Statement to the Membership \ o u r Society's Problem, P a s t and Future The total cost of SOCIETY activities per paid member in 1932 was $23.96. Comparative costs are given in detail for the years 1921, 1930, and 1932. During the years 1928 to 1932, inclusive, the SOCIETY received a subsidy of approximately $75,000 a year from industry and the Chemical Foundation which made possible the publication of Chemical Abstracts. This subsidy ceased with 1932 and
The
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY gives
to
its members and to the chemical profession unequaled services in addition to its journals. Since 1921, with no increase in membership dues, the number of abstracts published kas increased over 300 per cent; the Journal of the American Chemical Society has increased 70 per cent; and Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, including its News and Analytical Editions, has increased 80 per cent. The output of chemical knowledge shows no decrease. To continue all three journals the cost to the Society of members receiving all three, on a hypothetical reduction in circulation of each journal, would increase from $23.96 to $33.23. 1} membership dues were $5.00 and the journals subscribed for separately, no one of the journals zuiih membership could be obtained for $15.00 and Chemical Abstracts would cost over $45.00 per volume. If Chemical Abstracts is to be maintained, either the membership must be greatly increased or other funds obtained.
in 1933 the SOCIETY has budgeted
$73,000 from its reserves to continue its publications unimpaired. Every possible cost has been cut in the last three years by strict competition on contracts and by reducing salaries above $2000, already lower than in any comparable organization, from 5 to 20 per cent. The cut in printing costs alone has exceeded $30,000. The amount of chemical literature, unexcelled in quality, furnished by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY to its members per dollar is twice that of any other chemical society in the world.
chemical progress of the world, have reached a n unequaled state of development. They have become indispensable t o the modern chemist. They furnish our members with a complete record of t h e chemical literature of the world for t h e mere pittance of fifteen dollars annually. T o o many are obsessed with the idea t h a t the publication of literature is t h e main object of
T H E AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY is passing through the most
serious period in its history. Unemployment, severe cuts in salary, and bank failures, as in every other walk of life, are causing severe hardship to our members. Unfortunately, too, the hysteria of fear through which our country has gone, and from which it is now recovering, has greatly retarded payment of dues upon the part of those who were still able t o pay them. Accordingly, there is an apparent fall in the present curve of paid membership for 1933 of approximately 1700. T h e Directors confidently expect a recovery from this figure as bank deposits again become available, but the situation we face must not be minimized and the SOCIETY needs, and must have, the loyal support of every member. In order that this support may be cheerfully given, a summary of the SOCIETY'S affairs follows. Those who m a y not be closely in touch with the business of our SOCIETY and with the details of its organization, development, and accomplishment, will find the references below of interest. Every effort is made to present facts clearly and regularly to our members. The budget is printed annually in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. In each February issue will be found the reports of the SOCIETY'S officers, giving a complete financial statement in detail of annual expenditure, trust funds, and the SOCIETY'S balance sheet P*S passed upon by certified accountants covering the report of the Treasurer and Finance Committee. T h e members will find a fairly complete history of the SOCIETY in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, 48, Golden Jubilee Number, pages 32-65 (August, 1926). President Redman's statement to the Council at the N e w Orleans meeting is repeated here in part:
the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, rather t h a n the record of its
accomplishment. It is of the first importance t h a t the maintenance of this unequaled chemical literature b e not endangered. As a society we have lent our untiring efforts, not only during the last t w o years of t h e depression, but during t h e whole life of the SOCIETY, to making the Nation chemically conscious, to making our legislators chemically conscious, and to making those who have the disposal of large funds, private o r otherwise, chemically conscious and interested in the increment of wealth and well-being which our science c a n bring t o a people. As a result of this untiring policy, we tiave m a d e opportunity for thousands of chemists. Also it seems advisable to call your attention once more t o some facts in t h e report of t h e Secretary and Business Manager as printed on page 9 of t h e Proceedings for 1 9 3 3 :
The SOCIETY has three major duties which it m a y not lose sight of in periods of stress—its duty to chemistry, to chemists, and to t h e public. For fifty years the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY has been putting forth every effort to bring about in America an appreciation of chemistry and through the advancement of chemistry t h e prosperity of the chemist. Largely because of this work, which was greatly accelerated during the war and in the years that followed, chemical industries have been established, research laboratories have been developed, and a general expansion in chemical applications has been brought about. As a result, large contributions to chemical knowledge h a v e been made, and our journals, which are a record of the
T h e number of paid members for 1932 has decreased b y 834. This decrease has been due especially to difficulties with foreign exchange, t o reduction in salaries, a n d to unemployment. T h e number of paid members, however, still is greater b y 506 than it was in 1929. The decrease in value of the English pound, Canadian dollar, South American and Japanese currency has forced many of our foreign members to drop their SOCIETY membership or t o leave their dues unpaid for 1Ô32. Considering t h e times and particularly the experience of othier organizations, the A M E R I CAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY has fared surprisingly well. I n spite of these decreases, and from a financial standpoint t h e much more important decrease of some $45,000 net advertising receipts, the SOCIETY has, through the strictest economy, as t h e Treasurer's report will indicate, again been a b l e to m o r e than balance its budget in 1932. The loss in advertising receipts i s serious and every effort has been made to overcome i t . T h e decrease is small compared with other publications w i t h which the SOCIETY usually makes comparisons and is a general situation throughout the country. The SOCIETY'S expenditures h a v e been carefully studied b y the Directors with a v i e w to all possible economy and have been decreased from $548,364.74= in 1930 t o $493,387.06 in 1932, as shown by t h e Treasurer's report for t h e latter year. The employees of the SOCIETY wb.o are receiving in excess of $2000 have had their salaries decreased f r o m 5 to 20 per cent of t h e excess.
120
April 2 0 , 1933
I N D U S T R I A L
A N D
E N G I N E E R I N G
T h e year's chief development has been the incontestable proof that membership is a valuable asset to the individual. Actual unemployment n a s been less among them than in any nonchemical professional organization of which t h e Secretary can find record. T h e unemployment situation has been frequentlytreated in our publications and m a y be found summarized o n page 6 3 of the Proceedings for October, 1932. Employers have shown their appreciation of t h e progressive nature of our m e m bership, and they have been t h e last to be discharged from e m ployment and are being among t h e first t o be reemployed. Nevertheless, among chemists, the unemployment situation a s a whole is as yet showing little improvement, T h e 1933 budget will be found on page 2 of t h e 1933 Proceed ings. It will be noted at once that for the first time in many years expenditures are expected to b e in excess of receipts. This is d u e to t h e fact that the subsidy of approximately $75,000 a year received during t h e last five years from the industry and from The Chemical Foundation has at least for the present been dis continued. The Directors have, accordingly, voted t o draw o n the SOCIETY reserves in 1933 t o the extent of $73,000 in order that our publications may b e continued without retardation. While there has been a depression in all lines of business, there has been an actual acceleration i n the output of science, which the SOCIETY feels i t must record and which in recent years has grown b y leaps and bounds and is still increasing. T h e membership will b e startled and pleased t o realize that when the dues were increased from ten t o fifteen dollars in 1921 w e printed 9144 pages and that in 1932, without change of dues, w e printed 15,390 pages—an increase of 68 per cent. In addition, we are printing and circulat ing approximately 30 per cent more issues of our publications. I t is this increase in membership and increase in subscriptions and, until 1932, increase in advertising receipts that has enabled t h e SOCIETY t o continue and expand i t s work. Until 1932 the D i rectors have annually budgeted the coming year on the basis of the receipts of t h e preceding year. As t h e SOCIETY had a con stant increase from 1921 until 1932, receipts being greater than estimates, reserves were accumulated, which reserves are sufficient now t o carry t h e SOCIETY for two or three years of depression. T h e y were accumulated to meet just such an emergency as that which has arisen. H a d they not been accumulated, Chemical Abstracts would, in all probability, have t o be abandoned at this time. It is hoped and expected that, before exhaustion, business activity will have returned and we m a y hope again for the aid of the industry, t o which Chemical Abstracts is as essential as it is to t h e individual chemist. Few members realize that they have been, and are, receiving the results of a net expenditure, after deducting advertising, of over $20.00 for their benefit for every $15.00 they p a y , this subsidy being passed on to our foreign members, as well as t o those who reside in the United States. Members of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY receive for their
dues more than members of any other scientific organization in the world. Compare the cost of our journals with a n y other chemical journals printed. Three leading German journals are comparable in t y p e and volume t o the journals which go to our membership for $15.00. We concede nothing t o them in quality, although their cost to the chemists of Germany and the chemists of t h e world is between four and five times the cost of our o w n three publications. This has been accomplished by American chemists solely on account of their united cooperation and t h e strength which comes from numbers. If our membership will stand by, pull together, and especially if each member will i m >ress upon every desirable nonmember chemist the fact t h a t Le should be associated with the work w e are doing and that it will b e to his advantage to join our organization, the work of our SOCIETY will b e continued without retardation.
ε
CHEMISTRY
121
SOCIETY INCOME
The income of the SOCIETY is derived from membership dues, and subscriptions, subscriptions of nonmembers, sale of back numbers, postage, exchange, Decennial Indexes, Directo ries, etc., administered and collected through the Secretary's office; also from advertising income, from subsidies, dona tions, and from interest on invested funds. The following table gives the collections of the Secretary's office and the n e t returns from advertising. T h e collections for 1906 were made b y the Treasurer. T h e figures given for advertising in 1906 and 1910 are rough estimates, since the cost of printing advertise ments in those years was not kept as a separate item. AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY INCOME ΪΈΛΚ
SECRETARY'S COLLECTIONS
ADVERTISING N E T INCOME
1906 S 15,374.02 $ 1,000.00* 2,500.00* 54,507.06 1910 10,247.31 71,825.89 1913 12,496.20 76,805.97 1914 12,953.49 80,189.22 1915 21,300.91 92,600.75 1916 20,606.77 113,019.63 1917 30,512.80 132,580.60 1918 33,536.98 149,667.38 1919 28,605.98 171,523.14 1920 39,034.09 224,552.77 1921 50,733.55 212,480.00 1922 48,191.70 215,116.94 1923 50,889.47 226,876.75 1924 68,251.03 231,683.93 1925 71,124.64 243.312.52 1926 72,325.66 265,616.41 1927 90,648.56 285,783.69t 1928 101,125.35 301,565.57 1929 108,189.43 327,301.34 1930 109,228.90 333,623.29 1931 72,074.05 316.602.92 1932 * Estimated. t The Secretary also collected special Abstracts fund from industry: 1928, $54,320.00; 1929, S52.050.0O; 1930, S52.000.00; 1931, $51,775.00; 1932, $50,165.00. Decennial Index receipts and expenditures not included. Funds from Chemical Foundation not included. P A G E S I N A M E R I C A N CHEMICAL SOCIETY J O U R N A L S
In addition, the following table will bring out in a striking manner t h e increase in t h e number of printed pages which has been necessary to record the rapidly growing output of chemical knowledge since 1921, as published in our three journals. IND. ENG. J. AM. CHEM. C. A. CHEM. Soc. 5070 1198 2873 1921 5590 1198 3146 1922 5060 1516* 3362 1923 5000 1511 3086 1924 4900 1583 3241 1925 5300 1640 3347 1926 5670 1654 3308 1927 6800 1706 3535 1928 7840 1875f 3818 1929 8211 2236 5444 1930 8304 2250 4601 1931 8455 2240 4897 1932 1921, first year of $15.00 dues, 9141 pages exclusive of advertising; 1932, same dues, 15,592 pages exclusive of advertising. YEAR
* N E W S EDITION initiated. t ANALYTICAL EDITION initiated.
COMPARISON WITH O T H E R SOCIETIES AND JOURNALS
T h e members should also be interested in the following comparison of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY returns to members, in contrast with t w o prominent foreign nonsociety journals a n d the journals of other societies. In the table will be found, listed on a 1932 basis, subscription rates to outsiders, the membership rates, and approximate number of words printed per dollar of expenditure based, in the case of societies, on membership rates.
SOCIETY
JOURNALS RECEIVED ON BASIS OF MEMBERSHIP
SUB SCRIPTION PRICE TO PUBLIC
APPROXIAPPROXI SUBMATE MATE SCRIPTION WORDS SENT N U M B E R OF PRICE MEMBERS WORDS PER AND PER Y E A R TO MEM BERSHIP
DOLLAR MEMΒ ERS
767,200 11,507,900 C. Α., J. Am. Chem. Soc, and Ind. Eng. Chem. S18.50 $15.00 274,500* 4,314,200 J. Chem. Soc. and Brit. Chem. Abs., A and Β £10, 7s £4, 10s 293,000* 4,615,200 J Soc. Chem. Ind. (includes Abstracts B) and Brit. Chem. Abs., A £ 7 , 17s, 6d £4 f 10s Ber. 16.80) 38.40 } 199,300 } 7,652,100 Chem. Zentr. iS'SS* 14.40 172,500 2,484,700 Verein deutscher Chemiker Z. angew. Chem , Chem. Fabrik, and Chem. Ind. 22.08 7.50 104,000 780.300 Deutsche Bunsen Gesellschaft 21,000 1,376,600 Z. Elektrochem. 11*25 27,500 925,000 Z. physik. Chem. 65.66 12.50 86,600 1,083,000 American Ceramic Society 10.00 27,300 Z. anorg. all g em. Chem. . ?2·55 American Leather Chemists' Association 13.00 35,200 457,600 J. Am. Ceram. Soc. (includes Ceramic Abstracts and Bulletin) 15.00 Electrochemical Society 12 J. Am. Leather Chem. Assoc, (includes Abstracts) *99 516,200 34,400 15.00 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Trans. Electrochem. Soc. and Bull. Am. Electrochem. Soc. 6.50 $4 33,170 331,700 10.00 Trans Am. Inst. Chem. Engrs. (2 vols.) ^jf6 p e r American Institute of Chemists The Chemist 2.00 * On basis £ 1 =· $3.50.
American Chemical Society Chemical Society (London) Society of Chemical Industry Deutsche chemische Gesellschaft
NEWS
122
SOCIETY M E M B E R S H I P A N D E X P E N D I T U R E S
Details of the growth of SOCIETY membership from 1906 "to 1932, inclusive, a n d of SOCIETY expenditures on its journals, and total expenditures are shown in the following table. The journal expenditures given do not include the cost of printing advertising, or of business management, but the total contains -these costs, together with expenses of the offices of t h e Treasurer, President, and Secretary, Monographs, local sections, general meetings, incidentals, net cost of reprints, News Service, etc. Full details will be found in the Proceedings for the years indicated. SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP AND EXPENDITURES YEAR
1906 1907 1910 1915 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932
J. AM. MEMBER CHEM. SOC. SHIP 3,079 3,389 5,081 7,417 12,203 13,686 15,582 14,318 14,400 14,348 14,515 14,381 14,704 15,188 16,240 17.426 18,206 18,963 18.572
$ 9,344.84 7,183.75 9,067.83 17,846.75 19,914.46 25,996.68 45,241.40 47,963.82 47,150.15 48,410.19 42,843.52 46,578.50 49.513.30 50,669.55 54,953.32 61,846.83 89,335.02 69.846.83 71,949.24
IND. E N G . CHEM.
C. A. $ 15,608.89 24,722.49 34,820.62 42.414.64 57,828.88 82,021.71 98,963.59 98,965.15 98,826.98 102,280.01 99,024.24 107,404.10 114,563.29 142,356.51 173.929.90 189,772.50 192,664.16 186.388.37
S
7,295.35 25,447.05 39,952.27 52,759.71 70,656.35 81,256.20 70,084.58 73,520.74 80,447.99 84,115.98 89,123.73 91,755.84 93,120.86 107,265.45 123.369.81 121,024.30 112,914.77
TOTAL FOR YEAR
$ 20,494.44 27,248.89 52,483.74 107,090.92 158,719.84 212,058.31 289,203.90 324,263.38 295,238.00 306,891.54 315,214.74 323.773.07 352,276.48 369,393.19 413.258.60 476,128.37 548.364.74 523,650.31 493,387.06
J O U R N A L A N D M E M B E R S H I P C O S T COMPARISON
The membership dues of the SOCIETY were made $15.00, beginning with 1921. Members should note the increased re turn t h e y are receiving in 1932, compared with 1921, within which period there has been no increase in individual member expenditure. The following table brings this out clearly: 1921 1930 1932 12,700 17,041 16,730 Paid members
