warmer than at the wall. The overall visual observation was therefore supported quite well by temperature measurement. There was also a vertical temperature gradient of nearly 2°C per cm throughout the liquid increasing from the colder bottom; this of course could not be observed visually. Eventually crystals precipitated from solution. (It

Jan 1, 1968

By Nathaniel Herz

PARTING of bullion before shipment to the mint had been considered by the Homestake Mining Co. at various times, but had never been attempted before 1933, be- cause the margin of profit appeared to be too small to warrant the complications in refining. When the gold standard was abandoned by the United States in the spring of 1933, however, parting of the bullion was decided upon. The method selected was the Miller or chlorine process, which consists of the passing of gaseous chlorine into a bath of molten bullion, converting all metals other than gold into chlorides, and remov-

Jan 1, 1935

By B. T., Colley

AS always when metallurgical operations are conducted within or close to agricultural and stock-raising regions, the question of damage due to fume and smoke presented itself when the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation's new smelter commenced to operate in La Oroya in 1922, For more than twenty years the Corporation had operated its old plant close to Cerro de Pasco without encountering difficulties from smoke claims, owing to the fact that it was in an open plain where more or less constant air currents carried and dissipated the smoke over large areas, affording ample dilution. But Oroya is in a deep canyon formed by four contributing valleys up and down which the smoke travels for long distances in a more or less concentrated form. Though the altitude of Oroya is more than 12,000 ft., and the surrounding country rises to much greater elevations, nevertheless there exists there a large and important stock-raising industry and also a considerable development in agriculture, consisting of the cultivation of potatoes, barley, etc.

Jan 1, 1945

By P. A. Beck, M. V. Nevitt

All binary and a number of ternary u alloys formed by first long period transition elements were examined and found to be ferromagnetic at low temperatures. The Curie temperatures for these alloys were measured. It was found that the correlation of the Curie temperature with composition may be described qualitatively in terms of the contributions of the various component atomic moments to the saturation moment of the alloy. Ternary Fe-Cr-Mo u phase alloys were also found to be ferromagnetic, with a Curie temperature dependent on the iron content and largely independent of the unit cell dimensions. Similar relations were found for the Co-Fe-Cr and the Co-Cr-Mo a alloys, where the Co + Fe content appears to determine the Curie temperature. RECENTLY, it has become increasingly evident that the u phase is some kind of an "electron compound." Several papers1-' discussed the empirical correlation between the composition of the various u phases in alloys of the transition elements and the distribution of electrons in the partially filled d-levels of the component atoms. However, a picture of the latter can be formed only in a more or less intuitive manner, as in the Pauling theory," and the rigorous treatment of these problems is at present prevented by lack of adequate knowledge of the electronic structure of the transition elements in the metallic state. It appeared reasonable to expect that investigation of the magnetic properties, which are related to d-shell electrons, may help in clarifying the physical nature of the foregoing empirical correlation. Qualitative tests of samples of various compositions have shown that certain u alloys become ferromagnetic at liquid nitrogen temperature." The present investigation was undertaken to determine whether or not low temperature ferromagnetism is characteristic of a large variety of u alloys and to establish how the Curie temperatures of ferromagnetic u alloys are influenced by changes in composition and in lattice parameter. In the first portion of the in- vestigation, Curie temperatures were measured for a series of u alloys containing either vanadium or chromium with one or two of the elements manganese, iron, cobalt, or nickel. In the second phase of the work, data were obtained on the Curie temperature of ternary (Fe, Co, Cr)a, (Fe, Cr, Mo)a, and (Co, Cr, MO)U alloys, as a function of composition and of interatomic spacing. Experimental Procedures High frequency vacuum melting in high purity re-crystallized alumina crucibles was employed in the preparation of the u alloys, using metals whose lot analyses are given in Table I. Approximately two-thirds of the alloys were analyzed chemically, the analytical results being in acceptable agreement with the intended compositions, as seen in Tables I1 and 111. The specimens were annealed for homogen-ization in an atmosphere of purified 92 pct He and 8 pct H, mixture or in evacuated and sealed Vycor tubes at temperatures from 780" to 1300°C, depending on the temperature range of the u phase field for the particular composition. The annealing temwerature and time for kach alloy are given in Tables 11 and 111. Curie points were determined by an induction method; the change with temperature of mutual inductance between two coils was observed when the i-u specimen was inserted into the flux path between the coils. The transformer consisted of three coils each containing 1200 turns of 0.0050 in. diam enameled copper wire. The center coil, P in Fig. 1, served as the primary coil, and was linked magnetically with each of the two secondary coils, S, and S? which were connected in series opposition. The primary coil, P, was energized by an audio-oscillator, set at a frequency of 500 cycles per sec, while the signal from the transformer secondary circuit,

Jan 1, 1956

By H. M. Howe

A Discussion of the paper of Professor Howe, presented at the London Meeting, July, 1906, and printed in Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 14, March, 1907, pp. 169 to 274. SECRETARY'S NOTE.-M. Beutter's introductory remarks, being simply a resume of Prof. Howe's paper, with a disclaimer of the intention to criticise it, have been omitted, and the remainder of this contribution has been somewhat condensed, without omitting any essential statements. M. BEUTTER, St. Etienne* (communication to the Secretary-+):-Professor Howe observes in paragraph 47 of his paper that the fluid-compression of steel. diminishes piping by forcing the liquid and viscous metal, while the pipe is forming, or after it has formed, into the space so produced, and proceeds to study the different systems of compression, alluding to the four principal ones: Whitworth, Illingworth, Williams, and Harmet. Having now for many years had in use the last-named process, that of M. Henri Harmet, I shall attempt to explain the difference between it and the three other processes named. The Harmet process does not diminish or close the pipe after it has formed, but prevents it from forming; and I may add that it is the only one of the four which produces this result. It is true that the Whitworth process diminishes the interior hollow by localizing it around the central axis of the ingot, which is afterwards removed by trepanning the hollow forgings for which this process has been, I believe, always exclusively used. The Illingworth and Williams processes, which, in my opinion, are applicable only to small ingots, of necessity allow the pipe to form, or (to use the expression of Professor Howe) they allow the surface of the lake of liquid steel to sink into the interior of the ingot, since they involve waiting a certain time before compression, so that (in the case of the Williams process) the ingot-mold can be opened without dan¬ger, or (in the case of the Illingworth process) so as to avoid the risk that the steel may enter the grooves produced by the removal of the distance-bars. During the time required for

Jul 1, 1907

By Robert Laurich

Chuquicamata pit was opened in 1915 with steam shovels and steam locomotives brought down from the Panama Canal excavation project. With expansions in the early years, more steam locomo¬tives were brought into the mine. IMPROVED LOCOMOTIVES During the period 1927 to 1937, electric locomo¬tives were purchased and main line and bench tracks were electrified. Third rail was installed up to the working areas. At first, the locomotives were equipped with batteries for service at the shovels, but charge life was too short and they were con¬verted to use the third rail and a reel with 3000 ft of trailing cable for service in the loading area.

Jan 11, 1959

By J. B. Morgan

The mechanical behavior of MgCu2 from 20 o to 725°C has been determined by "brittle-ring" tensite-test techniques, axial compression, and bending experiments. Compressive ductility begins at 450°C (0.65 T/Tm) and slowly increases with increasing temperature white the tensile ductility is characterized by an abrupt brittle-ductile transition at 600°C (0.8T/Tm). The compressive strength increases eightfold from room temperature to 400°C with a "normal" decrease as the temperature is further increased. The tensile strength goes through a rather abrupt threefold increase above 600°C with a subsequent decrease at higher temperatures. The slip system is (111)[110] and the twinning system is (111)[112]. At high temperatures MgCu2 is quite rate-sensitive, and dynamic yield points are observed that are extremely orientation-dependent. The high-temperature creep behavior under constant load is characterized by an increasing strain-rate with time. The general characteristics of the mechanical behavior make it possible to classify MgCu2 with those materials in which initial mobile dislocation density and the dislocation velocity-stress dependence are significant in determining mechanical response. Mgcu2 is the C15 prototype of the cubic Laves phase. Its range of homogeneity extends from 32.8 to 35.5 at. pct Mg at 500°C and narrows at lower temperatures. The lattice parameter is reported to vary from 7.02 to 7.05A,1 and the compound is completely ordered to the melting point of 819°C. MgCu2 has a brassy metallic appearance, is extremely brittle, and many of its physical properties are intermediate between those of the constituent elements: the electrical resistivity is 3.5 x 10-6 ohm-cm, Young's modulus is 10x 106 psi, the shear modulus is 6 x l06 psi, and the thermal coefficient of expansion is 18.7 x 10-6 cm per cm per "C from 20" to 250°C. Usually, properties of intermetallic compounds as functions of temperature have been determined by hardness, compression, or impact behavior, and almost all of these experiments have been performed on polycrystalline materials. Tammann and Dahl,2 for instance, determined the onset of ductility in a series of binary intermetallics by ball-hardness measurements and found the onset to range between 0.71 and 0.96 T/T,. Lowrie's3 investigations included some tensile properties, and he found ductility beginning around 0.65 T/Tm for most materials examined. His work did include some data on polycrystalline, nonstoichiometric MgCu2, however. The present work is an attempt to extend the examination of the particular compound MgCu2 in single-crystal form in order to aid the formation of general concepts about mechanical be-

Jan 1, 1965

By Herbert Hoover

YOUR committee asks that I speak today on the relations of the engineering profession to public affairs. That takes in a lot of ground. This being a cheerful occasion, I will assume that I should exclude the engineer's function as a taxpayer. This being a nonpartisan occasion, I will assume that I should not refer to his voting emotions in 1940. Perhaps what was in the minds of your committee was the application of engineering thought to the confusions of the times. That is also a lot of ground. I fear, however, its boundaries disappear in mirages and rainbows on all sides. Now any entry of the engineer into public affairs involves his breaking into the fields of the sociologists, the economists, and the politicians. However I don't know why, seeing the difficulties these professions are having, they should not welcome a little help.

Jan 1, 1939

By Whitman E. Brown

The installation in 1948 of a Humphrey spiral concentrator section at the Hill-Trumbull plant of The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. is the latest commercial method on the Mesabi Range being used for the recovery of fine iron ore. In two stages of concentration 84 spirals treat approximately 120 long tons per hour of minus 1/8 in. ore. These spirals augment the production of the heavy-density plant which recovers the plus 44 in. iron from the plant crude ore. Structure of the ore is such that, when crushed, about 50 pct of the plant crude is minus 1/8 in. size. After desliming in a 66 in. Akins classifier, grinding the classifier product in a ball mill and again desliming in a 78 in. Akins classifier about 15 pct of the crude ore remains to be treated in the spiral plant.

Jan 1, 1949

By AIME AIME

EITHER the 2300 people who came to the Annual Meeting were in a better frame of mind or they were resigned to their fate, or it was a better meeting than usual. Whatever the reason, at the 1nstitute?s 148th meeting the attendance was better than ever before, things went more smoothly than in some previous years, and complaints appear to have been almost entirely absent. Patience was sometimes reauired but. almost without exception, it was forthcorning the well-known recession seems to have given many members enough leisure time to come to the meeting without depriving them of the tangible wherewithal to come.

Jan 1, 1938

By E. M. Chance

HERBERT M. WILSON, Pittsburgh, Pa. (written discussion).-Permit me to endorse the author's conclusions and their form of presentation as ,being, in my judgment, the last word 'on the subject of lights for the illumination of coal mines. I also feel that the open-flame oil lamp has outlived its usefulness, and that it should go, in the interests not only of safety but of efficiency. Where an open-flame lamp can be used with safety in non-gaseous mines, the acetylene light adds materially to efficiency by its better illumination, and to safety for the numerous reasons given by Mr. Chance. The latter, however, lays chief stress on the value of the acetylene because of its non-fouling and non-obscuring effect on the atmosphere. Another important advantage over any other form of illumination is the clear, bright light projected at the point where the workman may look for danger. The better illumination materially safeguards the worker against obstacles over which he may stumble when traveling, and against dangers from falls of roof or of coal, weakness in timbering, and similar conditions. The acetylene lamp, where it may be used with safety, has advantages even over the present electric cap lamp, in that it gives a higher luminosity; and when the miner comes to learn its signals, as he will in time, just as he learns those given by the open-flame or the safety lamp, he will find that the acetylene lamp is a fair detector not only of methane but of carbon dioxide, as clearly shown by Mr. Chance. The only, serious objection, raised against the use of carbide lamps. has been recently in Pennsylvania, due to the belief of the State Mine Inspection Department that it endangered miners working on pillar work, or other places where carbon dioxide might accumulate, or where there is lack of sufficient ventilation, and because it was believed that the indications of the carbide lamp would not give the miner sufficient warning. On this point Mr. Chance has clearly shown the fallacies of the objections. I may add that for those unable to detect carbon dioxide with the acetylene lamp, the maximum of protection would be afforded by using an open oil lamp or a flame safety lamp in such places; or, because the miner might not watch his oil light, a better, protection still would be offered by a sufficient number of daily inspections of such working places by a fire boss or other official, with flame safety lamp.

Jan 4, 1917

By PROCEEDINGS OF MEETINGS

THE opening session of the Institute was held at Hazle Hall, Tuesday evening, October 27th, with a large attendance of members. President Raymond called the Institute to order, and after a few introductory remarks, introduced Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, President of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and Honorary Member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Mr. Bell was received with great applause, and made his acknowledgments in a brief speech, of which the following is the substance: He desired to thank the Institute personally for the honor conferred upon him in his election to membership, and also for the invitation extended last year to the body of which he was President. The difficulty felt by many members of the Iron and Steel Institute, of leaving for a long journey the works of which they had charge, aggravated by special industrial troubles at the time of the invitation, had obliged them to conclude that it could not then be accepted in a fitting manner. The iron manufacture of this country is a subject of great interest to Englishmen, who look with pride upon the achievements on this side the water of the descendants of a common ancestry. His own reception in this country had far surpassed in cordiality even the well-grounded anticipations he had formed from the assurances of the President and other friends. Notwithstanding the flattering manner in which his friend, in introducing him to the Institute, had spoken of his contributions to the science of iron metallurgy, he could not take to himself alone the significance of this welcome. He knew it was a recognition of the services rendered by the body which he had the honor to represent; and he was glad to see present a member of that body, Mr. Thomas Whitwell, who had fortunately been able to make the journey at this time, and whom he had had the pleasure of meeting on the shores of Lake Champlain. He had been requested to say something of his impressions of the American iron industry. It was not easy to digest so soon the vast

Jan 1, 1875

By S. L. Hoyt

The writer has long been interested in seeking an explanation of the upper heat effect in the copper-tin alloys over the a + b range, first described in 1913. These notes are offered, not at all as the final explanation 'of this heat effect, but rather to indicate certain progress which has been made toward establishing what happens over this temperature interval. While working on the thermal analysis of the copper-rich kalchoids (copper-tin-zinc alloys), it was noted that those alloys containing major portions of tin and minor portions of zinc exhibited two marked heat effects, one at about 520' C. and the other at about 600" C., instead of the single effect which is generally observed in either of the two binary series. This matter was discussed with Dr. Guertler, who suggested that a heat effect at about 600" C. in the pure copper-tin alloys might be expected. This led to a more searching examination of the thermal critical points in the pure copper-tin alloys, with the result that a marked, although somewhat weak, heat effect was located at about 600. Somewhat later, this upper heat effect was discussed with Dr. Burgess, and it was requested that the Bureau of Standards make heating and cooling curves of one of these alloys for the purpose of removing any possible doubt as to the actual presence of the heat effect. Results obtained by the Bureau are given in Plate I. In an earlier paper1 differential curves were published showing that the heat effect occurred at constant temperature over the a + B range and increased in magnitude with the amount of B up to a point somewhat above 20 per cent. tin. No heat effect was noticed at this temperature in the eutectoid alloy. The existence of this heat effect seems to require a modification of the present copper-tin diagram in the a + B field, and it has been the object of the work here presented to secure the evidence upon which such a change should be based.

Jan 1, 1919

By Basil B. Zavoico

During 1938 the Russian oil industry, while able to increase its production 4.69 per cent above the preceding year, was not successful in correcting some of its basic difficulties, and the industry's position as it entered 1939 was unsatisfactory. The internal political difficulties of 1937 and 1938 took a toll in the oil industry as they did elsewhere in the U. S. S. R., further complicating the solution of the problems facing it, most important of which still remain: lack of experienced and responsible leadership, able to make quick decisions; undisciplined and migratory labor; and insufficient and often unsatisfactory quality of the various equipment needed by the industry and its ineffective distribution. Recent developments in the U. S. S. R. suggest that during 1939 the management will be granted more latitude and hence somewhat better results may be anticipated from the executive branch, provided, however, the "purges" do not recur. The labor should be better disciplined and should not shift as easily, owing to the introduction, at the close of 1938, of individual labor passports to all workers in the country, the principal purpose of which is to correct those two deficiencies. It is not anticipated, however, that the service of supply will show any appreciable improvement in 1939, partly because of inherent difficulties and partly because the manufacturers of heavy machinery are working primarily and necessarily for munitions. Production Production of crude oil during 1938 is estimated at 224,714,000 bbl., as compared with 212,742,000 bbl. in 1937, an increase of 4.69 per cent but 12.76 per cent below the planned output. While there were no major readjustments in the source of supply of crude oil, both the older districts, Baku and Grozny, were barely able to maintain their 1937 levels of production, the increased output being supplied primarily by the fields of Maikop and Ural Permian Basin districts. While exploration work was outstandingly successful in 1937, in 1938 no discoveries of any

Jan 1, 1939

By Basil B. Zavoico

During 1938 the Russian oil industry, while able to increase its production 4.69 per cent above the preceding year, was not successful in correcting some of its basic difficulties, and the industry's position as it entered 1939 was unsatisfactory. The internal political difficulties of 1937 and 1938 took a toll in the oil industry as they did elsewhere in the U. S. S. R., further complicating the solution of the problems facing it, most important of which still remain: lack of experienced and responsible leadership, able to make quick decisions; undisciplined and migratory labor; and insufficient and often unsatisfactory quality of the various equipment needed by the industry and its ineffective distribution. Recent developments in the U. S. S. R. suggest that during 1939 the management will be granted more latitude and hence somewhat better results may be anticipated from the executive branch, provided, however, the "purges" do not recur. The labor should be better disciplined and should not shift as easily, owing to the introduction, at the close of 1938, of individual labor passports to all workers in the country, the principal purpose of which is to correct those two deficiencies. It is not anticipated, however, that the service of supply will show any appreciable improvement in 1939, partly because of inherent difficulties and partly because the manufacturers of heavy machinery are working primarily and necessarily for munitions. Production Production of crude oil during 1938 is estimated at 224,714,000 bbl., as compared with 212,742,000 bbl. in 1937, an increase of 4.69 per cent but 12.76 per cent below the planned output. While there were no major readjustments in the source of supply of crude oil, both the older districts, Baku and Grozny, were barely able to maintain their 1937 levels of production, the increased output being supplied primarily by the fields of Maikop and Ural Permian Basin districts. While exploration work was outstandingly successful in 1937, in 1938 no discoveries of any

Jan 1, 1939