AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Percy ff argraves Walker
F
OIL t~ number of y a r s tiis part of our Some higher-up i n the Government was giv Journal has been one of its most diing .B dinner and, to show his Americanism verting features. These ante-mortem aniy California wine was to be served. The obituaries arc informative and inspirnsting to this is t h & he had his doubts about tional. The subject learns whnt onc of his ilre wine and isas having it mmlyzed by tlie fellom dares to say about him in print, and Contracts L a b o r a t o r y . The point to ire the writer has a fine chance to air his opinion s e t t l e d was w h e t h e r the wine had been oi his colleague. Meanwhile the editor rides colored artifieiillly. Although t.his research his hohhv. Few activities are so universally was being conducted along strictly scientific lineu, the visitor WRS hospitably urged to pleasing. From "Who's Who" one can find out that make n service test. P e r c y H a r g r a v e s W a l k e r was born in In those days Uncle Sam, not content ivitli his other 8ources of revenue, eked out his inblahama, July 6, 1867. Although his sixtyfifth annivenary c o m e this year, lie is really come by the sale of olive oil and wine, both not so old as that-at, least not in spirit, nor being what remained of samples that had been ovidently in the flesh. analyzed and passed as unadulterated. It wits P. 11. \\.,I.KELI a curious siclit to behold a handiul of people After the usual p r e p a r a t o r y schooling, Walker went to the University of Virginia, standing outdoors behind the old building of where he WRS a student in 1885-87, and 1889"JO. A man's tire Department oi .kgriculture, while an auctioneer faced them college is truly his Alma Mater, his bountiful mother of pleasant iwitli partly filled bottles of oil or wine in hi8 hands. Somehow, memories. Walker still talks about his student days and speaks the whole proceeding had B furtive clandestine appearance. uf Professor Mallet in a wsy that shows his deep respect and Iri the Contracts Laboratory many different kinds of supplies affection, which one can well understand who ever h e i d that sere analy~edand tested. As the methods employed were of fine old man give a lecture. Some of his accounts of liie at iriterest to the contracton, as well p*s t o other chemists, Walker Clmrlottesville indicste that the students indulged in other wrote Rulleiin 109, Testing of Miscellaneous Materials. Several sports than athletics. yesir later. it \was partly revised and issued as Miscellsneous In the fall of 1892 Walker went to the University oi Iowa, P:qm 15 oi the Bureau of Standard? This paper represents where he was instructor in chemistry and minerdogy until 1896. d y one phase of Walker's work ou standardization in the purMeantime, in 1895 he received the degree of master oi science. eliase of supplies as we shall see farther on. A much more imAfter a semester at the University of Heidelberg, iinmerliatdy p o r t m t paper, written in 1906 in collaboration with L. S.Munson, followed by one a t the University of Berlin, he returned to was an the Unification of h4cthods for the Determination of Iowa, where he stayed until 1899. An associnteship in chemistry Reducing Sugars. As I'chling's solution was the reagent used, and physies at the University of Arkansas, 1900-2, ended his this involved making a vast number of careful analyses of suliitions oi a wide range of concentrations. The tables are still teaching career; ior ever since he has been a federal employee. During the years up to the last date mentioned, Walker was standard. Other papers on work done or directed by him npengaged in various other enterprism. For a time he wm a peared while he was in the B U F ~ofUChemistry. partner in a commercial laborator? fit iwille, 't'enn., where all One paper that deserves to be remembered because i t ~(lti.*ilic sorts of chemical work !vas done. The most iinportmt wh? makpioneer on the subject, and because of its ultimate direct and ing fertilizer analyses for the state Department of Agriculture: indirect results, was on Platinum Laborstory Utensils. With IF. pavtly as a result oi this, the laboratory played a prominent pat \V. Smither he made a study of platinum crucihlcs and dishes. in the development of the phosphate rock industry in Tennessee. sad showed convincingly that. their quality left, much to he For a time he hrkd a field lahoratnry for t.esting phosphate rook. desired. The metal fell far short of what w a ~ claimed for it ti>He a180 worked in lnbowtories in the Birmingham, Ala., district, the manufacturers of the ware. This was in 1910. The next analyzing iron ores, pig iron, fluxes, slag, and other materials. year a committee of the AMERICANCREMICAL SOCIETY, under the After this he went to Scranton, Pa., as an asseyer connectod with chairmanship of Dr. Aillebrmd and with Walker as a rnembnr, the Internat.iional Correspondence Schools. He hnd a share in issued a report that was in full hnrruony with the earlier findings. writing some of their boolis on chemicrd technology. This start led to a great den1 of iurtlicr work in one laboratory or This brings us to the Bureau of Chemistry, Vnited St:LtL* mother, and eventually brought a b u t a great improvement in Department of Agricultuve, where he became an assayer in 1902. the qualility of the ware now sold. The bureau was then under Harvey W.Wiley. The miter ha8 In those days there were three government laboratories in never seen 80 &.sayer 5OtuRllp at work, whicb prohably scwunts Washington whose work overlapped or canf3iicted here and there. for his strongly alchemistical mcntnl image of nn assayer. That There were the Contracts Laboratory, the laboratory uf the is not at all Walker's type, so i t is nut surprising that in 1906 he Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, and part of liecame chief oi the Contracts Laboratory of the bure;lu, a the Chemistry Division of tire Bureau of Standards. The scarcely position he held until 1914. veiled rivalry between the three laboratories led to an amusinc The writer became acquainted with Walker some time in 1904, situation in 1908 nihen the General Supply Comniittee began probiihly while spending a day in Washington, sight-seeing. to function as a general contracting agency for the departments Memory can be tricky, nnd cnn tell apocryphd tales. Walker in the District of Columbia. The Isbamtories were invited to may not have bean the chemist whose pietuic wmec to mind, hut send representntives to the large room occupied by the committee, he might have been, and there can be no doubt about what the where thousands of hid samples were arranged in groups on the chemist was doing. Rememher this was twenty-ei&t yean ago. Boor, wtliCing to he carried away and tested Each of us knew that ~~
July, 1932
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
there were plenty of samples that had to be tested somehow and by somebody. It was more than evident that there were enough to go around; yet the three of us staged the pleasing one-act play of grab, each fearful that the other would get more than his share of the samples and, ultimately, too much of the supposititious credit for doing the work. At times the situation became more than usually tense, and our language to one another severely and insultingly polite. The funny side of all this did not strike us until later, and that one experience was enough for all of us. In 1914 Walker and most of the chemists in the Contracts Laboratory were transferred to the Bureau of Standards. The chemists in the Technologic Branch of the Geological Survey had already been transferred to the bureau when the branch was expanded into the Bureau of Mines. All of us were under the chief chemist, W. F. Hillebrand. At present Walker is in charge of the work on paints, varnishes, and similar protective coatings, and on bituminous materials except as they are used for road-making. As assistant chief of the Chemistry Division he exercises a mild supervision over some of the work in which he is not otherwise direct.ly interested. He is also in charge of all correspondence for which the division is responsible. He does not exercise this function in a careless perfunctory way, but reads outgoing letters before approving them. Every now and then he asks that some particularly choice letter be rewritten, because what it says is incorrect or of doubtful advisability. For all that, some of the most scathing letters that go out are his-not dictated but written and revised until all parts are a t the desired temperature. Although born so near the Gulf, Walker is not a “professional southerner,” nor lazily indolent, nor a fire eater. Whatever tendencies in the last direction he may have inherited are not displayed, but are merely hinted a t by the delight he takes in argument. The topic may be almost anything, provided it is one on which it is easy to disagree. When the debate is over, his spirit of opposition lies dormant. As readily as anyone he wdl shift to a jocular mood. He enjoys amusing stories-including his ownand his hearty laugh rings out with slight provocation. This recalls the Bureau of Chemistry. It was not permitted to smoke in the old building, which was a fire trap, to say nothing of its decrepitude. So a t lunch time the smokers gathered on the outside and discussed all the topics-some called it gossip-f the day. Of this group, known as the Liars’ Club, Walker was both an honorary and a regular member. It is not for me to suggest why he attained this double distinction. Probably every large testing laboratory is asked from time to time to write specifications for various materials, and neither the Bureau of Chemistry nor the Bureau of Standards is an exception. However, it was not until the establishment of the Federal Specifications Board a few years ago that the writing of specifications became a major activity of either bureau. Before the board came into being, Walker worked off that kind of steam in committees of the American Society for ‘resting Materials. He still maintains his interest in that society, and is active in its work, in spite of having a great deal of similar work nearer a t home to keep him busy. He is a member of several of the technical committees appointed by the board to write specifications for various kinds of supplies. He is not content with being just a member of a committee, but attends the meetings and takes an active part in the discussions. His disposition to continue a meeting until something definite has been accomplished and to argue his side of all questions that arise, has caused much good-natured banter on the part of the other members. For all that, they respect his opinions and hold him in high esteem. An unfortunate feature of committee work is that the chairman, like the general of an army, gets the credit for whatever is accomplished, unless the accomplishment happens to be a specification, in which case nobody seems to get any credit. A specification is the perfection of anonymit,y. Yet into any specification goes a measure of precise knowledge. Somebody, usually the
835
chairman, has made a study of the material in the laboratory and elsewhere, and has become so familiar with it that he is able to set down what he knows in. precise language. Walker is chairman of the technical Committee on Paints and Oils. He is well prepared for this task, because his work in the Contracts Laboratory not only made him famlliar with the subject, but also gave him a clear understanding of standardized purchasing of supplies. He knows paint as a laboratory sample and on the test fence. He has no zest for selling talk. His committee has written about thirty specifications, and all of them are largely his work. At meetings of other committees than the one of which he is chairman, he does not sit hack and vote for a specification just because it is carefully worded and neatly typed. There must be in it some evidence of thoughtful preparation and detailed knowledge of the material. The writer once asked his opinion of the first draft of a specification and was told that it took a great rnitny words to say that so-and-so of good quality was desired. Having this trend of mind and the courage of his convictions, he actively discusses specifications when they are under consideration and usually succeeds in improving them. He has had a share in the writing of about one hundred specifications promulgated by the board. It is not unreasonable for a buyer of paint to expect it to last a t least two or three years outdoors. A chemical analysis cannot tell the whole story, and, if an actual service test were to be made, the most indifferent purchasing agent would begin to ask about that delayed laboratory report long before the test was completed. Paint is something that lends itself admirably to an accelerated aging test because in a few years, a t most, it is possible to compare the character of the breakdown of the a m in the laboratory with the behavior of a duplicate iilm exposed to the weather. Many have worked on this problem, and it seems fair to say that the accelerated test, described in print by Walker a few years ago, is one of the best that has been devised. The paint films break down in the laboratory in the same way that they do outdoors. Varnishes can be tested equally well, or to even better advantage, because their analysis is hardly worth the time spent on it. Much more might be said about Walker’s efforts and accomplishments in the chemical field, but space is lacking. This is not a bibliographic sketch, but biographic, and our editor asked for a word picture showing the man as he appears to the writer. If his home life can make or mar a man, Walker cannot ascribe the blame for his derelictions to domestic troubles. He does not have the usual annoyances of the hobby-rider, because he has no hobbies except his pipe and books that are worth reading. He enjoys a game of bridge, and seems to be an accomplished back-seat, driver when his wife or daughter is at the helm. He is no longer a member of the Liars’ Club, but belongs to the Cosmos and Federal Clubs in Washington. He has been a member of the AMERIC.4N CHEMICAL SOCIETY since 1893, and mas president of the Washington Section in 1909. He became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1905, and a fellow in 1908. Since 1907 he has been a member of the American Society for Testing Materials, and served on their Executive Committee in 1924. Without the cheerful cooperation of F. W.Smither, a colleague of Walker for three decades, many parts of this sketch would perforce have been omitted. C. E. WATERS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-SUFFICIENT CHEMICALINDIJSin countries which were formerly dependable outlets for German chemical products is an outstanding factor in the decline of the German chemical industry during the last two years, according to the Commerce Department. Intensified competition by the other large chemical-producing countries has also been severely felt by German producers. The possibility of these developments was overlooked or ignored while the German industry was expanding and rationalizing after the war on a gigantic scale, calculated in many instances t o supply the world. TRIES
