lage Common, where Cyrenius C'hapin and Set h Grosvenor with a few other villagers manned the old eannon in their futile at tempt to obstruct the progress of Hiall's forces when invading Buffalo, December 30, 1813. This was the site of the first St. Paul's Church, built in 1820. On ad joining land the first Presbyterian Church was built in 1S23. Old Richmond Hotel and St. James Hall. The latter was where President Lincoln's body lay in state in 1865. Famous old Kagle Tavern, built in 1816. Among its famous guests were General Lafayette, Daniel Webster, and many other notables. First Buffalo Court House. Mrs. St. John's house which, along with David Reese's blacksmith shop and the jail, were the only buildings to survive the burning of Buffalo by the British in 1813. John G. Milburn house where on Sep tember 14, 1901, President McKinley died. Temple of Music where the assassination of President McKinley took place. Home of first mayor of Buffalo, Ebenezer Johnson, 1833. Fort Porter, named for Peter B. Porter. It was a military post until 1926 when it was abandoned. The only remaining building, the home of former comman dants known tus the Castle, is the head quarters of the Girl Scouts. Site of a large triangular black rock jutting out into the river from which the early village of Black Rock took its name. This rock made a natural ferry landing, as its not hern edge was about 100 feet and extended down the river about 300 feet. It was blown up and destroyed in 1825 to make way for the Erie Canal. During 1812 old Fort Tompkins and several bat teries were located in this vicinity. Sailor's Battery in the old Scajaquada Creek Navy Yard. Here some of Com modore Perry's immortal fleet were re conditioned and refitted before the battle of Lake Erie. Buffalo Historical Museum. Buffalo, now boasting a population of 576,000, is 14th city in size in the United States. Situated at the junction of Lake Erie and Niagara River with an altitude of 583 feet, it has a most enjoyable sum mer climate and many attractions for the vacationist, among which are 11 large and many beautiful parks totaling 1,561 acres, including the Botanical Gardens at South Park, the new Zoo at Delaware Park, Civic Stadium, Delaware Park Lake, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo Mu seum of History, Buffalo Museum of Natural Science, Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo Municipal Auditorium, many fine golf courses, and a yachting harbor at Centennial Park. Buffalo is conveniently located, with rail, steamship, highway, and air connec tions to the most important centers of the United States. The Peace Bridge links it with Canada. A most historic and interesting side trip from Buffalo by way of Niagara Falls is a visit to old Fort Niagara where plans were made for the most important battles of the Niagara Frontier. All the struc tures at the fort have been faithfully re stored, with the help of many persons but mainly that of the late Colonel Morrow of the Fort Niagara Army Post.
788
M anpower Γ
Γ Η Κ Κ Κ is no recess for those upon whom has fallen responsibility with respect to manpower. The most discouraging thought is the slowness with which some officials learn the situation with which they must deal. Take, for example, the ease of an inspector at one of the arsenals. This man, becoming eligible under the Selective Service Law, but meanwhile hav ing demonstrated what he could do, was needed right where he was, doing defense work as an inspector. His superior officer asked the Colonel commanding the arsenal to do all he could to secure his deferment, that he might continue his important work. When told that he was performing the work of three men, the Colonel pounded the desk and said, "Then go and hire three men to take his place." When told that three men of proper qualifications could not be had. there was more desk pounding and something to the effect, "Don't tell me you can't hire three men. Get them." There is little that can be done in a case like that, and while profanity may ease your feelings and reduce the pressure, it does not get the three men. Officials
of
the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY and many individuals have worked hard and consistently on this problem, with no other motive than to see the best possible service rendered the United States. But there is much yet to be done. With the permission of the author we have taken excerpts from some of his letters to various officials on this important subject. Doubtless others are doing similar good work, but we have not seen their letters. We regard such efforts of real service to the country. We hope by printing this material we, too, may have rendered some service and that the infor mation conveyed may be useful alike to those who make the appeals and those who reach the decisions. As the war goes on and an increasing number of men are re quired by the combat Army, the problem becomes more urgent as well as more difficult. But we must remember that without adequate production to supply and support him the combatant is wholly ineffective. The excerpts to which refer ence has been made follow : * * * We are certainly not making the best use of our manpower. This is not the Battle of Lexington. We need more than a bunch of men each with a musket and a few rounds of ammunition. We need more than the brave men of Bataan and Corregidor who die as heroes but lose because they do not have the proper backing. In the past few months there has been a hys terical tendency to build an Army of 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 men—an Army so large it would be utterly impossible to supply it with the tremendous tonnage of materiel necessary for a modern war, if it is to result in victory rather than merely in heroic death.
CHEMICAL
* * * General Mac Arthur said distinctly that *'bravery is not enough". * * * It is hard to get exact figures as to the number of civilians necessary to back u p each fighting man in a modern war. Some give the figure as 10, others at 14, a-nd a few as high as 17. These figures are based on t he assumption that the civilians will supply materiel for their own fighting men. In the present war, we shall have t o supply materiel not only for our own fighting men but to those of Russia, China, and even England if large numbers of British troops become actually involved in the war. Rumor has it that at the pres e n t time most of our T N T is being shipped o n Lend-Lease. I have it on good author i t y in the case of another special high ex plosive that 90 per cent of the material produced will go to the British. This is as it should be. On the other hand, as our own Army expands, we must expand pro duction facilities so that they can be backed up with materiel to the same extent that our chief enemy backed up his troops in Poland and in France. T o do that will require more technical men than we have or can possibly produce. I maintain that any individual who willingly leaves chem istry, chemical engineering, or physics to enter the armed forces for nontechnical work is merely a complicated kind of traitor even though he may be posing as a patriot. Anyone who connives at such a loss to the nat ional effort is merely abetting treason.* * * * * * Fortunately for the country, there is not confusion in this matter in Selective Service Headquarters in Washington under the leadership of General L. B. Hershey. General Hershey and his col leagues in Washington understand thor oughly what kind of war this is and the importance of the word "selective". They have repeatedly emphasized the impor tance of keeping in technical work chem ists, chemical engineers, and physicists, including those actually engaged in these fields, those in training, and even the in structors in these fields. * * * * * * There is an increasing amount of uneasiness both among students of chem istry and among men actually engaged in professional chemical work. In many cases, the individual cannot see in what way he is actually helping the war effort. M a n y feel that they should leave chem istry and enter the combat forces in some definite way. A still larger group feel that they should go to work for the Gov ernment in a chemical capacity. Unfor tunately both the Army and Navy, by various means, are giving the impression that they need chemists. The abovementioned chemists are listening to these pleas and are tending to answer them out of the faith that their professional training and experience will actually be used in the war effort. A reasonable guess is that over 9 0 per cent of such men m the Army and N a v y are doing work which could be done just as well by ordinary liberal arts gradu ates with perhaps one year of freshman chemistry. * * * * * * Practicing chemists come in two categories: 1. Those engaged in work directly re lated to the war effort. Incidentally this includes a great many things besides mak ing munitions. 2. Chemists working in other lines.
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
These form our only chemical reserves. They should continue working where they are, in preparation for the time when greater numbers of experienced chemists will be needed and cannot be obtained in any way except by transfer from existing industries. In other words, the switchover to war activity such as has taken place in the automobile industry will have to come in the chemical industry. When that time arrives, we shall indeed be in a difficult position if, meanwhile, large numbers of the necessary chemists are transferred into nonchemical work. * * * * * * I keep an unusually close touch with the supply and demand of chemists because of my service during the middle of the depression as Chairman of the AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY'S
Com-
mittee on Unemployed Chemists. Most emphatically, there are fewer chemists and chemical engineers available than at any time during the past 30 years. The situation is apparently getting worse each month. The new graduates of May and June did not improve the situation to any great extent for the simple reason that most of them were already hired in advance of graduation. * * * * * * Whenever I get a chance, I am emphasizing two numbers—27 million and one quarter million. The first number corresponds to men in the Selective Service System up to 35 years of age. The second number is slightly greater than the present total enrollment of the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel which includes chemists, physicists, chemical engineers, bacteriologists, geologists, and other scientifically trained men from the graduating class of 1942 up to the ace of about 80 years. If we lose the war, it will not be because of the 27 million but because either the quarter million is too small or we have nx>t used it effectively. In this group there are about 60,000 chemists and chemical engineers. These are only enough to keep the country going in peacetime. For instance, at the very depth of the depression a detailed survey of the country showed that the largest number of unemployed chemists and chemical engineers was only about 900. The intense activity of modern industrialized warfare calls for a much larger proportion of technical control, direction, and research than is necessary in the more leisurely activities of peace. When the new plants for munitions, synthetic rubber, and the like are finished in 1943, the number of technical men needed to run them adequately will be far in excess of the available supply even with the diversion of those men still engaged in fields not directly connected with the war. * * * * * * The production of chemists and chemical engineers at the four-year level with a B.S. degree and at the seven- or eight-year level with a Ph.D. degree will not be enough to take care of our increasing needs. There will probably have to be a mass transfer of chemists and chemical engineers from less essential industry into actual war industries. This will be possible without too much difficulty always provided that the chemists in less essential industries have not in the meantime been taken out of their chemical work and training and put in the Army. Of course, eventually we shall have to do as was done in the first World War—comb the troops and take from them every man with chemical training, but this is a most difficult and wasteful process. * * * * * * General Hershey has repeatedly VOLUME
2 0,
NO. 12
emphasized his understanding of this critical situation. We must still do our dut y in the case of each individual man in helping the draft boards to decide whether he belongs in the 27 million or in the quarter million. * * * * * * I have only one interest, namely the winning of this war in which we are involved. To that end, each of us must serve in the way his training and ability can be most effectively used. There will be hundreds of thousands of young men who have no wish to fight but will have t o fight because that is the way in which tfaey can best serve their country. On the other hand, there will be a much smaller group of men who would like to fight but who cannot be allowed that luxury because their services are needed elsewhere— whether they like it or not. Of course any healthy male would rather fight than work. If he has a reserve commission, he would naturally prefer to retain it and enter act ive duty when the time comes. That is the easy thing to do. His duty, however, is far different. I can say most emphatically that if he neglects to follow the plan of the War Department for the resignation of his commission because of the key character of his position, he will be just as much of a slacker as is the young man who refuses to fight when called upon to do so. * * * * * * The argument as to the value of graduate training can be clarified by the fact that all of the great chemical companies do their best to cet as many men with the Ph.D. degree m chemistry and chemical engineering as possible. They are willing to pay over twice as much in initial salary for these men as for men with only the undergraduate training. Of course, if anyone is pessimistic and thinks we are going to lose the war in a year or so, I suppose graduate training is not necessary. To me it is inconceivable that anyone can be so optimistic as to think that we can finally win the war in less than about 25 years. We may achieve some sort of an~ armistice in four or five years or even less but we certainly cannot relax and go back to our normal ways even at that time. We shall need more and more highly trained technical men. These can be obtained only through graduate work. * * * * * * I must disagree with the feeling that few young chemists are really irrelaceable or hold so-called key positions, lany firms are discovering the fallacy of this reasoning after they have allowed some of their younger chemists and chemical engineers to be drafted with the calm assumption that they can be replaced. The answer lies in the fact that the total number available now and in the next few years is altogether inadequate. * * *
S
* * * I have recently run into the request from employers that I let them know of any sophomores or juniors who find themselves unable to continue under the speed-up program this summer. They would like to hire these men because of the difficulty of obtaining regular B.S. graduates. I don't know what we shall do to get technical men. We shall probably have to start taking those who have had even freshman chemistry. Since the shortage of chemists and chemical engineers has become so severe, we have had many requests for the names of students who have flunked out during the past few years so that they could be approached regarding chemical jobs. That is a situa-
» » » JUNE
2 5, 1 9 4 2
tion which I have never seen before, not even during the shortage «»f chemists during the first World War or during the boom days of 192S. * * * * * * Every possible eff«»rt sh«»uld be made to train new men, preferably «»i «ever draft ace, with definite dependents. or with physical handicaps, to replace men who have received a six-m«»nth deferment. If the replacement cannot be made during the firs* six months, every effort should be made t o train a man to make the replacement by the end of the second six-month deferment. Such efforts should be made aggressively and in such a «ray that evidence can be presented to a draft board or appeal hoard showing the extent of t h e efforts. If, in spite of everything which can be done, such a man cannot be replaced, there should be no k
