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I S D C S T R I A L ALYD ENGISEERISG CHEIIIISTRY
niajority of the health hazards in industry today are of chemical origin, and much of the future research in this field will doubtless be conducted within the realm of industrial chemistry. Here is a definite call for service, and the chemical industry owes it to itself and its public to take the lead without delay in organizing and forwarding those thorough-going investigations without which the necessary data for the avoidance of hazards cannot be secured.
The Insects AETERLIKCK said that insects are so incomparably better armed and better equipped than ourselves that they are perhaps our successors. The recent invasion of one more insect-the Mediterranean fruit fly-serves again to call our attention to the never-ceasing warfare between man and these tiny competitors of his. We confess that there is almost enough in the situation to make us pessimistic. But for our implicit faith in what can be accomplished through science when the urge is great enough, we should be inclined t,o wager on the side of the insects. L. 0. Howard, who for so many years was chief of the Bureau of Entomology, has quoted proved estimates to the effect that, under favoring conditions and in the absence of all enemies, the plant lice descended from one individual of one species in a single season would weigh more than five times as much as all the people of the world. Some insects have as high as 70 per cent females in their offspring, and the fecundity of these creatures is nothing short of amazing. The insects have most of the odds in their favor. They were here eons before we were. Their distribution has been greatly aided by modern transportation, which makes it more difficult to enforce quarantines, and they thrive in new locations from which their natural enemies are absent. Their powers of flight, their color protection, their adaptation, their short period of infancy, the security enjoyed by the eggs and larvae, as in the case of the cotton boll weevil and the hlediterranean fruit fly, their habit of occupying the under side of leaves as do the Mexican bean beetles, the protection afforded in hibernation like that enjoyed by the corn borer, and the complete change in the method of reproduction which characterizes some of the aphids are but a few instances of what we have in mind. Some of our worst pests combine great flexibility of movement with an armorlike shell-and one might continue almost indefinitely. So far in this combat man has had to use materials many of which are poisonous to him, as well as to the insect he seeks to destroy. There is much agitation concerning arsenical residues on apples and other fruit. Some find cause for alarm in the steadily increasing amounts of lead and arsenic which are put upon our soils. Even such materials as we apply to growing plants need to be renewed a t considerable expense, following rains and other unfavorable weather. Many of the insects are not affected or are not reached by the materials and our present methods of applying them. It is evident t o us that the amount of research devoted to the control of insects is far from adequate. You note we refer to control and not to extermination, for to the best of our knowledge the natural enemies, plus the best that science has so far been able t o do, have in no case exterminated a pest. The most that is hoped for is such a control that we are able to secure for human use the major part of the harvest. As we have pointed out before, there is a real need for other types of insecticides, fungicides, and germicides potent in destroying our enemies, yet less dangerous to the human being. We are not unmindful of what has been accomplished, and we have a profound respect for the research that is al-
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ready in progress. The task is great, however, and to our minds the workers are far too few.
Pygmies T WOULD be unfair not to share with our readers the smile Ilowing which was ours upon reading in Chemical Markets the folquotation from the Manchester Guardian Commercial: The chemistry of today remains almost wholly the product of British and German research, while the chemical trade of the world is dominated by two firms-one British and the other German. These two-Imperial Chemical Industries and the almost be called the nationalized I. G Farbenindustrie-might chemical industries of their respective countries; beside them a representative American firm such as d u Pont de Nemours & Co., despite its growth last year, is a mere pygmy.
So much has been published concerning the size of the I. G. and the I. C. I. that our readers must be familiar with such statistics as invested capital, acres of floor space, number of employees, annual profits, partial lists of products, and the other yardsticks by which concerns are ordinarily measured. The same must be true with respect to such a representative firm as E. I. du Pont de Kemours & Co., Inc., the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation, and those other American firms, to list which would require more space than is a t our disposal, which may be considered fairly representative of industrial chemistry in this country. We do not know who wrote the paragraph in the M a n chester Guardian Commercial, and of course in describing our feeble efforts as having produced “a mere pygmy” he uses a relative term, justified or not depending upon your point of view. But we would like the opportunity to take a little stroll with him about certain American plants with which we are familiar, and then compare not the material size of various enterprises as much as actual accomplishment. We believe, all things considered, he might desire to use some other figure of speech the next time he undertakes to write of the chemistry of today. I n this we would by all means include the research of our educational, industrial, and federal laboratories as a part of what America has to offer, not only to industry but as a contribution to world science.
Investment in Research N OUTI+IXISG the benefits of research to agriculture, Iaddress A. F. Woods, of the Department of Agriculture, in a radio stated that for every dollar invested in agricultural research there has been an annual return to the nation of five hundred dollars. After calling attention to the extended agricultural college and experimental work in the direction of more fundamental research made possible by legislative acts in the last few years, he pointed out that each station now receives 890,000 annually from the Federal Government and that, in most states, about three times this sum in addition is provided by the state for operating expenses and research. All of his figures were based upon statistical studies, and it developed that the states and the United States now spend about twenty-five million dollars a year in the development of agricultural industries valued a t sixty billion dollars and with a gross income of ten billion dollars. Other industries of the country, according to the statistics of Doctor Woods, now invest approximately one hundred and eighty million dollars a year for research and development. This is considerably more in proportion than is invested by agriculture. These figures are interesting as giving us the latest estimates of the extent to which industrial America has come through experience to believe in pure and applied research.
September, 1929
I X D U S T R I A L AiVD EiVGIh’EERIh7G CHEMISTRY
It would be surprising if, in the expenditure of so large an amount, a great deal of waste did not occur, but it can be shown that the present prosperous state of the nation is in no small degree due to the willingness to make such investments in scientific work and in the development of the ideas and data which come from the laboratories. T o estimate the return on this great investment would be merely guessnTork. The increase in sums devoted to scientific work is the best evidence that those responsible for such funds are convinced of the earning power of research and, but for the occasional unimportant exception, there appears to be no inclination to abandon the scientific method and return to the days of chance and empiricism. The more forward-looking business organizations have determined the percentage upon capital or gross sales which they think they should spend upon research and development, and have made this as much a policy as percentages of profits set aside for surplus and reserves. I n one great industry, when a special problem arose for which no provision had been made in the research budget and the directors were not disposed to make further commitments, the advertising department came forward and offered to release some of the funds assigned to it that this new piece of research might go forward-an unusual tribute t o the earning power of research. Other industries may not have equaled the 50,000 per cent realized by agriculture on its research investment, but we doubt if any expenditures have earned more than those upon scientific work well chosen and properly directed.
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it could place its stamp of approval. These could be accepted by the commissioner as legitimate, authoritative, and unbiased. If those in authority think well of the suggestion, we believe no group will be found more willing to cooperate than will the American chemists, for they have suffered as much as any from the conditions which have been allowed to develop. A constructive piece of work of this character is one which the SOCIETY could carry on with a great deal of pride and profit, knowing that in helping the Patent Office not only individual chemists but the public as well would be served.
Fire! Fire! WO methods are presented under this heading in a Tcircular of the Crop Protection Institute, with the inquiry as to which of them most closely resembles our general procedure in dealing with a disease or an insect emergency. There is a little wisp of smoke. A man runs out of the house to a nearby corner and breaks a glass. Immediately the bell rings, the streets clear, and in a matter of minutes a young army of men is on the spot, trained, equipped, and ready to deal with the incipient blaze. The householder wakes up smelling smoke and finds a fire beyond his control. He calls up the fire department. He is told that the regular fire force will not be available until after next pay day-the day after tomorrow. The Chief promises to send some one to look into the matter, and scurries out and collects a newsboy, a policeman, a tramp, a reporter, and two nightbirds. They finally arrive a t the spot to find a helpless crowd and the whole block in flames.
There are still industries which carefully organize against fire and carry insurance to protect against property damage but which give no thought to the opportunities science offers. Property which burns is replaceable, but a position lost through failure to know may never be regained. To remain unorganized to cope with emergencies, to meet which that type of information gained only through research is needed, is t o invite ultimate embarrassment or disaster. The executive who looks to the future with confidence is the one who knows he can place dependence in his scientific staff and technical organization to combat the incipient blaze or the prairie fire should one appear.
B U T would you think of that old saying in connection with the Patent Office? Mr. McElroy, in his letter to the Editor concerning the injustice which we do the Patent Office in complaining, suggests that “concerns aggrieved by the appearance of what they think are new patents on old things would display an intelligent self-interest by sharing their tabloided information with the Patent Office ” This is not put forth as a novel idea, but one which deserved more publicity and upon which it would appear something constructive might be erected. We are indebted to Bruce K. Brown for the further thought that the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,probably through the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, might appoint a special committee t o assist the Patent Office by providing it with the bibliogH E continued mechanization of industry, the increase in raphies and digests of the type that are constantly prepared automatic devices, and the perfection of remote control in the information departments of large industries. The Commissioner of Patents would fare badly if he at- have seemed to some to constitute factors leading to untempted to absorb such information as might be sent to him employment. Instead, they indicate the growing need for from all sources without proper organization, but we believe skilled, and a lessening demand for unskilled, labor. The that if he cared to do so he could profit greatly from such rate a t which automatic devices become installed is dean organized effort to provide him with “tabloided informa- termined not so much by the devices themselves as by a tion.” scarcity of skilled men able to install and maintain them in A committee such as hIr. Brown has suggested might have, satisfactory condition. Much of the labor performed in the among others, two functions: first, to encourage the coopera- past by the unskilled may now be done in large part by tion needed; and second, which is more important, to examine machines, but these create jobs rather than destroy them, the data and approve or disapprove them before they are place a premium on skill, and open up new possibilities for submitted to the examining divisions of the Patent Office. I n those who would improve themselves and increase their own the past, assistance has been offered the commissioner by capacities. various individuals, and probably one reason why he has not The same may be said for the profession of chemistry. openly invited it is that much of the material submitted to We, too, have our tasks which may be performed by those the examiners has been highly flavored with partisan ideas, comparable to the common laborers of other fields. Many if indeed it has not been deceptive in some instances. of them are performed by men who, strictly speaking, are A committee of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOC’IETY could not chemists, but there is a greater demand for skill than a t be set up and could eliminate this difficulty. It could forward any other time in our history, and the rewards for those who to the commissioner bibliographies and indexes upon which will make themselves skilful are great.
Skill
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