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EDITORIALS CHEMISTS AND THE COUNTRY’S CRISIS On February 5th President Stieglitz sent t h e following telegram t o President Wilson:
AMERICA FOR AMERICANS On February I , 1917, Germany began, without advance notice, t h e ruthless U-boat warfare on all merchantmen. This latest policy led t o our severPRESIDENT WILSON,T h e W h i t e House, Washingtoiz ance of diplomatic relations with t h a t country. With The American Chemical Society, with over eight thousand the conviction t h a t events of t h e near future will members, begs to place its services a t your command, espe- inevitably draw us into active participation in t h e cially in matters facilitating preparations of munitions, supplies, great world conflict, we have begun t o clear our decks medicinal remedies, and other chemical materials. for action. Our representatives in Congress, laying (Signed) JELIES STIEGLITZ, aside all partisan feelings, have rightly stood squarely President, American Chemical Society behind our President. Hundreds of millions have been I n reply t h e following acknowledgment was received: appropriated for t h e navy a n d t h e a r m y and for coast defense. Every effort is being made t o coordinate all THE WHITEHOUSE,U’ASHINGTOS elements of national strength and t o insure maximum T h e President deeply appreciates your very gsiterous a i d patri- efficiency in all lines when t h e fated d a y arrives. otic proffer of your services, and he wishes iia this informal z a y to I n these busy days of “setting our house in order,” express his grateful thanks. there has been one abhorrent neglect. There still On February I j t h Secretary Charles L. Parsons, remains upon our statutes in Section j o ~of t h e Dyestuff Section of t h e General Revenue law a n escepsent t h e following letter t o t h e Secretary of War: tion whereby t h e following classes of coal-tar comHos. NEWTON D. BAKER,Secretary of W a r , Washington pounds are relieved from the special d u t y of j cents Professor Julius Stieglitz, President of the American Chemical per pound: “natural and synthetic alizarin and dyes Society, on behalf of the Society, requests me to offer to you, or obtained from alizarin, anthracene a n d carbazol, to any of the Bureaus of the War Department, any assistance natural and synthetic indigo and all indigoids whether or which the Society can render in the present international com- not obtained from indigo, a n d medicinals and flavors.’’ plications. The Society now has nearly nine thousand members T o t h e average citizen-doubtless, indeed, t o t h e covering all branches of chemical industry in all sections of the ai-erage congressman-the enumeration of these peculiar country. They are organized into forty-nine local sections. The American Chemical Society, its local sections, ayd, we be- sounding chemical terms has little significance, b u t lieve, its individual members are a t your service. I t is already t o those who have follon-ed closely the steps leading represented by two of its prominent members on the Xaval t o this enactment t h e clause has a sinister meaning. Consulting Board, who are at liberty t o call on the Society for Kherever t h e full measure of protection, both a d any assistance which the Navy may require. We are equally valorem and special vias accorded these dyestuffs there anxious that the War Department shall feel that the chemists of has been remarkableindustrial activity and development ; this country represented by the American Chemical Society are where i t was withheld, as in t h e excepted lines menplaced at your service and your command, especially in matters tioned above, growth has been seriously hampered facilitating the preparation of munitions, supplies, medicinal and in many cases completely prevented. Yet every remedies and other chemical materials. new coal-tar dyestuff plant erected adds one more (Signed) CHAS.L. PARSOIS. unit t o t h e list of factories which can be quickly conSecretary, American Chemical Society verted in time of war t o munitions plants for t h e I n this grave period of our country’s history, t h e prompt manufacture of coal-tar high explosives. chemists of America pledge t o President Ffrilson Furthermore, and of greatest importance, each such their undivided loyalty and untiring service. Our new plant would house operatives, foremen, superorganization bears t h e proud title, “ T h e iimerican intendents and chemists who could serve as trained Chemical Society,” and whatever America’s call m a y nuclei for larger groups in high explosives manube its chemists s t a n d ready t o respond. facture : this contention has been abundantly a t Much has been said a n d written within t h e last tested in public legislative hearings a n d in press act w o years of t h e important r6le of t h e chemist in mod- counts of t h e present activities of German dyestuff ern warfare a n d t h e thought, broadened t o include plants. Must our public interest be sacrificed, therenormal conditions, has gained firm lodgment in t h e fore, b y t h e retention of this excepting clause in our national consciousness! bringing American chemists dyestuff legislation? A thousand times we say, “ N O ” ! a n d t h e American people into closer and more cordial Every patriotic impulse demands t h a t this clause, relationship. T h e thought carries with it no undue which has stamped upon its face in scarlet letters elation b u t rather a sober realization of t h e responsi- t h e words “Special Privilege,” be removed from our bilities which must be worthily met, responsibilities statutes. T h e wording of t h a t clause was never bearing not only upon t h e direct production of muni- suggested b y American chemical manufacturers. It tions and of other necessities for both t h e a r m y and was stricken b y t h e Senate from t h e original House t h e n a v y b u t also upon t h e efficient operation of all legislation a t t h e earnest solicitation of American industrial processes which will conserve t o t h e utmost manufacturers b u t it was restored t o t h e bill at t h e t h e resources of our land, t h e food a n d raiment of insistence of t h e House representatives in t h e Conour people and t h e vigor of our race. ference Committee. T o be more specific, only one I n this spirit we offer our services. consumer has asked for special favors as t o these
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excepted lines. namely 11r. Caesar Cone of Greensboro, 1.C., or whoever he m a y represent, while only one member of Congress has made public defense of t h e measure, namely N r . Claude Kitchin of S o r t h Carolina, t h e Chairman of t h e House TT‘ays a n d Means Committee. Have M e s s r s . Cone and Kitchin a n y right willfully t o restrict t h e number of potential munitions plants in this country in such a crisis as is nom- upon us? Such abuse of personal influence a n d of legislative power carries with i t possibilities of national shortage TThich no men who l o r e their country should be willing t o assume, much less t o struggle for. If l l r . Kitchin thinks we give him too much blame for t h e responsibility of this legislation we invite him t o t h e test, a n d ive confidently predict t h a t if he will signify his assent t o t h e remora1 of this excepting clause it will be swept from o u r statutes. I t is not t o o late for this gra\re defect t o be remedied, though t h e ne\T revenue measure has passed t h e House a n d is now before t h e Senate. Even a t t h e very last moment in t h e Conference Committee, which will be necessitated by t h e Senate amendments t o t h e House bill, a n amendment striking out this obnoxious clause can be inserted b y agreement of t h e conferees. 1Xr. Kitchin. we invite you t o t h e test, a test which calls for no increased appropriations b u t which has as its essence L‘Almerica for Americans”1 T h e gold brick character of this dyestuff legislation was sufficiently evident a t t h e time of its enactment. Recent developments, however, have shown t h a t a n even more cunning h a n d was a t work in t h e wording of this excepting clause t h a n vie thought. This story we wrote for t h e “Annual Review” of t h e Kew York Jotivnal of Co?nmerce. We reproduce i t here:
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CHEMICAL LEGISLATION; NOT WISE BUT OTHERWISE
If a poll were taken of the dyestuff consumers in the United States as to-what is a n “indigoid. . . . . . n o t obtained from indigo”-how many could answer the question definitely? To put the case stronger-if a similar test were made of the almost nine thousand members of the American Chemical Society, would the result be different from t h a t of the consumers’ poll? During the past week I have asked five of the most prominent American dyestuff chemists for an answer and failed t o receive i t ; yet the above quoted words are from the dyestuff section of the general revenue bill, Jvhich is now the law governing duties on imported dyestufls. These statements sound somewhat academic, but on last Saturday, January 27th, I received a communication from a reliable source, which justifies the statement that there is good ground t o believe t h a t when the next shipment of foreign dyestuffs is received in this country, possibly- on the Deutschland, if she arrives, effort Tvill be made t o have the sulfur colors, such as sulfur black, etc., relieved of the payment of the j cents per pound special duty on the ground of the exception in the General Rerenue Bill which excludes from the special duty on finished dyestuffs “all indigoids whether or not obtained from indigo.” The basis of this effort will be the classification of dyestuffs in Nietzki’s “Die Chemie der Organischen Farbstoffe,” fifth edition. The apparently harmless little phrase “whether or not obtained from indigo” has escaped attention. I am free t o say it “got by” me, though I h a r e spoken and written often about t h e injustice to the American dyestuff manufacturer resulting from the similar exception of indigo and alizarin in the same section of the bill. The successful outcome, however, of a n
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effort to bring in sulfur colors under this title frce of special duty would prove something of a shock to the many American manufacturers of sulfur colors who have gone so heavily into this line of manufacture because they believed they had the protection of both the ad valorem and the special duty. This is the joker in the dyestuff legislation. \Tho is responsible for this joker? Certainly not American chemists. They are deeply concerned in the upbuilding of an American dyestuff industry and have unanimously urged t h a t all coal-tar finished dyestuffs be given uniform tarifi protection. \Tho n-as so clever in the use of masked phrases which may include sulfur colors along with indigo, alizarin, etc., in the exceptions to the special duty of 5 cents per pound? Certainly not those members of Congress who amused themselves a t the heart-breaking efforts of the reading clerks to pronounce the names of the various coal-tar crudes, intermediates and finished dyestuffs contained in the several sections of the bill. Who, then, advised blr. Kitchin, the chairman of the House n‘ays and hleans Committee, and in charge of the bill, as to the wording of t h a t exception which he alone attempted t o defend cuttlefishly in debate-an exception which the Senate later rejected but which, according to published statements, he insisted upon to the last in the Conference Committee and succeeded in having restored to the bill in the closing hours of Congress? These are not questions which can be lightly brushed aside. T h e distress of our industries resulting from the cessation of importations of foreign dyestuffs aroused the country t o the necessity of a home production of these substances, especially when it was realized t h a t we possessed a superabundance of the crude material, coal tar, from which synthetic dyestuffs are made. For the first time, I believe, in the history of our Government, manufacturers and consumers united in urging such tariff legislation as would enable the industry during its early stages to get a fair start and would prevent it being crushed, in case of t h e early ending of the European war, b y an inrush of importations from the old and thoroughly established German dyestuff industry. I said “manufacturers and consumers united.” T h a t is not quite correct, for a careful reading of all the publicdocuments bearing on this legislation shows that one and only one consumer asked for special farors as t o the dyestuffs included in the exception in the bill. T h a t one consumer was Caesar Cone of S o r t h Carolina, as shown in the printed briefs and hearings before the subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee in charge of this section of the general revenue bill. The subcommittee rejected the plea of N r . Cone, struck from the bill the objectionable exception, logically adcled coal-tar photographic chemicals, medicinals and flavors, and in this form the bill was passed by the Senate, ideal in its classification from the American manufacturer’s standpoint and untainted b y any special privilege. What necessities of the situation demanded that in the Conference Committee the views of the Senate based upon full hearings should give way to the restoration of the “exception”? Certainly it was no question of raising revenue, for the exception included those dyes which have since been imported to some extent and on every pound of which the government ha5 lost j cents revenue. lloreover, there will be a further loss of j cents per pound on all sulfur colors if the Board of Alppraisers admit the contention t h a t these belong in the class of indigoids “not derived from indigo.” I n a normal year, such as 1913-14, j cents special duty on the poundage of these excepted dyestuffs would have been more than three-quarters of a million dollars, a tidy sum in these Government “H. C. I,.”days. What can be done t o remedy the situation? Plainly nothing in the House, for the new sections of the General Revenue Bill have just passed t h a t body and no reference is made therein t o dyestuffs. May we not hope, however-all of us who believe in wholesome legislation-that the Senate will again place
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in the bill its classifications of last year and, having replaced them, stand by them to the end in the Conference Committee?
If Caesar Cone represents himself alone in this matter he has too much injuence. How i s if that he alone can negative a nation-wide demand f o r a complete American dyestuj industry? If he represents others will he or Mr. Kitchin publicly stote who is so represented? INVESTMENTS FOR WARTIME PROFITS OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES The abnormal conditions of the past t w o years, with t h e excess of demand over supply of chemical products, has resulted naturally in a period of sunshine €or t h e chemical industries of America. T h e ability of our manufacturers as financiers has been amply demonstrated by the fact t h a t , although comfortable dividend payments have been made, other portions of profits have been devoted t o plant expansions, t o making better provision for plant depreciation, a n d t o allowing good reserves for a future “rainy day.” B u t are these lines of disposition of profits all-sufficient? Are there not other fundamental matters bearing on t h e future welfare of our chemical industry which stand closely related t o these industries as a whole a n d which should therefore receive t h e general support of all industries individually a n d collectively? Two such items occur t o us as urgently calling for t h e broad-minded consideration of our industrial leaders. THE DECENNIAL I N D E X OF CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS
Through Chemical Abstracts, t h e American Chemical Society places bi-monthly a t t h e disposal of its readers a review of t h e world’s chemical literature. For some time Abstracts has occupied t h e unquestionable position of being t h e greatest abstract journal ever published. T h e amount of material handled during t h e past ten years of its existence has been so enormous t h a t t h e Council of t h e Society has felt compelled t o publish a Decennial Index. T h e first ten volumes will thus be placed efficiently a t t h e disposal of very busy chemists, who will have a t hand complete bibliographies of each subject a n d author during t h e past decade. T h e industries have a very direct interest in this time-saving undertaking. T h e members of t h e Society realized a t once the value of t h e publication of such a n index. T h e Editor h a d estimated t h a t t h e cost of publication would not be more t h a n $10.00 per subscriber, in case 2 0 0 0 subscribers were assured. While more t h a n 2 500 subscribers have been secured, t h e general advance in costs of materials a n d labor have combined t o increase t h e expense as originally estimated. Furthermore, i t has been found t h a t t h e editorial work required t o give the maximum efficiency t o t h e volume is greater t h a n t h e first estimate, a n d t h e adoption of t h e convenient entry-a-line form for t h e index has also added greatly t o t h e original space requirements. More important t h a n all of these considerations, however, is t h e fact t h a t so valuable a publication should not be limited t o t h e present actual subscribers b u t should furnish a considerable stock t o be available for t h e constantly increasing membership of the Society. A s u m approximating $10,000 above the subscrip-
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tions is necessary t o make this great work a complete success. Secretary Parsons has been authorized b y t h e Directors t o canvass t h e chemical industries for contributions t o this fund. While only a few manufacturers have been approached, t h e response has been so cordial a n d hearty t h a t it can be confidently pTedicted t h a t t h e industries will stand squarely behind this noteworthy undertaking. A CENSUS OF C H E M I C A L IMPORTS OTHER THAN DYESTUPFS
T h e fundamental basis of t h e application of chemistry through industrial processes is t h e law of supply a n d demand. Our government furnishes through t h e Census a n d the publications of t h e Department of Commerce t h a t which purports t o be t h e statistical basis for our industries. This material is so lacking in detailed classification t h a t its service is but limited in legitimate expansion under t h e hurry call of t h e present times. While ideal conditions demand a detailed census of productions, t h e more restricted a n d urgent need is for a detailed classification of imports of chemicals during a typical pre-war fiscal year. T h e compilation of such facts has already been partly accomplished b y t h e publication of t h e Dyestuff Census b y t h e Department of Commerce. Dyestuffs, however, constitute only a limited portion of imports of chemicals, a n d the same reasons which called it forth demand also a census of chemicals other t h a n dyestuffs. I n t h e December, 1916, issue of THIS J O U R N A La n official of t h e Department of Commerce very clearly pointed out this need a n d stated t h a t while t h e machinery for such a s t u d y was available in his Bureau, unfortunately adequate funds were not a t hand. While such funds might be secured through t h e slow channels of congressional appeal, t h e situation from t h e chemical manufacturer’s standpoint calls for prompter action. It was therefore suggested t h a t t h e work be undertaken b y cooperation of the American Chemical Society with t h e Bureau of Foreign a n d Domestic Commerce, t h e census t o be published in THIS J O U R N A L . T h e suggestion was so commendable t h a t we, as President of t h e Society a t t h a t time, conferred with Dr. E. E. P r a t t , Chief of t h e Bureau. At our request he prepared a n estimate of t h e total cost of t h e undertaking. This amounted t o $4,000. It was further stated t h a t there would be no objection from t h e Bureau’s standpoint if private corporations aided in raising t h e $2,000 expected of t h e American Chemical Society, t h e only stipulation being t h a t t h e funds should be placed in t h e hands of t h e Treasurer of t h e Society a n d t h a t the results of t h e s t u d y should be made known simultaneously t o all manufacturers. I n t h e Minutes of t h e Annual Meeting of t h e Directors of t h e Society on December 9, 1916,is t h e following record: “ T h e Directors heartily approve of cooperation between t h e American Chemical Society and the U. S. Bureau of Foreign a n d Domestic Commerce in the compilation of a detailed statistical review of t h e imports of chemicals, other t h a n dyestuffs, provided t h e necessary funds are furnished by the industrial chemical interests.” Several prominent chemical manufacturers were interviewed b y us in this connection, a n d one of the
