ber of the family of religions and Christian Scientists as a working and growing body of Christians.
   Under the heading "Christian Science in the Navy," the New York World on Tuesday, February 5, 1918, printed the following as an editorial:

    The appointment by Secretary Daniels of a Christian Scientist as a navy chaplain denotes a significant change in the public attitude toward the faith founded by Mrs. Eddy.
   Could such a selection of a spiritual adviser been conceived of in Dewey's navy? Christian Science then and long after was anathema to the regular religious denominations of the country. Legislation was invoked to restrain it, medical societies prosecuted the practitioners, and it was made to bear the brunt of powerful opposition everywhere. Now the government gives it full recognition and accords its readers an equal status with the ministers of other creeds. Beside the navy chaplain, there are two Christian Science chaplains in the army.
   So have the old antagonisms subsided and the earlier intolerance given way under the spirit of religious freedom. History has repeated itself once more, and the new kirk fought its way to a place alongside the old kirk. It has been an interesting process, and the outcome is notable as an illustration of the liberalizing tendencies of modern opinion, whether religious or political.


AK-SAR-BEN OF OMAHA. Famed the country over for its novelty, its interest, and the work it accomplishes, this order, if such it may be called, is mystical in its workings, and yet clear in purpose.
   "Ak-sar-ben" is Nebraska, spelled backwards, and was founded in 1895 by a small number of business men of Omaha, for the purpose of welding the diverse interests of the city into one great organization for the advancement of Omaha, and for the special purpose of cultivating harmonious relationship and friendship for both those within and without the gates of the city. Its object has been more than realized, and each year has witnessed a closer coöperation between the people of the city and those in the territory tributary to it.
   The direction of the organization is vested in a board of twelve governors, elected by the members, and serving gratuitously for a period of four years. The expense of the organization is borne through a membership charge and through direct contributions by all the business houses of the city. The season's expenditures are approximately $100,000.
   From June until September, regular "Monday Nights" are held at the "Den," a large auditorium of peculiar construction, owned by the organization. These initiations are spectacular and of a theatrical nature, each year presenting a special theme around which the work revolves. The participants in the Monday entertainments, usually consisting of from one to two hundred in number, are chosen from the ranks of the membership and donate their services as a part of the loyal support that is everywhere shown within the order. The Monday night performances are attended by the regular paid members and by visitors to tile city. Every convention held in the city is so arranged that its opening date is fixed for Monday. The accredited hotels, also contributing members of the organization, are allowed to issue non-resident tickets to their guests, whilst special excursions are run every Monday night from some of the tributary cities within a radius of two hundred miles of Omaha. The attendance at these meetings ranges from two to three thousand people. A dozen or so of the visitors usually run the gauntlet of the initiatory work and form fitting food and fun for those in attendance. At the close of the meeting, representative speakers from the visitors are called upon to make a little "talk," whilst some able orator from the ranks of the Knights themselves makes a fitting reply, after which a buffet luncheon is served, and at the conclusion the visitors are furnished special street cars to carry them to the heart of the city.
   The season's gayety at the "Den" is concluded with "Carnival Week," during which two daylight parades are given, consisting of specially decorated floats, whilst a gorgeous electrical night parade follows thereafter, formed of some twenty or more spectacularly designed and lighted floats with out-riders exemplifying the theme and subject of the year.

Omaha was the first city in the United States to utilize electricity in the illumination of floats.
   The festivities of the season culminate with a grand ball, held at the "Den." This is looked forward to as the society event of the season. Two hundred Knights in gay armor lead the opennig (sic) march, heralding the approach and entry of the queen and her retinue of attendants. The queen is usually chosen from the debutantes of the season, her identity being strictly withheld from everyone up to the moment she enters upon her march to the throne, where she is joined by the king, chosen anew each year from some of the prominent men of the city. The Ak-Sar-Ben ball is always looked forward to as the great event of the year, and with its coronation features and grand setting, is very beautiful.
   What characterizes the work of Ak-Sar-Ben more than anything else is the loyalty and enthusiasm accorded it by the entire city of Omaha, and the tribute paid it by adjacent cities. It not only has created a spirit of friendship and good-will amongst its own membership, but it has showered its benign influence upon the people throughout our state, who have in turn copied its precepts and teachings, and they have inculcated the same spirit of cohesion and friendly spirit amongst (sic) themselves. Hence, it is not only a benefactor for Omaha, but for the state as well. Past kings have grown gray in its service with never changing loyalty. Never were kings of old more faithful to their subjects than the much honored though democratic kings of the realms of Ak-Sar-Ben. Selected anew each year, they yet are kings to Omaha forevermore, whilst their faithful subjects from the ranks, the real workers of the year, sacrificing their time and energy season after Season, are ever ready to begin the work again, knowing full well that their efforts mean a Greater Omaha spirit.
   The progress which Omaha has exhibited of late years towards a quickened spirit and wonderful growth, has been marvelous, and whilst its geographical position, its virile people, its golden grain, its enormous live stock industry, and the natural heritage of wealth with which the Creator endowed it, are all contributing factors to its success, yet the school of loyalty begun in the old days of panic and adversity, by that little band of loyal Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, has now matriculated into an order, most unique, a part of the fiber of the city itself, exerting a greater influence as years roll by, making possible the fraternal and cohesive spirit so strongly characteristic of the people of Omaha today, and known now throughout the United States as the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben.
   Its officers for the present year, 1917-1918, are: President, E. Buckingham; vice president, Gould Dietz; secretary, J. D. Weaver; treasurer, Chas. L. Saunders; board of governors, Chas. D. Beaton, C. E. Black, George Brandeis, Randall K. Brown, E. Buckingham, Gould Dietz, W. B. T. Belt, W. D. Hosford, F. W. Judson, L. C. Nash, J. DeF. Richards, C. L. Saunders.
   Following is a list of the kings and queens since the organization of the society:

   1895 E. M. Bartlett and Meliora Woolworth Fairfield.
   1896 Casper E. Yost and Mae Dundy Lee.
   1897 Edward Porter Peck and Gertrude Kountze Stewart.
   1898 Robert S. Wilcox and Grace Allen Clarke.
   1899 William D. McHugh and Ethel Morse.
   1900 Fred A. Nash and Mildred Lomax.
   1901 Henry J. Penfold and Edith Smith Day.
   1902 Thomas A. Fry and Ella Cotton Magee.
   1903 Fred Metz and Bessie Grady Davis.
   1904 Charles H. Pickens and Ada Kirkendall Wharton.
   1905 Gurdon W. Wattles and Mary Lee McShane Hosford.
   1906 Gould Dietz and Margaret Wood Cranmer.
   1907 Victor B. Caldwell and Natalie Merriam Millard.
   1909 Will L. Yetter and Brownie Bess Baum Rouse.
   1909 Arthur C. Smith and Jean Cudahy Wilhelm.
   1910 Everett Buckingham and Frances Nash.
   1911 Joseph Barker and Elizabeth Davis.
   1912 Thomas C. Byrne and Elizabeth Pickens Patterson.
   1913 Charles E. Black and Elizabeth Congdon Forgan.
   1914 Charles D. Beaton and Frances Hochstetler Daugherty.
   1915 Ward M. Burgess and Marian Howe.
   1916 John Lee Webster and Mary Megeath.
   1917 W. D. Hosford and Elizabeth Reed.

   DEVELOPMENT OF THE POTASH INDUSTRY IN NEBRASKA. The name "potash" is of comparatively recent origin and is derived from the fact that the potassiferous solution from

wood ashes was boiled down or concentrated in pots. The most important source of its supply has been the region near Strassfurt, in Prussia, where two minerals containing potassic compounds have been found in abundance and mined on a large scale. From these potassiferous compounds all the various salts of potash used in the arts are manufactured, and it has been by using the potash salts obtained at Strassfurt that the Chile saltpeter (nitrate of soda) is converted into common saltpeter, a substance important as the principal ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder. Potash compounds are also numerous and of great importance in the arts.
   The potash industry of Nebraska, originating with some small shipments of alkali crusts collected from the shores of McCarthy lake, in Morrill county, and shipped to Omaha, represents an investment and value of several million dollars. The potash area containing the producing lakes extends about thirty miles north and south and between twenty and thirty east and west, and production at the present time is confined to Sheridan, Garden, and Morrill counties. The district is in what is known as the sand hill region, and occupies nearly equal areas north and south of the C., B. & Q. railroad. Lakes with more or less of potash occur in other counties, but of all discovered, at least seventy-five are known to contain potash in paying quantities. The lakes occur in two physiographic regions; the table lands, such as Box Butte table, on the sand hills, but mostly in the bottom. The presence of the railroad has in a great degree rendered possible the advantageous prosecution of the industry. Towns such as Hoffland, Antioch, and Lakeside mark the principal locations of the potash plants. A few of the lakes have an area of 600 or more acres, while others are mere ponds, and alkali and fresh lakes are found side by side. The strong water is called brine, and in determining the value of brines, two things stand out prominently; the percentage of soluble salts and the percentage of K₂O in the salts.
   The brines contain compounds, principally of potassium and sodium, and traces of magnesium; calcium, iron, etc. The compounds are principally sulphates, carbonates, and chlorates. The relative amounts of sodium and potash vary considerably in the potash region. By the percentage of potash is meant the per cent in the water, or in the solids of the water. For example, a brine running 16 per cent solids and 28 per cent of that as potash (K₂O) would be reported: potash 28, or as potash, 4.44. Both of these are correct, but they refer, in the one case, to the solids, and in the other, to the water and salts combined.
   The following compounds occur in the alkali lakes of Nebraska, but in varying proportions:

   Potassium carbonate, K₂CO₃ -- called pearl ash.
   Potassium bi-carbonate, KHCO₃.
   Sodium carbonate, Na₂CO₃ -- called soda ash.
   Sodium bi-carbonate, NaHCO₃ -- called cooking soda.
   Calcium carbonate, CaCO₃ -- called lime.
   Potassium sulphate, K₂SO₄.
   Sodium sulphate, Na₂SO₄ -- called Glaubersalts.
   Magnesium sulphate MgSO₄ -- called Epsom salts.
   Calcium sulphate CaSO₄ -- called gypsum.
   Potassium chloride, KCl -- called sylvite.
   Sodium chloride, NaCl -- called halite or common salt.

   Usually the brines of producing lakes contain about equal percentages of potash and soda salts. A sample collected from a well in Jesse lake contained the following:

the west. This seepage supply, though constant or nearly so, is most in evidence as a rule, in fall and spring. The water entering some lakes, passes out at once. In others it is held back by a sand dam, or by the natural form of the basin. In case the water is retained, the principal loss is through solar evaporation which becomes very heavy in the summer time. It is safe to state that about five feet of water would evaporate from one of these lake surfaces in a year.
   The alkali solutions are concentrated by evaporation. Alkali lakes deposit salts in their beds as the water lowers. This gives a fringe or belt of incrustations (sic), the color of which varies from white to yellowish.
   The methods used in leasing potash lakes and oil lands are similar. The work is done by private parties, or by the representatives of promoters who expect to turn the leases to some company, or by the operators themselves. In either case the person going to the field supplies himself with information concerning the ranch owners, and the names and locations of lakes. He visits the owners and urges the desirability of leasing according to his terms. The leases bind the lessor and lessee to a number of conditions relating to testing, erection of a plant, pumping, etc.
   As most potash is derived from the beds of lakes, that is, from the sub-surface, it is the practice to test out the waters below the lakes proper. This is done by putting down wells fifteen to forty feet by drilling. At first the production of the brine was from lake waters, but now the principal production is from the sub-surface sands. Production is by pumping and the brines are delivered to the reduction plants through pipe lines. High suction pumps are required to remove the brine. From 100 to 200 wells are connected with each pump.. The pumping is done by motor-driven or gas engines. Pipe lines lead from the producing lakes to relay stations, and thence to the reduction works; some of them are wood, wrapped with heavy wire, and about six inches in diameter. The brines are treated in reduction plants.
   The evaporation of brine is the main process in potash production. It requires extensive equipment and about seventy-five percent of the coal consumed in a plant.
   In its simplest form, evaporation is done in open pans and by the use of direct heat. This method, used by small operators, is slow and wasteful of fuel.
   The large plants use multiple evaporators -- in double and triple effect. The evaporators are operated part under pressure and part under vacuum. Each evaporator consists of a steam chest, a liquid circulating space and a vapor space. Live steam enters the chest of the first body in the series and causes the brine to boil. The vapor given off in this evaporator is carried to the second body and so on through the series. The boiling point becomes lower in each succeeding evaporator. This is due to vacuum brought about by means of a pump and condenser.
   In most plants the brines are evaporated to some extent by the use of solar towers. The condensation of vapor in the last effect or effects is produced by pumping water through a condenser, from which it goes to the cooling tower or to a spray pond. The tower is essentially one of the effects.
   The Potash Reduction Plant, the first in the field, is at Hoffland, eleven miles east of Alliance, and has by changes and improvements developed works costing many thousands of dollars. Mr. John H. Show deserves credit for inaugurating the enterprise. Associated with him was Mr. Carl Modesitt, a graduate of the State University. Messrs. T. E. Stevens, W. H. Austinberg, Hon. William A. Redick, and Dr. H. Reinbolt, financed the field examination and the erection of the first plant. Messrs. V. I. Jeep and C. C. Denny, former University students, were also associated with the company. This plant represents an investment of between $500,000 and $600,000, and an output of about eighty tons a day.
   The Hord Alkali Products Company operates at Lakeside and has large holdings of ranch lands, on which are its ponds and lakes. The plant itself cost more than $200,000 and has a capacity of about fifty tons a day. Its offices are at Central City. Heber Hord is

president and W. E. Richardson, manager. Its output is shipped principally to southern states for use in the manufacture of fertilizers.
   The American Potash Company is located at Antioch. Its office is in Omaha. Its president is Arthur English and A. J. Dunbar is superintendent. Its capacity is about eighty tons a day, and its total production for 1917 was sold to the American Agricultural Chemical Company.. It is capitalized at $250,000.
   The Nebraska Potash Works Company is also located at Antioch, and has pipe lines extending to various lakes.
   The Alliance Potash Company, at Antioch, is owned chiefly by the Krause Bros. and Alliance people, and is said to be the most modern plant in that region. Its central office is in Alliance and the plant has a capacity of 100 tons, or more, a day.
   The Western Potash Company is capitalized at about $500,000 and holds valuable leases. It has erected a very modern plant at Antioch. Its central office is in Lincoln and W. E. Sharp is its president.
   The National Potash Company contemplates the erection of a plant at Antioch with a capacity of 100 tons a day.
   The cost of production of the potash varies in the different localities, and is difficult of definite ascertainment. The mean average of the cost of production is said to be $30 per ton, or more. Before the European war, most of the fertilizer potash used in the United States came, as indicated above, from Germany. As this supply decreased, the price of the domestic product greatly advanced. Nebraska potash now sells at $4.50 or more per unit, a unit meaning one per cent of potash (K₂O) in a ton in the material marketed that is, a product carrying 28% K₂O may be sold at $4.50 a unit, which would be $126 a ton for the material marketed. The reduction companies pay the freight.
   The high price of potash has been a great incentive to the development of the industry in Nebraska. Without this the industry would not be in its present condition. Most of the producers are deeply concerned regarding future prices.
   Nebraska produces about seventy-five per cent of the entire potash output of the United States, and with the exception of Searles Lake, in California, is the only place in this country where potash is produced from alkali lakes.