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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
RESEARCH ON METALLO-ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Northwestern University’s Department of Chemistry has received a grant of $3,500 from the Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Fund of the United States Government. This fund is for the purpose of supporting research leading to the development of new metallo-organic compounds which may prove of
Vol.
12,
No. z
therapeutic value in the treatment of syphilis of the central nervous system. A plan of cooperation has been worked out between the Universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern, whereby all pharmacological work will be done by the first-named institution and the synthesis of new compounds by Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern in cooperation.
WASHINGTON LFTTER
1
By J. B. MCDONNELL, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C.
The middle of January finds the fight in the Senate over the protection of the American dye and coal-tar chemical industry still unsettled. The Longworth dye bill which was passed by the House and which will serve as the basis for whatever measure the Senate passes, is before the subcommittee of the Senate Finance-Committee, which has not yet agreed as to just what shall be the provisions of the measure it finally will frame. Members of the committee say they probably will have a measure ready for the Senate within the next fortnight. A meeting of the dyes subcommittee will be called some time next week to consider the measure in the light of hearings which have been held, and a report is expected soon thereafter. Faced with a strong opposition from some members of the Senate to the licensing system as embodied in the Longworth bill, the dye men have drafted a substitute For this section and the licensing system, as such, is discarded. The committee now has before it this substitute; another offered ostensibly by John P. Wood, of Philadelphia, one of the leading opponents of the Longworth bill both before the House and Senate committees, and other tentative suggestions from various quarters. These two are the most important and from them probably will come the measure which the committee will decide on. The substitute which was drawn up by a committee of the American Dyes Institute and submitted to the committee by Joseph H. Choate, Jr., counsel, provides in brief: p-
That the United States Tariff Commission shall prepare two lists, one list of dyes and coal-tar chemicals covered by the act, to be known as the importable list, and a second to be known as the conditionally importable list. Products not on either of these lists could not be imported. The provisions would remain in effect for a period of ten years.
The proposed substitute, as submitted to the committee, follows : Sec. 503. (a) During 10 years after the taking effect of this act, no product covered by the dutiable list in Section 500 hereof which is manufactured in the United States in quantity sufficient to meet the demand for domestic consumption, and in quality substantially equal t o the standard for such product, prevailing in the industry on August 1, 3914, and no product having substantial usefulness only as a substitute for a product 60 manufactured in the United States, shall be admitted t o import. All questions of fact as t o which of such products are entitled to admission to import shall be determined by the United States Tariff Commission as hereinafter provided. The said Tariff Commission shall forthwith proceed t o prepare after Investigation, a list t o be known as the importable list of such products as may be found by i t to fulfill the above requirements for admission t o import. T h e s a i d list shall be revised from time to time, and except as hereinafter provided no product not named thereon shall be admitted to import. Before any of the products named on said list shall be admitted t o entry, the importer shall file with the Tariff Commission a notice containing morn statements by the importer t h a t the proposed import is either for current use or consumption by him and will not, either alone or in conjunction with previous notice, or any other supply from whatever source derived, suffice to provide him with a quantity greater than his actual requirements for snch current use or consumption for the ensuing six months, or t h a t the proposed import is desired in order t o fill an actual bona fide order from a named domestic consumer for such consumer’s like current use or consumption, in which event there shall be annexed to the notice proof by affidavit of such consumer that the proposed import will not either alone or in conjunction with previous orders or any other supply from whatever source derived, suffice t o provide him with a quantity in excess of his actual requirements for such curredt use or consumption for the ensuing six months. Said sworn statement of the importer shall also state the name, chemical identification, stiength and quantity of the proposed import, together with the name of the port of entry a t which it is t o be brought in. A copy of such natice shall be transmitted by the commission t o the collector of said port, and no import shall be admitted t o entry unless found to correspond with such notice. The collectors of all ports shall promptly
notify the Commission of the admission of all such imports. The phrase “use or consumption” as used herein shall, in the case of products customarily used for medical or photographic purposes only, include sale for such purposes only. The Commission may suspend, pending investigation by it, the operation of any notice which may appear to it t o be calculated t o provide any consumer with a supply of any product in excess of his actual requirement for current use of consumption during six months after the date of such notice If upon such investigation the Commission shall determine that any such notice covers any such excess, it shall forthwith cancel the said notice and notify the person by whom the same was filed. When a t any time the Commission shall find that notices received by it, of which copies have been transmitted to the collectors, cover a quantity of any product sufficient in the aggregate to constitute an excess over current consumption equal to a six-months’ supply for the ordinary requirements of such product for domestic consumption, no copies of notices covering such product shall be transmitted to the collectors until the commission shall determine that the unused quantity of such product in the United States is less than such six months’ supply. The Commission shall promptly notify of such action all persons who have filed notices the operation of which is thus suspended The Commission shall also prepare a second list to be known as the conditionally importable list comprising all products which, while mainly useful as substitutes for domestic products, have special uses for which a domestic equivalent is not available. The said conditionally importable list shall state opposite the name of each product the special uses. Any product named in such list may be imported, subject t o the conditions hereinbefore provided, when and only when the notice covering the proposed import contains a sworn statement by an actual consumer that the proposed import w:ll be used by him solely for one or more of the special uses stated in said list for said product. Notices received by theCommission shall not be open t o public inspection If a t any time complaint shall be made of the Tariff Commission that the price of any domestic product covered by the dutiable list of Section 500, of this act, is unreasonably high, the Commission shall investigate and if upon such investigation the Commission shall, after a hearing, determine t h a t such price is sufficient to yield an unreasonable profit t o every domestic manufacturer, i t shall place such product on the importable list during the continuance of such unreasonable prices. Two weeks’ notice of such determination shall be given all domestic manufacturers of such product known t o theCommission before such product shall be placed on the importable list. Notwithstanding anything herein contained, any product covered by this act may be imported and stored in a United States bonded warehouse. No product so imported shall be released from such bonded warehouse or admitted to entry except as hereinbefore provided. Sec. 503. ( b ) The United States Tariff Commission in executing the duties imposed upon it by this act may regulate its own practice and procedure, but shall so regulate the same as to prevent all avoidable delay. Sec. 503. (6) Any product covered by Section 500 of this act, which shall be imported into the United States or any of its possessions, otherwise than as provided herein, shall be forfeited and shall be destroyed whenever and wherever found. Sec. 503. ( d ) Any person subject t o the jurisdiction of the United States who shall, either a s principal or a s accessor, import or attempt t o import or aid in importing any product covered by Section 500 of this act, otherwise than as herein provided, or who in making any sworn statement required by this act shall willfully misstate or misrepresent any facts shall be fined not exceeding $5.000 or the value of such product a t the time of importation, whichever shall be greater, or shall be imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. Sec. 504. Eacept a s otherwise herein specially provided, this act shall take effect on the day following its passage.
Committee members who have expressed themselves as being opposed to the licensing system agree that the substitute quoted above is an improvement, and some have expressed the opinion that with modifications this will be written into the bill in place of the licensing provision. Objection is found to the length
