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recoverable as ammonium sulfate, in by-product ovens. As a matter of fact, we actually recovered but $3,800,000 worth and allowed more than $18,000,000 worth of this valuable material to go absolutely to waste. Worse even than this, over $zo,ooo,ooo worth of valuable g?s and coal tar was wasted at the same time and all because this country allows the beehive coke oven to continue its ruthless career.
THE ABUSE OF BRAND. BY A. D. LITTLE.
We all realize t h a t a concern, which, by years of aggressive and honest advertising, has built up a reputation for quality and attached t h a t reputation in the minds of consumers to a particular brand-name, is doing good work and t h a t the brand itself may properly become, as it so often does, an asset of great value to the concern ; and the consumer, particularly the small consumer, is very properly influenced in his selections by the reputation behind the brandname. On the other hand, particularly for the large consumer, and even for the small consumer, who does not stop t o think very much, there is no doubt t h a t the undue influence of the brand-name is ‘a factor which occasions oftentimes heavy losses in the purchase of supplies. The thing is illustrated very well b y an experience t h a t came within my knowledge a good many years ago, when a manufacturer of one of the best known brands of oilskin clothing found himself called upon t o meet a pretty severe competition. His goods were known as “Fish Brand” slickers, and in certain parts of the country, notably among the fishermen, they were the kind t h a t were given the preference always, and for which the maker and the retailer demanded a higher price. The manufacturer’s method of meeting this competition was this: He had large tables in the sample rooms of his factory, and when the buyers came there, as they did a t certain times of the year, and asked the price of “Fish Brand” slickers, they were told i t was what it had always been. “ B u t , ” they said, “we can buy slickers precisely as good as these of yours, for much less money.” The manufacturer said, “ I know i t . Come out here,” and then showed them, on a table, a great pile of his “Fish Brand” slickers, with the usual prices attached. At the other end of the table was a similar pile of slickers which he informed them were made of the same material as the “Fish Brand” in the same factory with the same care in making throughout. “You may have these slickers a t the price the other manufacturers offer.” “Very well,” they said, “we suppose you will put the ‘Fish Brand’ on them.” “Oh, n o , ” he replied, “if you want ‘Fish Brand’ slickers you must come down t o this end of the table a n d buy the ‘Fish Brand’ a t the old price.” And they bought the “Fish Brand” slickers, because they knew t h a t they would meet with more ready sale, even a t the higher price, b y reason of the reputation which t h a t brand had acquired with their custopers. Speaking generally, the consumer who buys b y brand.
CHEXISTRY.
Mar ,
1 ~ 1 2
instead of basing his selection on the intrinsic quality of the thing t h a t he’is buying, is pretty apt t o pay a higher price. The oil trade is one that is peculiarly given to placing a high artificial value upon the brand. I have in mind a certain oil which is very largely sold a t 6 5 cents per gallon, t h a t is, if you are very anxious t o have t h a t particular brand. If you are not so anxious, the price goes down to 50 and sometimes to q j cents. But if you will take care to determine the price of oil of the same quality exactly, you will find t h a t you can buy it in the open market a t 30 cents, and sometimes as low as 2 7 cents per gallon. Where a man buys oil with little knowledge as to the quality, the brand-name undoubtedly- helps him very much, but he often pays an inordinately high price because of his adherence t o the brand. I remember a grease sold under a certain brand, to which one concern was attached, which they purchased a t 37 cents per pound. T h a t particular grease on specification they afterward bought a t 5 - 1 2 cents per pound. The same thing is illustrated frequently in the paper mill. The paper mill superintendent is peculiarly conservative, and he also generally knows just what he wants. The trouble is t h a t so few of them want the same thing. The two standard brands of alum for many years have been Harrison Bros.’ “Extra Concentrated” and the Katrona “Porous.” Both are of. excellent quality and strength and both have sold a t the top of the market. Either is good enough for the best work of any mill. There are many old papermakers, however, who are convinced t h a t i t is easy to make good paper when one of these brands is used and impossible to do so with the other. As to which is which, the vote would probably be a tie. N o w the fact is, there are other alums t h a t are quite as good as the ones bearing these brand-names, and often in the making of paper such high-grade alums are not required. Lower-grade and far cheaper alums will often serve the purpose, so t h a t if, instead of adhering strictly to the brand-name, the superintendent had been willing to select his alum on the basis of its intrinsic properties and his particular requirements, and then buy t h a t alum a t the market price, he would have saved his employers a great deal in the course of the year. The trouble in sticking to the brand is t h a t i t narrows the range of the market, and that always means high prices. There are a number of trade expressions t h a t have almost the force of a brand. “Manila paper” has had for many years the reputation of being the strongest sort of wrapping paper available. The papermakers began to trade upon t h a t reputation and upon the resistance of the consumer for paper of t h a t name and they kept lowering the quality of such papers until today “manila paper” does not mean paper containing any manila film, b u t a paper made from sulphite fiber, with sometimes 6 0 per cent. of ground wood. At the present time there are far better wrapping papers on the market than
these so-called m a n i l a s . What the b u y e r of w r a p p i n g paper w a n t s is a r e a and strength. By c o n s i d e r i n g t h e s e two f a c t o r s in c o n n e c t i o n w i t h price and w i t h o u t r e g a r d t o w h a t the p a p e r may be called, many of t h e l a r g e r c o n s u m e r s of w r a p p i n g p a p e r s c o u l d e a s i l y save t h o u s a n d s of dollars a y e a r . “Half-and-half solder” is not half l e a d and half tin, but 45 per c e n t . l e a d a n d 5 5 p e r c e n t . t i n , as o n e of our c l i e n t s found u p o n a n a l y s i s . H e s a i d t o the s a l e s m a n : “This is n o t half-and-half solder.” The s a l e s m a n r e p l i e d : “ I t c e r t a i n l y is. If you want 50 and 50, y o u s h o u l d h a v e specified s t r i c t l y guaranteed half-and-half. ” A n o t h e r e x a m p l e is of a c u t t i n g compound w h i c h sells a t 40 c e n t s u n d e r a b r a n d - n a m e and is c o m p o s e d o f m i n e r a l oil a n d s o a p . The man m h o takes the t r o u b l e t o find out what he is buying, who buys on i n t r i n s i c p r o p e r t i e s and m o n e y v a l u e and not on the s t r e n g t h of brand, saves the m a j o r p o r t i o n of t h a t
an)-
amount. T h e r e is a special s o r t of c l a y , very m u c h f a v o r e d Its p o p u l a r i t y has b e c o m e SO g r e a t that this clay, which originally came from a particular Ilit, ,s no^^^ in demand far beyond the capacity of t h a t p i t t o s u p p l y . The r e s u l t is t h a t the o p e r a t o r s bu!- “P ‘la). from a number Of pits in the district and put it Out under the Old brand, whereas from these pits Tvithout the brand Probably be b o u g h t f o r s u b s t a n t i a l l y less money. P e r h a p s t h e r e is no m o r e f l a g r a n t e x a m p l e of the misuse of brands and t h e loss t h a t c o m e s t o the c o n s u m e r t h r o u g h b u y i n g on t h e name r a t h e r than t h e a c t u a l m o n e y v a l u e , t h a n in t h e c a s e of b u y i n g b o i l e r V e have f o u n d p e o p l e buying w a s t e compounds molasses at 65 c e n t s per g a l l o n , 62 c e n t s of w h i c h w e n t for t h e b r a n d - n a m e , and w e h a v e f o u n d b r a n d s of b o i l e r c o m p o u n d s w h i c h p r o v e d to c o n t a i n only j p e r c e n t . of t o t a l solids, t h e b a l a n c e b e i n g water. T h i s s i t u a t i o n as t o c e r t a i n f o r m s of m e r c h a n d i s e and s u p p l i e s w h i c h o b t a i n s very w i d e l y in t h e c o u n t r y is v e r y a n a l o g o u s t o that w h i c h p r e v a i l e d as t o f o o d s p r i o r to t h e passage of t h e P u r e F o o d L a w . T h a t l a w h a s h a d s u c h f a r - r e a c h i n g c o n s e q u e n c e s for g o o d that I am c o n v i n c e d t h a t t h e c o u n t r y also n e e d s v e r y b a d l y i n d e e d a “Pure M e r c h a n d i s e Law..” If s u c h a l a w is t o b e s e c u r e d , i t m u s t be m a i n l y through t h e e a r n e s t a n d c o n t i n u e d t e a c h i n g and a g i t a t i o n of o u r i n d u s t r i a l chemists.
bq-p a p e r - m a k e r s .
DISCUSSIOS.
~ I K11-1~~1 ixs I am very much interested in this subject-the earnest plea for intelligent buying upon specification and the knowledge by the purchaser that he is selecting a commodity for the particular use for which i t is intended, rather than buying some particular brand. U‘e might go on and cite instances indefinitely, hut one very popular error exists in the matter of the purchase of coal from a given mine. As we all know, Mother Nature did not put things down in an absolutely uniform way, and there is no good reason for expecting an absolute uniformity in the grade of coal coming from a given mine. It is very much better t o use a chemist and find o u t the coal best suited to the particular purpose, and put it up to the dealer to get i t wherever he can under the circumstances.
MR. GALLAGHER: T& e’ received a sample of liquid some time ago which was for use with poison fly paper and vinegar and sugar To make the fly trap thoroughly effective it was necessary to add two or three drops of the solution to the dish containing the fly paper. Careful analysis showed that the solution contained only one per cent. of sodium acetate. On our recommendation the poisoned paper, vinegar and sugar were used as specified, but without the mysterious and expensive liquid The results, we learn, mere quite as disastrous to the flies. M R BUELL: One thing which works to the disadvantage of the use of specifications for these various materials and the doing away with the influence of the “Brand” is that there seem to be no definite requirements which are widely known. If i t were possible to state the various properties, i t ivould help materially and do away with a good many of the talking points which are used for maintaining the usually fictitious valuable property of any certain “Brand.” MR PARSONS: I had recently an interesting conversation with the Chief Chemist of one of our large oil companies on the subject of oil. He told me of the most extreme case I have ever heard, although we all know of cases where people are paying between three and four times the price they would if they bought oil instead of the brand. In the particular case cited, the salesman made the consumer believe that he should use a certain oil, a t 85 centsa gallon, The buyer was a man mho could be readily influenced, because about a month later another salesman told him that this man’s oil was good, the very best, no doubt, hut he had the same oil which he could let him have for 7 0 cents a gallon. And this inaugurated a rate war until the price got down to 27 cents per gallon. The oil was supplied by the refiner a t 18 cents by the barrel, and was open to the public a t that price if bought on specification. The fact is certainly true that automobilists are paying twice as much for the brand as they are for the oil. We are told of a case in which a man bought an oil t h a t was said not to have any “specific gravity” in it. MR. LITTLE: Right along that line, I might say that the Boston School Committee some years ago bought a lot of coal which they specified as “New River coal of the best quality.” When the coal came, it proved to be a low-grade Pennsylvania coal, containing something like 6 per cent. of sulphur. We presently found that i t was heating up in the schoolhouses where it mas stored (in one case i t went up some 90 degrees in a day), making it necessary to put a gang of men to work to clean out all the coal in order to save the school-house. When the contractor appeared before the Board to explain the sudden drop in quality of Kew River coal, it soon developed that he did not know where New River coal originated and did not know how i t came to Boston. Finally he said: “ I don’t know what you are kickingabout anyhow. This is the same coal that you have had for the last six years.” One other case similar to that is whcre a concern was buying oil and had been doing so for years for 45 cents per gallon. We got out specifications for them under which the oil was offered a t 2 3 cents; then the salesman, who sold the concern originally, came to the manager and said: “We do not want to bid on specifications; we do not believe in specifications, hut you just let me know the lowest price offered on these specifications, and we will put the old brand of oil in a t that price,” which he did. \Ve had a similar case where a man who was running a laundry brought to my office a piece of material, in the form of a cube about one inch square. He had been buying it for years a t
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a price of 15 cents a cube and thought it was a great cleansing agent. The “manufacturer” put the price up from 15 to 2 5 cents a cube. This seemed too much, and he decided to investigate and see if he could not obtain the material more cheaply. The cube of material turned out to be paraffine wax weighing about I O grams, and worth 4 cents a pound. We had the other day a sample of coal that analyzed 4 per cent. sulphur. The buyer said he did not understand the analysis at all. That the man who sold him the coal guaranteed i t to be “free from sulphur and B. T.U.”
THE
RELATION
OF THE SILICATE CONSERVATION.
INDUSTRIES TO
B y A. V. BLEININGER.
The growth of the American silicate industries, comprising the manufactures of clay products, cement and glass, is remarkable for its steadiness. The valuation of the clay products manufactured in 1910 is estimated by the U. S.Geological Survey to have been $170,11 j , o a o , that of Portland cement $67,506,000, and the value of the various glass products for which figures are not yet available certainly cannot be less than $ 7 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 . These industries are thus of a magnitude which renders them an important factor in the industrial development of the country. The relation of the clay, cement and glass industries t o conservation presents a different aspect from the one commonly considered in connection with the mineral wealth of the country, There need be no fear of exhausting the raw materials required in the manufacture of the products in question. On the contrary, their part in the policy of conservation requires that they be drawn upon on an ever increasing scale. Humanly speaking, our deposits of clay, limestone, sand, gravel, feldspar, soda, fluorspar, etc., are inexhaustible. The more of these materials enter into our civilization, the greater will be the gain of the nation inasmuch as thus more valuable materials, such as wood, are replaced and made available for more urgent needs. The two factors entering into the manufacture of silicate products are labor and fuel. From raw materials of no intrinsic value, the hand of man fashions useful products. The interests of conservation are hence principally affected only in so far as these industries make demands upon the common fuel supply. This need not be a serious factor with proper regulation. The silicate industries may thus be said t o be valuable aids in the cause of conservation in the true sense of the word. Upon closer analysis, the functions of the clay, cement and glass products have an important bearing upon a t least four important phases of modern civilization : I . Fire proof construction. 2 . Drainage, sanitation, and the control of the water resources. 3. The construction of permanent roadways. 4. Improvement of domestic and public housing conditions through the agency of a permanent architecture and the influence of th6 artistic handicrafts.
CHEMISTRY.
Mar.. 1912
No chapter of our statistics is more striking than that relating t o our fire losses, expressed both in terms of human life and property. It portrays realistically the policy of extravagance and recklessness which dominates our nation a t the present time. Mr. Herbert M. Wilson, formerly of the U. S. Geological Survey, in an address before the National Underwriters Association in 1909, estimated the total cost of the fires, for the year 1907, excluding forest fires, but including excess cost of fire protection due to bad construction and excess premiums paid over insurance paid, a t $456,48j,000, “ a tax upon the people exceeding the total value of the gold, silver, copper and petroleum produced in the United States in that year.” The per capita loss by fire in Europe is only one-seventh of what it is in this country, Now it is evident, even to the most casual observer, that the replacement of wood as a structural material by stone, burnt clay, concrete and steel, under equitable and properly enforced building codes, would lower our fire losses tremendously. Certainly a t least half of these losses are easily preventable. An exaggerated opinion prevails as to the cost of fire-proof construction. In the case of dwellings, the cost of wood is not considerably below that of the permanent, structural materials and i t has been shown in many localities that the difference does not amount to more than I O per cent. Owing to the rapid development of the clay and cement industries on the one hand and the increasing cost of lumber on the other, it is not unlikely that the balance as regards first cost will soon be in favor of the fire-proof products. If permanency, low rate of depreciation and of repairs are considered, in addition to the fire-proof quality, this point has long been reached. The part played by clay and concrete in the construction of our sewer and sewer disposal systems is so obvious as t o need no particular mention. With reference to the sanitation ‘of the municipal unit, the single building, a good deal remains t o be done This is especially true where aseptic conditions should prevail to as large an extent as possible, as in hospitals, school-houses, railroad stations, theaters and halls, public baths, slaughter- and packing-houses, manufactories of foods, etc. This question certainly pertains to the most important of all the conservation problems, the one dealing with public health. The clay, glass and enameled iron industries are in position t o furnish us with hard, impervious, glazed surfaces, capable of being kept clean or even sterile where it is necessary. Much needs to be done yet along these lines since the sanitary conditions of thousands of our public and semi-public buildings are primjtive t o say the least. As to the function of the silicate products in the work of controlling our water resources, it is scarcely necessary to say that a great part of this activity would have been utterly impossible without the enormous use of Portland cement. One of the leading problems confronting this generation is the ubiquitous question of good roads. This need is so thoroughly realized b y our citizens that any
