. Sept.,
1920
T N E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D EYGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
question! T h e statistics of production, as given b y t h e U. S . Geological Survey, are a s follows: YEAR FIRMS TONSOF IC20 1915 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1,090 1916.“. ............... 70 9,720 95 1917 32,573 1918 128 54,803 1919,“. 73 30,899 43 1920 (3 mo.). 11,969
.................. .................. ...............
..........
$
VALUE 342,000 4,242,730 13,980,577 15,839,618 7,889,440 2,738,195
A rapid increase in output took place from 1916 t o t h e end of 1918,with all indications of further increase in 1919. Fearing German importations, t h e potash producers asked protection of Congress. Mr. Fordney, chairman of t h e Ways and Means Committee, introduced a bill, embodying a form of restricted license, b u t t h e objurgations of his fellow Republicans and t h e gibes of his Democratic colleagues forced his ret u r n t o t h e accustomed waters of protection-throughtariff-alone. Farmers fought t h e bill because they didn’t want a n y kind of protection for t h e American potash industry, they wanted t h e “good old cheap German potash” again. They haven’t got i t yet b y a long sight and will not for many, many years, unless a strong American industry can force t h e price down. T h e American Commissioner in Berlin has cabled t h a t t h e Germans are selling potash t o America a t prices varying from $108 t o $ 1 2 2 , according t o time of delivery, while they charge Holland only $50. T h e German will get all t h e money out of America he possibly can for his potash, and so will t h e Frenchman. T h e fertilizer manufacturers did not support t h e bill. They were interested in German mines. On June 9, 1920, t h e New Y o r k Times published t h e following: Corporation Councilor Maximilian Kemptner, who is probably the greatest expert on the potash industry, informed the Times correSporndent about American investments in that industry in Germany, chief among them being by the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, and the International Agricultural Chemical Company, which were interested respectively in the Einickeit and the Sollstedt potash works. Altogether the potash works in Germany have sold to America this year 250,aoo tons of potash, which he hopes will be increased to 500,000in the next eighteen months. No indignant denials of this definite statement have come t o our notice. Those 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 tons have not yet been delivered. Are they purposely t o constitute a continuing t h r e a t against favorable legislation? Meanwhile t h e American industry is convalescing. I t was crippled last year b y t h e unsympathetic attitude of a Congress dominated in both branches b y t h e p a r t y which boasts of its policy of protection for American industries, a n d b y t h e sly propaganda of expected large imports of German potash. But methods and product have been improved, and fear of cheap German potash has been dispelled. What are we doing i n a governmental way t o aid this industry? Nothing! An appropriation t o t h e Department of Agriculture amounting t o $67,400 was voted b y the last Congress t o complete t h e kelp investigation at t h e experimental plant a t Summerland, California-why? Because it was shown t h a t t h e sale of t h e products made at t h e plant in 1920 would bring $IOI,OOO, while t h e estimated receipts in 1 9 2 1 are expected t o reach $223,000.
On t h e other hand, t h e country has been paying millions and millions of dollars of tribute for years for foreign potash, buying much more potash t h a n was needed for certain soils, because of clever propaganda, protesting against, but ultimately acquiescing in, a German export t a x which in one year’s chunk mulcted this country of $15,000,000,and now buying again a t figures which would have staggered t h e farmers five years ago. A small part of t h e millions of profits, which have been going and may continue t o go t o Germany, would enable a real exploration for potash in our great salt beds; legislation which practically fixed a price of not more t h a n $2.50 a unit (the price now being paid) would encourage capital and enterprise in t h e industry. We hark back t o t h e words of Ambassador Pinckney, in 1796, “Millions for defense b u t not one cent for tribute.’’ CHAIRMAN BANCROFT’S REPORT
We are fortunate in securing for publication in this issue, pages 911-9153, t h e report of Professor W. D. Bancroft, t h e retiring chairman of t h e Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of t h e National Research Council. T h e report is stimulating and inspiring in every feature. T o t h e man beset with the humdrum of everyday routine, its reading will be like a breath of fresh air during a sultry d a y ; for t h e man who thinks ahead, there will be found here a wealth of new material which should aid greatly in blazing t h e way for research. T h e report in itself is a surety of t h e value of the National Research Council t o t h e research activities of t h e nation. One need not look below t h e surface t o understand t h e fine results obtained from t h e chairman’s contact with men i n t h e allied sciences, a n d from t h e opportunity afforded b y t h e character of t h e office t o devote thought and energy exclusively t o t h e problems of research. I n this evident inauguration of real cocirdination and guidance of research along important lines there will no doubt be discovered t h e answer t o some of t h e criticism which has been directed against university research. T h e tenure of office of each chairman is limited t o one year because i t is desired t o focus different types of mind upon t h e general question of research problems in chemistry. As these reports with their many-sided viewpoints accumulate, there should be cleared a pathway straight t o t h e goal of t r u t h , along which can march a host of workers. Professor Bancroft has proved himself a pioneer of sturdy type. CRIPPLING A GREAT W O R K I n a notable address i n Baltimore, on September 30, 1918, Hon A. Mitchell Palmer, t h e then Alien Property Custodian, took t h e country into his confidence as t o t h e threat against our public welfare which lay within t h e great industrial machine which Germany had quietly b u t with characteristic thoroughness coiled like a great viper about t h e vitals of this nation, and promised t o rid America of t h e menace. The exposition of t h e danger and his determination
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
t o remove it rallied t o his aid t h e services of t h e ablest lawyers and financiers in t h e land. And Judge Palmer made good his promises. Gradually t h e coils were unwound, through t h e seizure of t h e enemy-owned properties and their sale t o American citizens. This great work was carried out i n a manner which has successfully defied criticism either of a political or of a financial character. T h a t was all t h e Alien Property Custodian could do. T h e concomitant thought in this great piece of war work was t h a t America should become economically independent of Germany as a source of certain essential supplies. I n t h e great majority of cases t h e results have been admirable. American control, where once was German, is being exercised for America’s good. Formerly not only were profits made for Germans, b u t frequently those very profits were turned t o corruption in t h e practice of bribery a n d in t h e support of a complex system of espionage. But there are indications t h a t t h e fine work of Judge Palmer a n d his successor, Mr. Garvan, is being crippled b y t h e action of American stockholders t o whom some of these properties were sold under authorization of Congress. For example, t h e enemy-owned stock of t h e Kny-Scheerer Corporation (surgical instruments) was seized b y t h e Alien Property Custodian, and on April 24, 1919,was sold t o American citizens. T h e Alien Property Custodian’s report t o Congress, pages 120-121, stated: The president of the company is Richard Kny, whose activities I have had occasion t o investigate in connection with the Chemical Exchange in the Heyden Chemical Co., the Eisemann Magneto Co., and the New York Patents Exploitation Corporation.
* * * *
Through the Bureau of Investigation in my office, a lengthy and careful examination [of the Kny-Scheerer Corporation] was had covering a period of months. It was discovered that information submitted for my inspection had been falsified, and that important instruments had been suppressed. Finally, the proof established by my bureau reached such proportions that Kny withdrew his claims of ownership and reported that the property was owned by Aktien Gesellschaft fur Fein Mechanik (commonly called A. G. F. M.). The investigation disclosed that A. G. F. M. had purchased the business from Kny in 1896, and that from that time Kny had simply been an employee of the German company. During an investigation conducted by the customs authorities into alleged undervaluations, and later in an attempt t o evade the British blockade, the books and records of the Kny-Scheerer Corporation had been prepared so as to give it an appearance of an independent American company entirely free of foreign or German connections. When the trading-with-the-enemy act was passed, advantage was taken of this condition by Kny to make a bold and unscrupulous claim to the property, which finally was broken down by my office. Nevertheless, Mr. K n y was retained as president for at least a year b y t h e new American owners. Mr. E. S. Beck was likewise retained as secretary, a n d during t h a t period we have been told t h a t t h e manufacturing plant in Brooklyn was closed, while surgical instruments were again imported from Germany a n d offered t o t h e trade in America at prices guaranteed t o be 2 0 per cent below t h e prices of American goods.
Vol
12,
No. 9
Mr. K n y has resigned t h e presidency, b u t we have not heard of a n y manufacturing operations in this country b y t h a t firm. $3,000,000 of t h e preferred stock of t h e Susquehanna Silk Mills was owned b y Germans and is now t h e property of t h e Alien Property Custodian, b u t as this stock has no voting power he found himself powerless t o prevent the representative of this company from being extremely active in Washington opposing legislation whose sole purpose is t h e development of a n American industry, necessarily t o t h e injury of t h e German. These are indications of failure of t h e ultimate purpose of t h e Custodian’s work. Plainly, the remedy is effective protective legislation b y Congress for bona fide American manufacturers whose products are. faced with actual or a t least potential destructive competition. It is a strange commentary upon political affairs t h a t t h e only instance of t h e passage b y both House and Senate of protective legislation for a n American industry from t h e beginning of t h e war t o t h e present moment took place when b o t h bodies were controlled b y t h e Democrats. Since t h e Republicans gained control, none of t h e many bills introduced for this purpose have secured a favorable vote i n t h e Senate. Senator Penrose dubs these bills “pop-gun legislation” and decrees t h a t t h e y must wait until a general revision of t h e tariff can be undertaken. Meanwhile, impending disaster waits a t t h e door. T h e responsibility for its removal lies with t h e present Congress. MUTUAL OBLIGATIONS T h e organization of t h e General Meetings of t h e AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETYoffers unusual opport u n i t y for t h e oral presentation of t h e results of research. T h e SOCIETYincludes upon its program t h e name of t h e author and t h e title of his paper and places at t h e disposal of t h e author a definite portion of its program time. Therefore t h e SOCIETY feels t h a t papers t h u s presented become a definite part of its transactions, t h e printing of which is essentially a function of t h e SOCIETY. Under this cbnviction t h e Council at its Buffalo meeting unanimously adopted t h e following resolution : Resolved, The SOCIETY reserves the right of original publication in its official journals of all papers appearing on the programs of its general meetings, divisions, and local sections. The editors are requested to inform authors promptly of decision regarding publication of such papers. This decision can be facilitated by authors sending duplicate copies of their papers in advance to the editor of that journal in which publication is desired. The Secretary is requested t o give proper notice of this action by printing this resolution on the greliminary and final programs of all general meetings. I n justice t o authors it is required t h a t t h e editors give prompt notification as t o acceptance of papers for publication or their release. This will be done as speedily as is consistent with careful consideration b y t h e reviewers. T h e official ruling is reasonable from every viewpoint and we are confident needs only t o be understood t o enlist t h e hearty compliance of every contributor t o t h e program.
