106
T H E JOURlITAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
V O ~13, . NO. 2
THE SOCIETY’S PRESIDENT FOR 1921 I
EDGAR FAHS SMITH
I t might seem unnecessary t o recount the contributions of Dr. Smith in the building up of our science Forty-five years ago the AMERICASCHEMICAL SOCIETY was founded, and just a quarter of a century has passed but, perhaps, there are some among our thousands since Edgar Fahs Smith was its president. The So- of members who do not realize how much his labors have meant t o all of US and how they have strengthened CIETY gives expression t o its appreciation of his labors by choosing him once more for the highest office in its chemistry in America and kept fresh the story of its gift, a n d in doing so i t places in tried and worthy hands beginnings. It is a somewhat striking coincidence t h a t Dr. Smith the leadership of its fortunes. Few remain now who can recall the struggles and began his life work as a teacher of chemistry in the discouragements of those early years. So faint was University of Pennsylvania in 1876, the same year in which our SOCIETY the breathing at was founded. Lifetimes t h a t i t seemed long contemporaries almost as if the’ they have been in patient was a t his last gasp. There the work. Starting as an instructor, he were chemists scatrose through t h e tered here and there various grades t o over tQe land, but head of t h e departmost of them were ment of chemistry, kept too busy t o give then vice provost, time t o investigaand lastly provost tion. The teacher of the University had little assistance retaining throughwith his classes, and out his devotion t o t h e practical side of his science and faithbuilding up our infully answering t o f a n t industries was ‘the limits of his all-absorbing. Bestrength t h e calls sides, the SOCIETY’S t h a t were made upon Jourlzal had t o enter him. I t is difficult the field of publicat o measure such a n tion with first one, influence as he has then two other jourexerted. The story is nals, All honor, known t o those who then, t o those who had t h e good forhad heart of hope tune t o study under and, with vision of him. They admire the future, kept up him, they love him, t h e struggle. In and happy are they these days of leaderif they pattern after ship in many fields him. I n all these of investigation i t years he has been is well t o pause a a wise and helpful while and think of counselor in t h e aft h e sturdy pioneers fairs of t h e SOCIETY, who blazed t h e way and has done much to and made this progAMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY EDGAR FAHSSMITH, PRESIDENT promote its interests. ress possible. As a teacher, he has been helpful in introducing new Among these pioneers none stands higher t h a n our new president, and no one has such a host of friends methods and in providing excellent textbooks. At nor is so well-beloved. A kindlier soul has never first these were translations from t h e most widely acwitness his several editions walked among us. Counselor and friend to all who cepted foreign authors-as needed him, lover of t h e t r u t h whether i t lay hidden of Richter’s “Organic Chemistry,” and the “Electroin t h e nature around him or in his fellow man, with chemistry” of Oettel. I n this fine he was one of the deep, abiding faith in all t h a t was fine and noble and first t o have a well-equipped electrochemical laboratory true, he has stood throughout the years four-square and t o drill his students in this increasingly important t o every wind t h a t blew. His friendship has been an branch, issuing several valuable guides and textbooks of his own. He devised new methods of analysis and inspiration and a blessing t o many. ~
Feb., 1921
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
greatly aided in introducing this valuable adjunct t o t h e laboratory practice of t h e day. All of which was fitting on t h e part of one who held t h e chair of Robert Hare, who constructed t h e first American electric furnace. The long list of his investigations helps t o fill t h e pages of our Journal and need not be detailed here. Suffice it t o say t h a t his interests and his work lie in many fields. Chief among them are electrochemistry, the complex inorganic acids, t h e rare earths; and t h e revision of those constants, if constants they be, t h e atomic weights. I n this latter field he has covered about one-fourth of t h e known elements, and his work ranks high. This is a monumental work in itself. His latest work on t h e atomic weights of boron and fluorine is a fine example of how such work should be done. T h e many-sided interests of this man are shown by t h e caretaking, accurate, and very valuable work which he has done as a historian. His activities in this line may have been aroused by t h e fact t h a t he occupied t h e chair which had been held by Benjamin Rush, the first professor of chemistry in America, and lives in I
107
the historic city of Philadelphia, where in 1792 was “instituted” t h e first chemical society in t h e world, antedating by a half century t h e London Chemical Society, t h e first t o be established in Europe. Also, he is a member and for some years was president of t h e American Philosophical Society, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin. Surrounded by such historic memories he has made t h e past live over again in a series of books for which those of us who do honor t o t h e men who paved t h e way for our feet cannot be too grateful. Hare performs over again for us his surprising experiments with t h e oxyhydrogen blowpipe which he invented, and Woodhouse, Cooper, and others tell of their discouragements and achievements. And now in t h e account of Priestley in America, which he has just published, we catch a n insight into t h e character of t h a t great discoverer, his limitations offset by his surprising vision, which some of us who have read much about him had never gained before. To such tried and approved leadership we intrust t h e reputation and future of the SOCIETY. CHAPELHILL, N C . FRANCIS P. VENABLE
--.-
I
EDITORIALS ELEMENTARY ECONOMICS
Some are arguing t h a t duty-free importation of scientific apparatus by educational institutions will mean a great saving in dollars and cents. But t o discuss the economic aspect of this question it is necessary t o shake one’s self loose from memories of pre-war conditions and remember t h a t to-day we are dwelling in a very much changed world. Before the war Germany, thanks t o a n abundance of cheap, highly skilled labor, placed upon t h e market chemical wares a t prices with which American manufacturers could not compete. To-day Germany is faced with the obligation of paying off during t h e next twentyfive or thirty years a n enormous reparations debt. T o d o this Germany will sell goods in competition a t absurdly low figures in order t o destroy war-born industries in other lands, while charging exorbitant prices wherever she has a monopoly. There is abundant evidence of t h e correctness of this statement. I n Science, November 26, 1920, page 51 1, Professor James Lewis Howe complains t h a t t h e file of a journal which had been offered him less t h a n a year before for 3,000 marks has now risen in price t o 25,000 marks (though t h e exchange value of t h e mark had meanwhile depreciated only 50 per cent). Monopoly:-exorbitant charge! But Professor Howe explains t h e situation in this same communication, for he quotes from a German firm’s letter t o a n American customer: “A word about prices. I take it from your name and connections t h a t you are of German family and a m therefore prepared t o make most liberal terms. As you doubtless know, i t has been generally agreed in commercial circles here t h a t all articles sold t o uitlanders, and especially t o Americans, shall be priced considerably higher than the same thing sold t o our fellow-citizens, the idea being t o in this way recuperate t o some
extent from our late overwhelming losses and to make our recent enemies aid us in paying our most outrageous and crushing war debt. “This policy has been adopted en bloc by our associated. . . . since some time. But as a fellow German, I a m prepared t o let you have these goods at the Berlin price, this of course being in all confidence, m y most dear sir.”
N o camouflage about that-as long as it is in the family. Now take t h e other side of t h e picture. England developed during t h e war a chemical glassware industry:-competition! The Lofidon Morning Post of November 24, 1920, quotes t h e following conditions of t h e British market a t t h a t time:
1,000-cc. separating funnel.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400-cc. flat bottom flask.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500-cc. graduated flask.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-cc. bulb p i p e t . . ...................... Potash b u l b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aneroid barometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chemical thermometer for testing acids., . . Clinical thermometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
German (Price t o Retailer) 4s. Od.
Os. 6.5d. Os, 5d. Is. 3.5d. 1s. 9d. 7s. 6d. Is. 2d. Os. 8.5d.
British (Cost t o Manufacture) 17s. 7d.
Os. 11.5d. 6 s . 6d. 3s. 9d. 3s. 6d.
20s. Od. 3s. Od. 2s. 4d.
I
Destructive competition! Do you believe those German prices will stand after t h e British industry is destroye‘d, say, four or five years, with t h a t great reparation debt still having twenty or twenty-five years t o run? We would be t h e veriest financial babes-in-the-woods if we deliberately shut our eyes t o such a situation. As further evidence, if it be needed, we quote from The Chemical A g e (London), December 25, 1920, in summarizing t h e report of t h e Subcommittee on Chemical Glassware appointed by the Standing Committee on Trusts: “The nature of t h e foreign competition they have t o meet may be gathered from the fact that, favoured by exchange rates
