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.
The Lord Helps Those Who Help Themselves
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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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