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Nov 4, 2010 - Harry W. Stenerson, chemical editor of the New York Journal of Commerce since 1933, and writer on that industry for newspapers and trade...
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Stenerson Joins Publications Staff H a r r y W. Stenerson, chemical editor of t h e New York Journal of Commerce since 1933, a n d writer on t h a t i n d u s t r y for newspapers a n d trade periodicals since 1927, became a member of t h e edi­

age of t h e industry. T w o special num­ bers devoted t o t h e general meetings of t h e A C S , a n d a mid-year n u m b e r issued in connection with t h e M.C.A. meeting, were under his supervision.

torial staff of C H E M I C A L AND E N G I N E E R I N G

A Past President H o n o r e d

N E W S and Industrial a?ul Engineering Chemistry on October 16. M r . Stenerson will write on market, economic, a n d in­ dustrial developments in chemicals a n d related industries for t h e A C S publica­ tions with t h e title of Assistant E d i t o r .

We a r e happy to reprint t h e following editorial from the Evening Star, Wash­ ington, D . C , of October 18, 1944 through t h e courtesy of t h a t newspaper, since D r . Wiley twice served, the AMERICANC H E M I C A L SOCIETY a s its P r e s i d e n t :

Dr. W i l e y Remembered

T h e new A C S staff m e m b e r w a s b o r n in N e w York, Ν . Υ . , on D e c e m b e r 2 3 , 1896, and w a s educated i n schools a t Easton, Pa., and N e w York City. H e entered newspaper work d u r i n g t h e World W a r I as a general reporter for t h e New York American, a n d shortly a f t e r became a writer of business news for t h a t p a p e r . After 1925, M r . Stenerson w a s N e w Y o r k correspondent for t h e Fertilizer Review under t h e l a t e John D . Toll, also assisted for a n u m b e r of y e a r s in p r e p a r i n g t h e articles on nitrogen, p h o s p h a t e , a n d p o t a s h for t h e a n n u a l H a n d b o o k of t h a t publication. While a m e m b e r of t h e edi­ t o r i a l staff of t h e Wallstreet News, in 1927, be became interested in r u b b e r , a n d was a s k e d to p r e p a r e t h e article o n t h a t in­ d u s t r y for t h e Centennial E d i t i o n of t h e Journal of Commerce. I n the following year h e joined t h a t newspaper, covering r u b b e r a n d p a i n t materials, a n d his w o r k s u b s e q u e n t ! } ' w a s extended into chemicals generally a s t h e Journal of Commerce e x p a n d e d i t s cover­

1744

I t seems incredible t h a t an entire century has passed since Harvey Wash­ ington Wiley began his great a n d useful career. B u t it is a fact t h a t it was on October 18, 1844, t h a t he was born. T h e place was a log cabin at K e n t in Jef­ ferson County, I n d . , a n d throughout t h e whole span of his life—86 busy a n d fruitful years—he retained in his mind and manner some strange a n d curious element of the classic frontier. H i s eyes were among the sharpest of his generation, and t h e y always were directed forward. He lived ahead of t h e majority of his contemporaries, an­ ticipating developments as t h e pioneers from whom h e was descended most not­ ably did. D r . Wiley, however, w a s n o t equipped merely with his inherited endowment H e w a s educated in excellent schools and subsequently t a u g h t in a number of them. W h e n he became chief chemist of the De­ p a r t m e n t of Agriculture in 1883, he was thoroughly prepared for the work which was t o bring him fame. T h e m e t h o d s of research employed by h i m were t h o s e of

Von Hofmann, Von Helmholtz, and Virchow. H i s technical approach t o t h e analysis of food was t h a t of Sell of t h e Ger­ man Imperial Health Office in Berlin, then t h e b e s t establishment of its kind in the world. B u t D r . Wiley went beyond his mentors. During nearly three decades he led t h e crusade for improved nutrition. He wanted people better fed in order t h a t they might h a v e better health. Processed foods, he demonstrated, very commonly were a d u l t e r a t e d with harmful preserva­ tives a n d "fillers". His disclosures were important in themselves in t h a t they brought a b o u t the passage of t h e Food and D r u g A c t of 1906. Less directly, y e t nevertheless effectively, they led t o t h e correction of mistaken policies of process­ ing. T h e campaign which D r . Wiley staged in behalf of these necessary re­ forms led t o a series of battles with m a n u ­ facturers a n d with politicians w h o com­ plained t h a t he was going " t o o f a r " . H e carried t h e fight t o t h e public through newspaper and magazine articles a n d lyceum a n d C h a u t a u q u a speeches which were of value because t h e y m a d e science popular a s well as because they accom­ plished t h e disciplining of t h e canning and packing industries which he conclusively proved t h e y needed. D r . Wiley, meanwhile, was a good neighbor i n t h e D i s t r i c t of Columbia where he m a d e his home until his death on J u n e 3 0 , 1930. H u n d r e d s of citizens knew a n d admired h i m . H e k e p t his sense of h u m o r through all his battles, never w a s fanatical in his views, always m a n a g e d t o get on t h e constructive side of a given problem a n d t o stay there. If Americans—including t h e personnel of t h e A r m e d Services—today have food which is safe t o e a t , h e deserves much of t h e credit. Let it b e added t h a t his ex­ a m p l e still is a n inspiration in fields of labor in which he himself never entered.

Members of the San Diego Chapter of AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY met on October 1 for a barbecue a t the San D i e g o Country Club, Chula Vista, Calif. The picnickers represented four aircraft companies and the A r m e d Services.

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