CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING
NEWS
WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor
Public Opinion Minting af the Chemical Industry X HE American Petroleum Institute conducted last year, through Opinion Research Corp., a survey to determine the public's attitude toward the petroleum industry. Incidentally, Opinion Research is the organization which conducted the questionnaire of AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY members in connection with the Hancock Report, which was published in the Feb. 17 issue of CHEMICAL AND E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S .
We will not attempt to summarize the report made b y Opinion Research to the A P I . The facts and figures on the petroleum industry have been made fully available to the members of t h a t industry, b u t we would like to point out certain data on t h e chemical industry made available in the study. First, however, it is important to point out t h a t in the API survey the petroleum and chemical industries are treated as separate and distinct entities, whereas we usually think of the petroleum industry as part of the chemical industry. The most flattering statement on the chemical industry is found in the answers to the question, "Which of Those Industries D o You Think Most Favorably of?" Railroads led with 3 1 % , automobiles 19, chemical 12, petroleum 9, steel 9, and coal 5. Ten per cent felt t h a t all industries were about the same in this respect, and 6% had no opinion. Of the 3 1 % who chose the railroads (before the 1946 strike) almost a third referred to service, a fourth mentioned labor relations, another fourth pointed to t h e war job, and only a seventh fell back on its essentiality. Among the 19% who selected the automobile industry, one fourth mentioned the quality of its products, one fourth labeled it essential, and one seventh referred t o its product improvement. Five eighths of the 12% who chose the chemical industry were thinking of its job of product improvement. In contrast with this specific praise of t h e chemical industry, about the same proportions (three fifths to five eighths) of the few who chose coal or steel resorted to saying t h a t these industries are basic or essential. On the question 'Of All the Large Industries in t h e Country, Is There Any One Which You Feel I s Doing a Particularly Good Ail-Around J o b ? " , the chemical and petroleum industries tied for fourth place in a list of 14 industries. Railroads came first with 14%, followed by the automobile industry 7, steel 5, chemical and petroleum 4 each, agriculture 3, communications, food manufacturing, electric manufacturing, aircraft, and coal 2 % each, and textile and public utilities 1 % each. Three per cent of those questioned thought all the industries listed were doing a particularly good all-
around job, 14% said none were, and 3 4 % had no opinion. T o the question "Which Industry Do You Think Least Favorably of?", coal won t h e dubious honor of being listed first with 2 2 % , followed by 11 for the automobile industry, 10 for steel, 5 for chemical, 4 for railroads, and 3 for petroleum ; 2 8 % answered none to the question, and 1 7 % expressed no opinion. Half of those who said t h e chemical industry stated so simply because they "know so little about i t " . The chemical industry rated sixth in a list of six industries on the query "Which One of These Industries D o You Feel You Know Most about?". The automobile industry took top honors with 2 9 % , railroads followed with 23%, followed by coal 8 % , petroleum and steel 7 % each, and t h e chemical industry 5 % . Twelve per cent considered all industries in about t h e same category, and 10% answered the question "don't know·". The public naturally is more aware and has more intimate acquaintanceship with industries which might be termed "consumer". Certainly the automobile, petroleum, and railroad industries can be designated in such a manner. The chemical industry on t h e other hand is not, generally speaking, a public consumer industry, although i t s end products reach into every home in t h e land a n d affect the lives of every man, woman, and child. When a cake of soap is purchased, the buyer thinks of the soap industry, n o t t h e chemical industry; when the housewife buys a vacuum cleaner with a lot of plastic and light alloy parts, she is not generally conscious t h a t she is purchasing an assorted group of chemicals ; when a doctor saves a life in what seems like a miraculous manner, through the use of penicillin, the grateful patient and his relatives a n d friends are impressed with t h e wonders of medicine and are n o t always aware t h a t it was a product developed b y a chemist and made in a chemical plant t h a t was responsible for the supposed miracle. The information gleaned from this report of Opinion Research to the A P I is encouraging to those in the chemical industry, b u t we % should not harbor any smug*feeling of complacency. Those of us who have a responsibility to see t h a t the public becomes more chemical-conscious, still have a great deal t o do and certainly cannot afford t o rest on any present laurels. Ours is probably the most difficult task of all, b u t the A P I d a t a would seem t o indicate t h a t encouraging progress is being made. Such progress, however, should stimulate the chemical profession and the chemical industry t o still greater efforts. T h e American public would like to know more about t h e chemical profession and the chemical i n d u s t r y .
