INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY PUBLISHED
BY
THE
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY
0
WALTER
J.
MURPHY,
EDITOR
EDITORIALS A W a r w i t h M a n y Fronts
metallurgical industries of Germany and Italy which are dependent in part a t least upon Sicilian sulfur. Should we elect to conquer that island the Germanoccupied countries will be almost wholly dependent upon Spanish pyrites, despite the fact that Germany has devoted considerable attention to the problem of sulfur recovery within its own confines. As the struggle becomes more intensified we will deprive our enemies of many critical materials, and in the case of Italy, mercury. This probably will have far greater results on their ability to continue the struggle indefinitely than a somewhat similar policy pursued in World War I. Germany may or may not be able to feed Europe, but she is not self-sufficient in all the critical materials necessary to fight a modern war. The time will come when her chemists will be unable to produce the necessary “ersatz” for the “ersatz”. Coal, air, and water are primary raw materials for many of the most important synthetics, but they are not sufTicient t o provide Germany with all the substitutes she needs to win or even to obtain a military stalemate. Time is now marching on the side of the Allies.
ODERN war is not alone a battle of men and complicated machines. It is also a subtle struggle for control of strategic and critical materials. Although the Allies, particularly the United States, failed t o appreciate fully the intrinsic value of this important facet of industrialized and global conflict until our enemies had gained footholds in the four corners of the world, nevertheless, through the Board of Economic Warfare and other agencies, we have lately been highly successful in dealing telling blows on the Axis. These quiet and unheralded victories will not be self-evident immediately. But they will make our enemies’ problem of trying to stem the waves of direct offensives most diffcult if, indeed, they do not prove to be the much hoped-for coup de grhce that will reduce materially our losses in lives when the direct assaults are made on the bastions of Continental Europe and the Japanese mainland. Excellent reasons prevail to believe that we have plugged the leaks in strategic materials which robbed us directly of our own supplies of such materials. Most, if not all, of the devious methods of securing such stocks have been uncovered, but we must be eternally on guard, for our enemies are cunning and desperate. Advances in chemical technology and the possibilities of transforming seemingly innocent commodities into valuable war products have complicated the task of the BEW. To what extreme lengths our enemies will go is illustrated by a neutral European country’s importation of quantities of manicuring preparations which contained products easily converted to strategic materials. Cost is, of course, of no importance. Fortunately, most schemes to get materials must be passed upon by several groups, so that even apparently harmless requests, such as for export licenses for manicuring preparations, will be analyzed by experts qualified to detect the hidden reasons for such actions. With most Latin American countries now in the struggle as allies, the situation has improved considerably in the past eighteen months. Our switch from defense to offense will bring further gains. When the Axis lost North Africa both Germany and Italy were dealt lethal blows by the loss of rich phosphate deposits. Should the supreme military command decide to strike a t Sicily immediately, the result will be decidedly disadvantageous to the chemical and
M
Progress in Synthetic Rubber HE third report of Rubber Director William
T
Jeffers is highly encouraging to technical experts who have labored with the country’s number one problem under most diffcult conditions, yet the latest statistics offer no solace for John Q. Public-the fellow with an A ration card and a desire t o go places. Some five million tires for civilians will be manufactured this year from synthetic rubber, but the catch in the Jeffers’ statement is that every new tire will be used to fill the needs of vehicles performing tasks vital to the war effort. Although present indications point to an output of some thirty million tires in 1944, the ordinary motorist will not share in this bonanza for these, too, are earmarked for essential vehicles. A total of eighty-four units for production of synthetic rubber will be in operation by 1944, and twentyfour plants will be in full operation very shortly. Highly encouraging as is the third report of the Rubber Director, it fails to provide the mental satisfaction and relief that are supplied by a physical inspection of the plants scattered throughout the land. The crisis is definitely past, barring some unexpected development. The latest Jeffers’ report carries much comfort for the technologists faced with the problem 621
