VoI. 23, No. 1
January 1, 1931
Election Returns
discount will not apply. The experiment is being conducted to ascertain whether a lower price will sell enough S A result of the final ballot L. V. Redman, vice more books to enable larger editions to be printed. Kith president and director of research of the Bakelite Cor- larger editions comes lower cost price per unit, and with poration, has been chosen President-Elect of the A~VERICANlowered costs there can be lower selling prices It is all a CHEiwcAL SOCIETY.Councilors-at-large are F. C. Frary, perfectly obvious and businesslike procedure, based nn director of research of the Aluminum Company of ilmeiica; supply and demand at a definite price. H. N.Holmes, director of the Chemical Department, Oberlin If, as a result of this price inducement, a sufficient number College; E. H. T’oln4er, director and chief chemist of the of the monographs move to demonstrate that lower prices Abbott Laboratories; and R. E. Wilson, assistant to vice mean a demand for larger numbers, it will have a direct president apd in charge of Development and Patent De- influence on the future prices of present monographs, as partment, Standard Oil Company of Indiana. well as the selling prices of future books in the series. Buy W. D. Bigelow, director of the laboratories of the Kational in 1931, therefore, for cheaper books, both now and in the Canners Association, was reglected as Director for the fourth future district, and Kalter A. Schmidt, president of the Western Precipitation Company, was elected for the sixth district. Under the new provisions of the Constitution four Directorsat-large were elected: Thomas Midgley, Jr., consultant, S World Trade Kotes on Chenicals and Allied Produck General hlotors Company, to serve for four years; George P. the Department of Commerce has recently included a Adamson, retired, ex-president of Baker & Adamson, and ex-director of the Gcneral Chemical Company, to serve for statistical review of the nitrate industry for the first ten three years; 11. C. Whitaker, president, Catalytic Process qonths of 1930, which tends to show that efforts designed Corporation, to serve for two years; and R. E. Wilson to to increase consumption have not led to the reduction of stocks of finished nitrate in Chile and world-consuming serve for one year. Congratulations all around! markets which was so greatly desired. The number of plants operating in Chile in 1930 is less than in 1929. Likewise the total production is less by some 26,000 tons, and the exports are very considerably lower than in 1929. The HEX it comes to books, the scientists are in a bad world stocks of finished nitrate, however, have remained Wposition. They must have books, ever newer books, greater month by month, as compared with corresponding better illustrated ones, and more complete reference works. months in 1929, by roughly some 500,000 tons. As is well known, efforts were made during the year to There are few classes of really useful books rhich cost so much to manufacture and there are few groups of workers scale down production through an international cartel, 50 who find book purchases more difficult to make. This is that the plants fixing atmospheric nitrogen might not also because the limited circulation of most treatises requires suffer severely from too much fixed nitrogen in the world. small and consequently expensive editions, while at the same The largest plants abroad are known to have been working time progress is such that in a short time revisions are neces- a t far less than capacity, and in some instances have been storing up unsold stocks of fixed nitrogen. Nevertheless, sary. Chemistry is no exception, and in particular is this true the output increased by 76.100 tons of pure nitrogen, making of the Monograph Series of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL So- 1,2i2,100 metric tons, The production of by-product ammoCIETY. This successful series is approaching sixty volumes nium sulfate and ammonia liquors increased by 15,300 tons, in number, and their character has made for them :in enviable although the fertilizer demand decreased. These figures reputation and has added substantially to the prestige of are from the report of the British Sulphate of Ammonia the authors. It has been thought by some that the further- Federation, Ltd. If there ever was a time when the world ance of chemistry dictates that a lower price should be placed enjoyed a superabundance of nitrogen in that form which is on the monographs. The question has been thoroughly most useful to man, it is the present. This situation apparently means nothing either to the investigated over a considerable period and as :Lresult an experiment mill be tried out in 1931. If you are interested group that would have the Government operate hluscle Shoals or to those who continue their efforts to persuade in cheaper books, buy them under the new plan. For the calendar year 1931 the Chemical Catalog Company, the farmer that the operation of that property would mean the publishers of the series, has decided to offer the mono- tremendous savings for him. According to the Boston graphs of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETYat prices 25 daily press, when the American Farm Bureau Federation met per cent below those which have been current heretofore. in that city on December 10, resolutions were passed whereby Members of the SOCIETYhave always been entitled to 10 the board of directors of the federation was to be authorized per cent discount on these books. In view of the more to establish a subsidiary corporation, representing agriculture liberal terms offered during this period, t h k additional and the general public, to offer to lease Muscle Shoals from
A
Nitrate Overproduction
I
Cheaper Books
2
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
the Federal Government, and to operate it for the benefit of agriculture. Supposedly sane orators were reported as having stated that as a result of operating Muscle Shoals through such a corporation the farmers of the country are to be saved fully $70,000,000 a year, and of this the New England farmer is to save not less than $6,000,000, though the hope for more was held out. These figures are predicated on the use of 7,000,000 tons of fertilizer in the country and 600,000 tons in New England each year, and the speakers would have it believed that a saving of no more than $10 a ton was a very conservative figure indeed. Well, there are still to be found people who believe in witchei, and a few who maintain that the earth is flat. We suppose it is not to be wondered that all sorts of strange things are proposed, and that some of them are put over. The surprising thing is the way in which the average man accepts a t face value whatever is told him,making no demand for detailed data and no effort to reach his own conclusion on the basis of such facts as he is able to ascertain. One would think, however, that for their own protection those who make such wild proposals would display more sanity. Nevertheless, the whole country is growing tired of the Muscle Shoals controversy, and if there could be some guarantee that the corporation which the American Farm Bureau Federation is said to have authorized would not expect the general taxpayer to keep it solvent, it might be just as well to let them have their fling and, like others, determine a few facts by actual experience, This method may be convincing, but it is seldom the most economical. If those who need the lesson are prepared to pay for i t without passing the hat, it would be interesting to watch the pro cess.
British Dyestuffs E HAVE heard so many instances of things better done on the other side than on this side of the Atlantic, that the procedure relative to the Dyestuffs Act in Great Britain is a distinct surprise and something of a shock. Ten years ago a British Parliament passed the Dyestuffs Act and specified that it was to be in force for ten years and no longer. Presumably such a specification was intended to spur on the dye makers so that within a decade they would be able to meet all comers without governmental aid and protection. The makers of British dyes have not been idle. They have made real progress and have brought their production from 20 per cent of the pre-war total to 93 per cent by weight, according to W. J. U. Woolcock, chairman of the British Dyestuffs Industries Development Committee. With a few exceptions, which include such outstanding champions as James Morton, the British textile industry has not been especially cooperative. Cheap dyestuffs, irrespective of source, have apparently meant more to them than the numerous advantages incident to a home industry, and the textile industry is now reported as maintaining that for the last decade the burden of developing British dyestuffs has fallen upon them and they see no justification for continuing it. I n Chemistrg and Industry for December 5 there was printed the letter of protest, signed by fifteen prominent organic chemists of Great Britain, in which the relationship between organic research and the dyestuff industry was emphasized and a plea made for the continuation of the protection which the Dyestuffs Act has given, with the results indicated. Since no man is wise enough to predict events and circumstances ten seconds hence, it was not to be expected that the present British Government would rely solely upon an
Vol. 23, No. 1
act which ten years ago assumed what the conditions would be in 1931. A number of other protests have been made and these should have weight with the British Government, but policies in vogue today give small hope for the favorable action requested. Should the termination of the act leave our British colleagues without the assistance they still require and deserve, they will have our deep sympathy. Similar questions have arisen from time to time to confront our own manufacturers, but fortunately the issue has been so clear-cut that succeeding congresses have seen the wisdom of continuing the policy now in effect. The accomplishments of the British dyestuffs industry certainly make it deserve far better treatment.
Denatured Alcohol FFECTIVE January 1, 1931, completely denatured Ealcohol formula No. 5 will be compounded as follows: To every 100 parts by volume of ethyl alcohol of not less than 160’ proof, add: 1 part by volume of the compound, or one similar thereto, known as aldehol grade A. 1.25 parts by volume of the compound, or one similar thereto, known as alcotate. Compounding of completely denatured alcohol under formula No. 1 will be suspended, effective January 1, 1931.” The above order, known as Treasury Decision No. 1, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, marked a very important milestone in the administration of completely denatured industrial alcohol. It must have given Commissioner Doran a deal of satisfaction to write that decision, for by it there is lifted from his shoulders the considerable burden placed there by politicians, certain humanists, some sections of the public press, and others who have striven against the use of methanol of denaturing grade in compounds easily accessible to the general public. The term “poisoned alcohol” has become familiar in oratory and in the press, and many charges have been made against the Federal Government because of its insistence that so useful a denaturant as methanol should not be discarded until another equally satisfactory had been devised. Many of the complaints indicated either a lack of information or a desire on the part of the proposer to weaken the position of industrial alcohol and make it more acceptable as a source of the illegally manipulated variety. The law-abiding chemical industry has stood solidly by the Commissioner of Industrial Alcohol through these various troubles. Meanwhile, for four years cooperative research has been in progress in the search for a non-toxic yet efficient denaturant. Some time ago aldehol, a petroleum product, was devised. This has served well, but not so completely as might have been wished. The manipulation of ethyl acetate became more pronounced when the diversion of lacquer thinners and solvents was practically eliminated. Research led to a petroleum distillate known as calol ethatate, which seems to have been effective in stopping this diversion. The research has continued, and now alcotate, another petroleum product derived from the crudes of California and Mexico, has been added to the list of weapons against the diversion of industrial alcohol. Alcotate has been described in the public press as a compound with an odor of garlic crossed with decayed eggs. Its taste should certainly render it unfit for beverage purposes, and still it is non-toxic. It appears to meet the prime requirements of a denaturant-namely, announcing its presence by both taste and odor, and being apparently inseparable from the alcohol with which it is mixed. But a small quantity is required and the supply should be abun-
I
