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and his interest must be obtained and held. An important by-product is the attention of the technical, trade, and daily press to the exhibits. They are news, and comment upon them is valuable publicity for our industries. We are never so strong but that strong public confidence is of the greatest benefit. The returns on a well-planned exhibit of chemical products and the raw materials from which they are made are often immediate, but even though they are indirect, the general effect upon the whole industry is good and the ultimate return satisfactory. It is not the extent of the exhibit that matters so much. It is its quality-the story it tells and how well it is told. The small exhibit with human iiiterest a t its center will always attract more buyers than the elaborate display which is nothing more than just that. I’lan your booth along the right lines and the buyers will congregate there. Let the chemical industry see to it that after the thirteenth exposition, the week of May 4,no one can say that we have lost either our leadership in the production of chemical products or pride in our accomplishments, or that the showing of chemical products was disappointing. Get into the exposition. Blow your own horn, and remember “He that bloweth not his own horn, verily his horn shall not be blown.”
Naval Stores HE older an industry the more reluctant it seems to be to T avail itself of what science offers for its aid. Facts learned through the costly trial-and-error method of experience are not to be lightly discarded and may never be replaced by what science does. Yet when these old industries eventually turn to the research laboratory, they are often benefited immediately and quite out of proportion to the time and effort spent on their behalf. The naval stores industry is perhaps the second oldest American industry, first place going to tobacco, thanks to the introduction of that famous weed into England by Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake. The English settlers who arrived in Jamestown in 1607 established the naval stores industry, which went on a business basis in 1622 as Neill’s Virginia Company of London. The establishment was founded upon a commission from Queen Elizabeth to the English settlement and its primary purpose was t o secure in the new colonies a suitable supply of tar, pitch, rosin, tar oils, turpentine, etc.-all of which were urgently required in the construction of wooden ships for the English navy and the merchant marine. From that day to this naval stores have been among the prominent industries of our Southern States, but until recent years the character of the industry changed but little from those earlier times Relatively little has been done by the producers to improve their product, to eliminate their wastes, to conserve their raw materials, or to expand their markets. With the passing of wooden ships a change in consumption took place and new markets were more or less permitted to develop themselves. Notwithstanding this well-known apathy, there have always been individuals keenly interested in the improvement of naval stores. Our own Doctor Herty is one of those who, beginning with marked improvements in methods for the collection of turpentine, has continued efforts to have the industry make progress and today is keenly concerned with the problem. A few years ago the Pine Institute of America was incorporated and this institute has begun a modest program of research. The Forest Products Laboratory has given special attention to the problems of the industry. For years the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, repre-
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sented by F. P. Veitch and his associates, has been prominent in the field. Those individuals and organizations making the distribution of naval stores their principal occupation have developed an efficient machine for their purpose and through their numerous contacts have come to realize that if the naval stores industry is to continue as an important industrial factor some energy must be put into educational campaigns as well as into research. In October, a t the eighth annual meeting of naval stores representatives, i t was unanimously decided to set up a standing committee on turpentine advertising to plan a cooperative program for all naval stores interests. The public a t large is to be told something of the merits of turpentine, not only in the manufacture of paint and varnishes, but as a thinner and for many other important manufacturing and household uses. An effort is to be made to overcome the apathy of producer and consumer, to make more firm the essential place of turpentine in industry, and to stress the fact that as yet no complete equivalent has arisen to replace it. Its position being continually challenged by competitive materials. these representatives feel that the time has come to say more of its merits and to have them recognized. The group also went on record in favor of certain reforms designed to assist the industry. Strangely enough, rosin is still sold by the antiquated unit of 280 pounds gross, this being equivalent to the old 20 stones of English weight. There should be a simplification of the number of grades and the elimination of unnecessary grades. Uniform and improved packages are to be adopted. The need for more intensive research for the improvement and development of new uses of naval stores products is to be stressed, and efforts are to be made to get a full cooperation of all units involved in the naval stores industry. The active interest of the naval stores consumers-identified with the National Paint, Oil, and Varnish Associationshould give further stimulation to the work in hand and be potent in initiating further effort.
Radium’s Competitor DECEMBER a t Los Angeles R. A. Millikan and ItheNhisgreatest associates displayed a new tube which may become or importance. Utilizing 650,000 volts, it emits rays quite comparable to those given off by radium, and one specialist calculated that with such a tube one might accomplish results that would be equivalent to those obtained with $5,000,000,000 worth of radium. There is no reason to believe that 650,000 volts is the uppermost limit, if there is any advantage in going higher, and we have confidence that the physicist can produce a tube with which results characteristic of radium can be obtained. One of thew days radium, which has been listed as one of the wonders of the modern world, will find itself reduced by the new competition to a place where it will be glad to be on speaking terms with a larger proportion of our population. There are many cases where a special technic has been developed in, radium therapy. The insertion of tubes containing radium emanation into abnormal tissues affords an example. We do not expect these new types of electric tubes to compete in this field. but it seems fair to assume that in many instances where radium therapy has already proved its worth this newer form of energy will be found equally efficient, more susceptible to control, and of course available a t but a fraction of the expense. Radium may retain its industrial applications, as for dial illumination, but the significance of the new 650,000volt tube for industry is far-reaching and difficult to imagine. It is indeed intriguing.
