INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING VOLUME27 NUMBER 12
CHEMISTRY
DECEMBER 1935
Harrison E. Howe, Editor
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EDITORIALS ,
HLORINE. The announcement that the coming year will see produced for the first time on a commercia1 scale chlorine without caustic is interesting from many points of view. What impresses us most is that it furnishes another in the long list of examples of how far-reaching is the result of research, particularly when it is pursued concurrently along paths which cross in unexpected places. It has been known since about 1834 that chlorine could be liberated from sodium chloride if treated with nitric acid, and a number of ways have been suggested for completely recovering, not only the chlorine, but the nitric oxide for the regeneration of the nitric acid. Until recent years, the demand for caustic being generally greater than that for chlorine, the idea was largely of academic interest and besides really cheap nitric acid was required. Things began to happen. I t was learned how to fix atmospheric nitrogen and how to oxidize the ammonia directly to nitric acid. And then closed systems were devised for the production of nitric acid. Starting with a wholly different idea in mind, steels resistant to the corrosion of nitric acid were discovered and added a very important link in the chain. A t last we had cheap nitric acid. Concurrently, other research was in progress looking to the formation of a long list of new chemical compounds, in the manufacture of which chlorine was a very necessary reagent, not to mention the increasing use of chlorine in sanitation, in bleaching, and in a number of other directions. The chlorine came to be more desired than caustic, and while the sale of the by-product, sodium nitrate, from the process of producing chlorine without caustic may present some sales difficulties in view of the world nitrogen situation, it at least does not add to the excess caustic supply and has advantages of its own. It is just another one of those instances where research makes its lasting impress upon industries seldom taken into consideration when the program of work is planned. It is one of those plays characteristic of the
chemical industry, which, because it relies upon advancing science, becomes not merely a method of making a livelihood but a game ever increasing in its fascination.
S
HARED WEALTH. At the depth of the depression we heard far more discussion than we do now of the advantages of other forms of government than that under which the United States of America has achieved a scale of living which, on the average for all concerned, is known to excel that experienced by any other nationwide people in the history of the world. This is the return to normal of the majority of thinking people after the first shock, when it is realized that things are going wrong. The same type of reaction may be expected toward other topics which a t the moment have assumed some importance. The idea of requiring the thrifty to support those who either make no pretense of earning a living or who demonstrate their incapacity to manage what may come to them is not new. Of course it is always popular with those who give no thought to the morrow and will doubtless be a recurring phenomenon. There is another principle equally ancient, which is that a workman’s tools are not subject to seizure because that process would deprive him of his living. What we overlook is that capital, created by thrift and by saving out of production whatever surplus there may be, is indeed a tool and thus far no one has contrived a successful method of supplying tools if they are taken from private hands. Arthur D. Little defined the Fifth Estate as “composed of those having the simplicity to wonder, the ability to question, the power to generalize, the capacity to apply. It is in short the company of thinkers, workers, expounders, and practitioners upon which the world is absolutely dependent for the preservation and advancement of organized knowledge which we call science.” Would it be fair to say that 5 per cent of our population belongs to the Fifth Estate? They are the 1389
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ones upon whom the remainder must depend if they are to enjoy an “abundant life.” But there are those who, for their own political or other selfish benefits, are preaching that there has been no approach to an abundant life for people generally, and that the only, or a t least the most direct, way it can be secured is to confiscate the tools and thereby destroy the Fifth Estate. Now when wealth is discussed in most circles, it connotes money and little else. That is one measure of their cerebral activity. But within any proper definition can it not be shown that true wealth has already been and is being distributed continually? No matter in what locality you find yourself, look about and you will see on every hand evidences of such distribution. An examination of the tax rolls shows who is paying for the usual necessary services in a municipality, the health department, schools, police, fire department, water supply, sewage and garbage disposal, street maintenance, etc. I n most cases the name of the local hospital or the public library is that of someone who was thrifty. If the art gallery or the museum with which you are familiar does not bear the name of a benefactor, you are certain to find within exhibits available to qualified research workers and preserved under ideal conditions for the benefit of all those who come hereafter and made possible because wealth has been shared. Or shall we turn to science? If asked to name those laboratories from which have come many of the greatest contributions to the alleviation of human suffering, the names of public benefactors are certain to be used in the reply. It is true that many victories in science have been achieved in laboratories maintained by the public, these being in federal service and academic institutions supported by taxation. What is said here must not be taken as in any wise casting reflections on the high grade of work done in these places by men who are devoted to a’:scientific career with little regard to monetary remuneration. But even here, and this is especially true of state-supported universities, much that has been done has been with funds solicited from private sources, where decisions can be made promptly and where no political aspects are involved. The academic map is dotted with laboratories erected and equipped from individual fortunes, and scarcely a faculty exists in a major university without chairs named for donors who made research professorships a possibility. Read again the address by President Adams in our NEWS EDITION of September 20. Surely one does not have to catalog the achievements of science, the benefits of culture, the preservation of records and works of art for future generations, and the publication of these results that all may read and study, to convince the reader that wealth has been and is being shared. Withal there has been a wisdom in a selection of projects and a freeness and generosity of support that is quite different from what one may expect through the vote of politically elected representatives
VOL. 27, NO. 12
of the people. We may not approve methods by which some fortunes have been amassed. We may remain unconvinced that the salary of A should be, on the basis of his worth, one hundred times that of B. We may even assert that the public pays all these bills in the long run and is exploited for the sake of private gain and power, but, a t their worst, these accumulations of capital have done so much for the people as a whole, in a way that does not seem possible to equal by other plans so far suggested, as largely to discount the evils and disadvantages. Is not reasonable and effective control what is needed rather than destruction? Research, itself a tool for many, depends for its sustenance very largely on wealth as a tool of the Fifth Estate. Each would suffer without the other and while we urge no unholy alliance, we do plead for thinking beyond the immediate present and a thorough consideration of all possible factors before too many steps are taken in what we believe to be the wrong direction.
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RAY HAIR. We know a few direc-
tors of research who show no signs of graying hair, but for the most part they are the blond type not likely to turn under any circumstance. We do know a few of the reasons why such men turn gray. To cite an example: This year has seen introduced and used in increasing quantities a product of absorbing interest. For obvious reasons we shall not name it. The idea back of it was conceived by men in an entirely different activity, but they were wise enough to know that if success were possible it would be with the help of a manufacturing concern interested in their theories and capable of producing necessary materials. They were fortunate in finding such a connection on a salary and royalty basis. Then came the well-known depression. Some work had been done, but so short a time as two years ago, when the directors asked that the expenditures on research be curtailed somewhat, the process still lacked the promise which would have moved the research director to retain it in his list of things that must be done but for the fact that these two inventors were on contract. The balance swung in their favor and in less than two years thereafter the product was commercially introduced and the sales have considerably exceeded one million dollars in 1935. The research director trembles when he thinks what he would have missed had he not continued that research, but what haunts him is the wonder of how many other things that would have made good have been discarded or shelved in the past. Make no mistake. The director of a modern research laboratory, particularly if it be connected with industry, carries no inconsiderable burden. His responsibility is great. He needs to dream, yet he must be practical, and his daily wish is not only for wisdom but for the gift of second sight.
