WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
Facts and Figures for the Chemical Process Industries
INaccomplishments. to plan for the future it is desirable to review past And so once again INDUSTRIAL ENGIORDER
AND
NEERING CHEMISTRY presents a special issue on “Facts and Figures for the Chemical Process Industries.” In a 72-page section, the editors have compiled, with the assistance of a group of outstanding authors, a report on the state of business in the chemical field. The statistics on production and consumption of the more important groups of chemicals covered in our previous Facts and Figures issue (June 1948) have been brought up to date. In addition, we have included what the editors believe to be the most comprehensive study of the financial structure of the American chemical industry ever attempted in a scientific or business publication. Also in this iseue is an analysis of the financial records of a representative group of one hundred companies. We consider the year 1950-the half-way mark of the 20th century-an appropriate occasion to report the financial, economic, commercial, and industrial growth of America’s number one industry in the publication recognized universally as the leading international record of the permanent chemical literature. Now in its 42nd volume, INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY from its inception in 1909 has been charged with the serious responsibility of presenting the significant technological advances in chemistry. The step-by-step progress reported for chemists, chemical engineers, and technically trained executives is the living story of how the chemical process industries group has become the chief dynamic force in America’s march to world industrial leadership. We, the editors, speaking in their behalf consider this survey of the financial and commercial aspects of the chemical process industries a stewardship report to the American public. Vast sums of money for research have%een made available by progressive management and investors. The Chemical process industries generally have spent considerably more money per sales dollar for research than other industries. The impressive growth reported in the succeeding pages demonstrates that the chemically trained man ower of this country has more than fulfilled its obli ations. d e bread cast upon the waters has been returned a tfousand fold. Research when p r o p erly conducted does pay off. A major share of the succees of the chemical process industries must be given to the thousands of technically trained men and women who have conducted, directed, and administered research and development. Companies that have been mindful of the practical rewards attending an intelligent understanding and warm appreciation of the value of research today stand pre-eminent in the most highly competitive field in the industrial life of America. Organizations which have failed to support research either have withered away under intense and rugged competition, or have been forced to accept secondary roles. This fact is not always understood or acknowledged by labor leaders, politicians, and nontechnically trained executives in finance and industry. Labor is not generally conscious that the high wages it now commands have been made possible largely because of the scientific and technological advancements pioneered and developed by those trained as scientists and engineers. The American working man is paid the highest wages in the world for his skills only because his productivity has been increased several fold by technological improvements in manufacturing operations. Likewise, top-flight management does not always seem to appreciate the importance of contributions made by the scien-
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tifically trained manpower of this country. Like the faithful family retainer, the men and women of science and technology frequently have been taken for granted-appreciated perhapsbut not always rewarded in proportion to the value of the services rendered. Happily this situation is more in the past than in the present. Management of the chemical process industries is being entrusted more and more t o those who have sweated out production probl e m , have worked a t the laboratory bench, or have taught in our colleges and universities. One of the salient features of the chemical process industries today is the ever increasing number of technically trained individuals who have risen to dominant positions in executive circles. This trend will continue and promises still greater returns. The industrial and financial records of the chemical proceas industries are such that management, labor, scientists, and engineers can be justly proud of the noteworthy achievements of the past several decades. Each has made notable contributions; all have united in making possible the most virile industry in America today. Much of the expansion has been financed out of earnings in an industry whose reputation is largely based on sudden and frequently revolutionary impacts of new products and processes affecting adversely older and, what were thought to be, wellentrenched materials and methods of manufacture. The chemical process industries have a reputation of encouraging deliberately the highest obsolescent record of all industry. The policy of utilizing the most modern processes and plants has accounted for much of their succes. Many of the chemical s t o c h today are in the blue chip category. Investors are convinced, at least where chemistry is involved, that research pays off. Risk capital was not always readily available to the chemical industry. Rugged chemical pioneers who laid the foundations for the present industry often experienced difficulties in obtaining capital for expansion purposes. The reversal in the attitude towards the chemical industry by the investing public haa been brought about to some extent by the sustained educational campaign of the AMERICAN CH~MICAL SoCIETY News Service reporting the practical aspects of chemical research. Encouraging as the achievements of the chemical proress in. dustries have been over the past 50 years this does not justify us in assuming a smug complacency. If lasting peace is to be achieved, practical answers must be found to the problems of adequate housing, clothing, sanitation, water supplies, fuels, and food for an ever increasing world population. Diseases that ravage young and old must be conquered. A much higher standard of living must be provided for millions. The general comforts and conveniences now considered as representative of the American way of living must somehow be brought to the peoples of other countries. No starry-eyed thinking will bring about these results, but American industry as it has applied chemical technology can serve as a pattern of action if used wisely. The material needs of increasing world population can be met if the physical sciences, and particularly chemistry, based on the American pattern of free and private enterprise, are permitted to operate in a harmonious atmosphere. This is a great challenge for our profession and for the industries of which we are an important and integral part. We must mobilize our resources to meet it in the years ahead.
