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T H E JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 13, No. 11
EDITORIALS Danger Ahead For the successful removal of the causes of war by the conference soon to assemble in Washington, every good citizen will pray. For the reduction of the present enormous expenditure of public funds for armament already more or less obsolete, every tax payer will hope. However, in the matter of “control of new agencies of warfare”-wait a minute! In so far as this applies to chemical warfare there is something lacking in the make-up of the conference. We are not anxious about what our friends with whom we fought side by side are going to do with this new agency. The question becomes acute only when we think of that nation which initiated gas warfare, in spite of its plighted word, and whose chemical equipment, already strengthened by the demands of war, looms all the larger as other means of warfare are restricted. It is an easy trap to walk into. Shall it be of our own setting?
you given the consumer the benefit of your cheaper purchases?” Quick as a flash, he turned to his printed prices in the 1921 issue of the “Chemical Catalog’’ lying nearby and showed us the new prices on standard chemical glassware and the prices of the same in his 1920 lists. Lowered, all along the line! To get the matter in more general form we immediately wrote Mr. C. G. Fisher of the Scientific Materials Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., and asked his current prices on the same items. Here are the prices resulting from the joint attitude of labor, the glass manufacturer, and the dealer. 1920 CURRENT PRICES SCIENTIFIC WII,L SCIENTIFIC MATERIALS COR- MATERIALS PORATION Co. PORATION Co.
Ww. COR-
Mohr’s buret for pinch cock 50 cc.in 1/10 . . . .. . . 0.70 Liebin’s condenser. sealed in coil 256mm. length.’. . . . . , . . , 2.70 Extraction apparatus, Soxhlet 100-cc. capacity, ground joints’ 6.70 Volumetric flask, glass-stoppered with mark on neck graduated, 1000 cc.. . . . , . . , . , . . . , , . 1.25 Funnel separatory, globe shape stoppered long stem 500 cc . .’ 2.65 Funnel tube, straight thistle top 250 min . . . . . . ,.. 0.11
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Square Dealing Why bother about strict editorial practice when your heart is full over good news bearing upon American chemical independence? Why speak in impersonal vein about men who are playing the game fairly and squarely and who are making history? If it be considered free advertising, then let it go at that, but we want every American chemist to know exactly what we learned in a conference in this office this afternoon. The visitors were Mr. E. E. Kimble and Mr. Otis of the Kimble Glass Co., Vineland, N. J., and Mr. R. T. Will of the Will Corporation, Rochester, N. Y. From Mr. Kimble we learned a story of the attitude of union labor to the chemical glassware industry which is a veritable ray of bright sunshine, in contrast with the lowering clouds of the threatened railroad strike announced yesterday. At our request Mr. Kimble placed these facts in the form of a letter. DR. CHARLESH. HERTY,
OCTOBER17, 1921
1 MADISONAVE., NEW Y O R E CITY. MY DEAR DR. HERTY:
In February, a t the solicitation of the American Flint Glass Workers’ Union, the Union met the Chemical Glass Manufacturers at the Hotel Walton, Philadelphia, and the Union volunteered t o give a 15 per cent reduction in wages t o meet the foreign competition with which they were confronted. A further voluntary reduction of 15 per cent was granted the manufacturers in August, 1921, in this same department. The Chemical Glassware Blowers, a n allied division of the Glass Workers’ Union, accepted in August a voluntary reduction in wage of 17% per cent, and increased the working move on many items, t h a t is t o say, increasea the number of pieces per day, so t h a t the reduction instead of being only 17% per cent will come nearer t o 25 per cent. The action of these divisions of the American Glass Workers was highly commendable and t o our mind shows the true American attitude, in t h a t the glass worker has shown himself willing t o help reduce t h e price of American-made glassware t o come within reasonable competitive figures with imported ware. Very truly yours, (Signed) E. E. KIMBLE
That was fine-“But,” we asked Mr. Kimble, “have you given the consumer the benefit of that lowering of cost?” “Every bit of it,” he replied, “and for confirmation I refer you to Mr. Will.” He in turn promptly confirmed the statement, Fine, again! “But, Mr. Will [the dealer], have
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0.65
0.42
2.05
1.30
1.15
7.00
4.80
6.00
0.45
1.40
0.90
1.20
2.10
1.75
1.65
0 11
0.10
0.10
That is the completed story. The lowering of labor’s wages has been completely passed by the manufacturer and the dealer to the ultimate consumer, the chemist in the laboratory. It is a fine instance of square dealing. During the recent Exposition we met Herman Coors of Golden, Colorado. “HOWabout it, old man? What are you doing in chemical porcelain manufacture in these dull times?” ‘%ever busier,” he replied, “twice as many orders as in any previous year and doing business under the same motto.’’ The reference was to a bit of advice we gave him several years ago--“Improve the quality of your goods every year, cut down the cost of production, be content with small earnings, and give the consumer the benefit of every possible lowering of costs.” These men, and others like them, have been able to stay in business because the greater number of American consumers have stood loyally by them, recognizing the difficulties of this trying post-war period and determined that in the future America shall be independent in such matters.
A Nation’s Loss Through the death of Senator Knox our chemical industries have lost a staunch friend. Representing particularly the great coke-producing region of Pennsylvania, he naturalry became interested in the great economic loss which his state so long suffered through the failure to recover by-products in the coking industry. To avoid this loss he constantly supported every legislative aid for the development of our coal-tar chemical industry. But Senator Knox was a statesman of wider vision than state lines. Watching closely the development of war methods, he quickly evaluated this industry as one of the most important factors in Rational defense. Therefore, when he saw the industry gravely threatened, through the approaching expiration of war legislation, he personally appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, eloquently urged an amendment to the Emergency Tariff Act to include synthetic organic chemicals, and succeeded. Uniformly courteous, an intense student, st man of clear convictions backed by indomitable courage, a statesman from whatever angle viewed, his sudden death brought a sense of national calamity.
