Letters to the Editor Objection DE\K
Overruled
SIR:
1 note objections in two letters to Gor man chemists becoming American citizens upon completion of their work-for the War Department. We should welcome to our country all who are eligible for admission and desire to exercise that privilege, especially those of high mental capacity wrho can contribute knowledge, special talents, and abilities to our resources. We must not exclude scientists from the "melting pot" of America, nor discriminate against them while admitting others less valuable, in cluding the antisocial, the incompetent, the ineffective, the castoffs. *'Russia might want them," and we should want them. Admission of German scientists will not result in lack of employment for American scientists. Their employment, properly effected by industry, will result in more and better positions for scientific personnel. It is well-nigh incredible that any large proportion of the membership would con sider supporting a policy of exclusion of chemists from enemy countries as advo cated in the two letters published in your column. If any policy is established it should favor the admission of scientists. This would reflect credit upon our SOCIETY and benefit our country. CHARLES H. BERLK
New York, Ν. Υ.
DEAR SIR:
Many thanks for your straightforward editorial on German scientists which ap peared in the April 14 issue of C&EN. I agree entirely with the point of view you have expressed, and have been hop ing that someone would step out to answer the criticisms of what seemed to me a group of people expressing an extremely short-sighted point of view. HERBERT E. LONGENECKEK
Pittsburgh, Pa. Objection
Saxons
DEAR S I R :
The belief of Samuel Melvin, as ex pressed in his letter (C&EN, March 31, p. 934) that your magazine is an "organ of capitalistic propaganda," while strongly worded, seems at times justified. Only two pages previous there was an illustra tion of such propaganda, bearing the form, if not the content, of a book review. O. Glenn Saxon, reviewing "National interest and International Cartels," de voted one paragraph to an inadequate summary of the author's study and conclusions, followed by three paragraph? of his own opinions. What I here object to is not Mr. Saxon's personal beliefs, but his statement of them in place of an «'valuation of Professor Whittlesey's book. When technical books are reviewed in C&EN, the reviewer generally discusses the scope of the work, method of exposi tion, and, as if to demonstrate his thoroughness, frequently points out tiny flaws such as, "3-penten-l-ol is misspi lied 3-pentene-l-ol on page 145." Would that Mr. Saxon had been as careful to adhere to fact. But instead, after declaring that Professor Whittlesey "points out the evils inherent in all international cartels" he is done with the subject. The next item of business is a vague, totally unfactual, and quite irrelevant polemic against the New Deal, and he regrets that Professor Whittiesey did not see fit to join him. Surely important nonteeimological hooks are entitled to the same unbiased «examination accorded to scientific work'*. Could you not arrange to have them so • ivated? And if Critic Saxon (who is not •elated to me, by the way) wishes to «•ontinue his factless debate, I shall be» pleased to join him in the nearest vacuum, and there lend him my attentive ear. ROBERT SAXON
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
adequately served the interests of the majority of its members, there would be little agitation for either the licensing or the unionization of chemists and chemical engineers. Whenever
the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY comes out against something (the ACS is seldom for something) 1 1896
Battle of the
Brooklyn, N. V.
I am tempted to concur with Samuel Melvin (Letters to the Editor, March 31) when he says that C&EN is an organ of capitalistic propaganda. the
PAUL J. STPBKR
East St. Louis, III.
Sustained
DEAR SIR:
If
always scrutinize the opposite side very carefully. In most cases I find that my sentiments are not with the ACS.
Summer
Training
DEAR S I R :
I fully appreciate the statement in the latest issue of C&EN that a letter to one's congressman or senator from an individual may have more effect than any pressure brought to bear by an organization. Yet I would like to ask your support for the idea of incorporating in the proposed peacetime draft plan a special arrange ment for technical and scientific students whereby they might take their six months' CHEMICAL
training in two three-months periods— two successive summers—so that theii schooling will not be interrupted. While an arrangement of this nature would undoubtedly cause congestion it the summer months in the camps, the obvious advantages not only to the boys but to the educational system and to the country itself in speeding the training oi the much needed technical men would -hea*i of Our&elv&# Naturally we are flattered at the con tinued growth in circulation of C&EN, but it does produce headaches. For ex ample, we have been forced to publish through the June 16 issue 43,100 additional copies over and above the careful estimate made last October of print orders during 1947. The print order for the June 16 issue was 64,400 copies. We were not sup posed to reach this figure, according to the October estimate, until the Sept. 1 issue. The estimated year-end print order "or 1947 was 65,000 copies. We probably w ill be compelled to print during 1947 95,000 copies over and above the number called for in the budget with the total reaching the remarkable figure of 3,337,000 copies for the year. What this does to the budget and our limited supply of paper can be visualized very easily.
to Ph.D. at the University of Leiden. He speaks of the very b a d times during the occupation of his country, the "disastrous" loss of his wife, and t h e escape of his three sons. JPor MZduceBtionsit Reconstruction The Commision for International Edu cational Reconstruction is sponsoring the idea of a Class of '47 Memorial Fund, the proceeds to go to the aid of students in a similar school in one of the war-devastated countries. I t is urged that contributions be made (1) t o a nationally recognized or ganization t o procure and transmit the materials to be provided, or to administer the service, or (2) t o the Commission for International Educational Reconstruc tion for transmittal t o UNESCO or other appropriate agencies. Details of the plan can be had from the Commission for Inter national Educational Reconstruction, 744 Jackson Place, N. W\, Washington 6, D. C
Friendship An illustration of the kind of interna tional friendship that the International Union of Chemistry fosters was afforded recently by a letter received by Marston T. Bogert, president of the union, from A. F . Holleman of Bloemendaal, Holland. The 88-year old professor, whom Bogert terms "the dean of the world's organic chemists," acknowledged congratulations on the 60th anniversary of his promotion V O L U M E
2 5,
NO.
2 6
»
»
TOWER
PACKING
U . S. S t o n e w a r e o f f e r s a full line of T o w e r P a c k i n g : 15 different types and styles to m e e t virtually every t o w e r p a c k i n g requirement. R a s c h i g r i n g s are offered i n w h i t e porcelain, chemical stoneware, carbon or steel ( s u b j e c t to t h e availability o f m a t e r i a l s ) . Spiral rings, par t i t i o n rings, a n d other styles are manufactured of t o u g h , n o n - a b s o r b i n g , w e l l - vitrified c h e m i c a l stoneware, guaran teed acid-and-corrosion proof.
this FREE B O O K ? It Answers Questions Like These: What's the percent of free gas space of a 1" Raschig ring? How many square feet of exposed absorption surface per cubic foot? "What's the relative scrubbing capacity? How can we reduce resistance to gas flow? Write for your free copy of Bulletin 51 CEN Today/
U.S. STONEWARE âàrm β, èâfù »
JUNE
3 O, 1 9 4 7
1897
