INDUSTRIAL
6
AND ENGINEERING
A LETTER FROM W. A. NOYES Urbana, 111., January 2G, 1923 Mr. H. E. "Howe, Editor, Industrial and Kngineering Chemistry, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR:
Any discussion of the letter of our Secretary published in the News Edition for January 20th. should begin with the statement t h a t the American Chemical Society gives to its members more valuable publications a t a lower cost t h a n a n y other scientific organization in t h e world. The most pertinent comparisons are with the combined publications of the London Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical Industry, or with the Berichte and Zentralblatt, published by the German Chemical Society. The dues of the two English societies are, together, about $25. those for the Berichte and Zentralblatt, $23, in comparison with our dues of $15. Having achieved such a splendid result we must be careful that any changes we suggest, are pretty sure t o improve t h a t which Ave have and not injure our efficiency. Our Secretary states t h a t "145 per cent of the membership dues are spent in printing a n d circulating chemical information and literature." The following analysis of the budget for 1923 seems to me to give a much fairer view of our income and expenditures: iNCOMIv
Dues, subscriptions, back numbers, reprints and postage, net Interest Advertising, net. . Total.
$207,000
5,400 64,500 $270,900
EXPENSES
$47,000 Journals, J. A. C. S 05,000 C. A 74,000 J. I. E. C Administration: Secretary, Treas, Près Publicity Local Sections Employment, general meetings, incidentals, etc.. Total
'
210,000 26,400 18,140 8,500 7,750 $276,790
From the above it is seen t h a t 98 per cent of the cost of our Journals is paid for by dues, subscriptions and the interest on a surplus of somewhat more than $100,000 which has been derived chiefly from dues paid in the past. This certainly gives an impression quite different from that created by the statement of our Secretary. The purpose of our Society is " t h e advancement of chemistry and the promotion of chemical research." In the further development of our activities we ought to be sure that we emphasize those activities which will contribute most to t h a t end. In a n address given before a number of our local sections in 1920 I said t h a t America, if she will, may become t h e foremost nation in the world in the development of chemistry. I pointed out t h a t the most important factor which caused Germany to far out-rank a n y other nation in chemical development, in 1914, was t h e laboratory of Liebig a t Giesen and the spirit of research which spread from t h a t laboratory throughout the universities, and, later, through the industrial laboratories of Germany. If we are to succeed, wre must build in the same way in America. We have already made a splendid beginning, but we have only to compare our chemical journals with the Berichte, Zentralblatt, Annalen, Zeitschrift fur analytische, physikalische, anorganische, u. Allgemeine, and biologische Chemie and many other chemical journals published in Germany to see that we are still very far behind that country in this field. I do not believe t h a t many of our members engaged in the industrial development of chemistry in America are unwilling to give adequate support to t h e Journal of the American Chemical Society. Some of them seem t o forget, howrever, that the research work published in t h a t Journal represents an expenditure of literally millions of dollars each year in the support of such work in our colleges, universities and other institutions. Many hundreds of men and women are doing the work which gives these papers, some of them students paying their own expenses, others, men who must devote a large p a r t of their energies to
CHEMISTRY
News Edition
earning their living by other means and who carry on their work in time which others give to recreation. The results of this vast amount of work are given us freely for publication, b u t instead of showing a little appreciation, some of our memhers seem to think we are doing these men a great favor when we publish their papers. I cannot believe that such a point of view can stand a sober second thought. I believe, also, t h a t we can depend on our Society and on the chemical industries of our country for an adequate support of our Journals. Very sincerely, \V. A. N O Y E S
THE SECRETARY'S REPLY January 29, 1923 Mr. H . E . H o w e , Editor, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Washington.. D. C. DEAR S I R :
Dr. W. A. Noyes has sent me a copy of his letter of January 26 to you, which he has requested you to publish in the February 10 issue of the News Edition, and asks that I comment thereon. The statement of mine which Dr. Noyes quotes is entirely correct and the percentage is even larger for 1923. On the other hand, percentage statements are apt to mean little. Dr. Noyes' figure of "98 per cent of the cost of our journals" is quite incorrect, for the "cost of our journals" is not simply the $216,000 which he uses. Fully one-half of the figure of $26,400 which he puts under administration should be charged to journals as the care of mailing list, sales of current numbers, handling of Fubscriptions. reprints, postage, etc., arc just as much a part of the cost of the "journals" as the income therefrom is a part of the total income. Other items also would be included in a n y accountant's summary. The surplus is due to the efficient business management of the Directors and to the income increase not only of dues b u t also as follows. 1906 1922 vSubscriptions from $1,501.35 to $21,292.48 Back Numbers 326.73 to 6,139.44 Postage 0.00 to 4,226.23 Advertising 1,457.40 to *58,000.00 (*The final results are $8,000.00 more than the estimated amount in my printed communication of January 20.) It is a simple matter to obtain percentage figures which give almost any impression t h a t one desires, often quite false, as, for example, the statement t h a t our net advertising receipts in 1906 were 6.3 per cent of our total expenditures and in 1922, 19.8 per cent. The actual net income of $1,457.40 in 1906 and $58,000.60 in 1922 is much more useful. The Secretary made every effort to state clearly in his previous communication, t h a t t h e Directors wrere fully aware t h a t t h e purpose of our Society is "the advancement of chemistry and the promotion of chemical research." They have always allotted ali they could possibly give to the publication of research a n d pure science. They declined in the latter part of 1921 to cut the Industrial Journal more t h a n the cut of 10% made on each of the other journals in order to publish the new Formula Index. To cut the Industrial Journal in excess meant a large loss in income, as well as injustice to our industrial members. The Directors have gone to the extreme limit of financial safety in allotting funds for the publication of pure science. This is amply proven by the following table taken from the original documents indicating the amounts asked for by the editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society for his budget; the funds actually allotted to him by the Directors; and the funds wrhich he actually used under the allotment : Total Funds Requested by Editor 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922
$25,000.00 29,900.00 32,100.00 50,100.00 49,700.00
Allotted by Directors
Actually Used
$24,800.00 29,900.00 32,100.00 50,600.00 49,700.00
$20,583.14 27,102.97 45,241.50 47,963.82 47,140.15
It will at once be apparent t h a t t h e editor of the Journal oj the A merican Chemical Society has obtained all he has asked for, and more, up to the end of 1922. I n 1920 t h e Directors were
February
10,1923
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING
forced to greatly increase the b u d g e t on account of the printing costs, which they did -without cutting down t h e pages. I n 3922 there were 3000 pa^es a s k e d for originally which were temporarily c u t .10%, t h e same a s Chemical Abstracts and t h e Journal of Industrial and E?igi?ieering Chemistry b u t almost immediately the allotment was increased so that OJ(>8 pages were printed and t h e full original allotment asked for was given. Jt is true that t h e 1923 budget requests were received $22,000.00 in excess of estimated total income, and the Directors felt it again necessary to limit their expenditures near to the funds they expected to receive. Even on this basis the Journal of the American Chemical Society was allotted an increase of $1900.00 over the expenditure of 1922. The Secretary has been very anxious to avoid all polemic discussion a n d confine himself t o a simple statement of facts, but he cannot allow το go iiiiansvv-ereil t h e published expression of opinion t h ^ t the Dïrectuis h a v e been inconsiderate of t h e proper demands of the pure science of our organization Sincerely yours,
CHEMISTRY
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January Census of Imports Ready Soon The January census of chemical imports will be published, probably by the 10th of February, according to t h e statement of C. C. Concannon, acting chief o'i the chemical division of the Bureau of Foreign a n d Domestic Commerce. Mr. Concannon was in New York on February 2 and completed arrangements for publishing this material which lias been collected in cooperation with the customs bureau. It is estimated that information concerning 9 0 % of the chemicals from foreign countries passing through t h e customs office in January will be made public. Mr._ Concannon said that t h e census will be mimeographed and distributed to persons interested.
GERMAN AND SWISS INDUSTRIES SUFFER
CKARLES L. PARSONS,
Secretary
URGE INDUSTRY TO TAKE HAND IN SHOW
R u h r O c c u p a t i o n b y F r e n c h R e s t r i c t s S u p p l i e s of R a w M a t e r i a l s t o Dye M a k e r s Both the German and Swiss dye industries have been affected by t h e French occupation of the Ruhr valley, nrrording t o t h e statement of W. N. Wa'tson of the U. S. Tariff Commission. The French military operation of the German mines, which is for t h e purpose of supplying France with coke, necessarily restricts the raw materials going to the German industries. Inasmuch as the Swiss have been largely dependent on Germany for crudes a n d interniediates their d\v output is alTected. T h e Swiss, however, may do as they did during the war a n d obtain intermediates necessary for their industry from Knglaiid. The situation naturally reduces the volume of dyes coming into the United States to compete with American dyes. M r . Watson also stated t h a t while the Germans have captured most of the Far Kast dye market, American manufacturers are alloting a few tons of dyes a t as frequent intervals as possible to b e sent to the F a r East a t cheap prices so that their German coin]3etitors may not build up an exclusive trade a t high prices in order to give them a fund with which to combat'the American industry later on.
The chemical industry is u r g e d to t a k e part in the management of the National Chemical exposition and exercise control over the allotment of space, the nature of exhibits, t h e program and ticket distribution, in the report of t h e exposition committee of the Salesmen's Association of t h e American Chemical Industry. The report, made after three months of study, is submitted with t h e request that t h e Salesmen's Association receive and support it. Members of the committee are: William Haynes, chairman; George M . Dunning, J. Wrench, A. C. Kalbfleisch, Walter Coff and John W. Hover, ex-ofïïcio. The following points are offered as fundamental considerations by the. committee: " T o win again the support of the industry, i t must take part in t h e show management and exercise control especially over the allotment of space, the n a t u r e of t n e exhibits, t h e program, and the ticket distribution. " T o make the exposition a t r u l y national chemical meeting COCHRAN TO MANAGE CONVENTION and market-place, a congress of scientific, and trade consuming An experiment in the manner of conducting the semi-annual associations must be held and s o guarantee t h e attendance of meetings of the American Chemical Society that is attracting many desirable visitors. the attention of the local sections is being· made in Milwaukee " T o carry on the logical purpose of educational work t o the with appointment of T. Harry Cochran as Convention Manager. public, students, and chemical consumers a constructive execuMr. Cochran will ha\re entire charge of all arrangements in tive program muse be worked o u t . " connection with the Autumn Meeting to be held in Milwaukee, September 10-14, and all workers will be directly responsible The question of whether t h e industry could be served better to him. Mr Cochran's appointment of Committees will be by a cooperative show or one managed by a private cooperaiion made at an early date. Mr. Cochran is proprietor of the Cochfor profit was carefully studied by the committee. This study ran Laboratorie s and has been a member of the Milwaukee led t o the formulation of several questions which were submitted Section since its inception. to F . J. Payne, president of t h e International [Exposition Com—WM. H. KLOPPENBURCÎ, Chai'-man Convention Publicity Com. pany, who replied in a manner satisfactory t o the committee.
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