Vol. 18, No. 1
Alien Registration OUR effort to provide reasonable protection for the ItheNmaterials required by our chemical industry and for finished products of that industry, it is beginning to appear that we have overlooked the protection of the most vital element in the success of the industry, namely, the trained scientific worker. The gratifying success which has rewarded the establishment of our organic chemical industry has contributed to the situation which may soon threaten our research men. A few years ago there was nothing particularly to attract the foreign chemist to our commercial shores. Since then our industry has grown largely at the expense of his own, and new home conditions have contributed to make other lands attractive. These same conditions have created abroad a surplus of men trained in research so that today we frequently find men of foreign birth, training, and experience presenting themselves for employment in the plants of the American chemical industry. Some of these men are doubtless well trained, but many of them have been found to be inferior to the American chemist. They are unacquainted with costs of American living, and in order to get a foothold are willing to take as a n entrance salary a sum which is but a fraction of that being paid to the American chemist. A few cases have come to our notice where the American incumbent, though perfectly satisfactory and in no wise overpaid, has been dismissed and his place taken by the foreigner who is willing to work for less. Occasionally the new employee is soon found to be unsatisfactory. More often he finds he must have a higher wage to live comfortably under American conditions, and if he is dismissed for any reason there is likely to be another of his kind at the gate glad to take the place he vacates. Industry will eventually find this procedure costly and unsatisfactory. A few good men may find their way into American industry, but in the long run they will save their employers nothing. Meanwhile we are confronted with the necessity of protecting American chemists. How can this be accomplished? Unlike most countries, there is no provision in the United States for the registration of aliens. The educated man pays no attention to the immigration quota. He enters as a tourist, or as a business man, or under some other classification which indicates a temporary visit and not the intention to make our country his home. We have no laws requiring the registration of such visitors, nor have we machinery whereby their movements can be recorded. They are soon lost among our many millions of population. The registration of such aliens would greatly assist in eliminating the unfair competition to which our scientists may become subjected and would be equally useful in many other circumstances. The increase in labor entailed in carrying out such work would not be important, and the mere fact that all visitors are required to register in some
JANUARY 1, 1926
detail would deter many from attempting to take advantage of this country’s hospitality. I n the absence of such regulations, members of the AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY who find their places threatened by those who come to us from abroad are invited to submit details to this office and we will undertake to ascertain, through the Bureau of Immigration, whether the man in question has established his right to accept employment in the United States. Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to expect sincere cooperation on the part of the industries. Industry has attained its present position largely through the contributions of American chemists. That position cannot be maintained without them, and there is nothing to indicate that a permanent advantage will be gained by shifting to other scientific advisors.
The Perennial Coal Strike HE easy recurrence of labor difficulties in our coal regions gives food for serious thought. The present anthracite strike is inconvenient but has no crippling influence on industry. If the coke producers cared to take advantage of the situation to secure permanently most of the anthracite market, they could do so by the simple device of maintaining a normal price for coke, thereby securing the good will of distributors and the consuming public. Instead, in most places the policy of getting all the traffic will bear has been followed, so that as soon as the strike is settled on the usual basis of allowing the public to pay, coke will lose what it might have gained. The same is not true in the bituminous field. Strikes there are of enormous industrial importance. Our railroads, which are so controlled by federal, state, and municipal governments as to leave but a small percentage of the management in the hands of the owners, consume approximately one-third of our coal. I n common with other power units they could not operate without coal. The question naturally arises, therefore, whether coal should not be classed a8 a public utility and so controlled as to minimize, if not render impossible, these. too frequent disturbances in the supply and price of a basic raw material. We would not go so far as to urge government operation, but it is obvious that a stop must be put to a system which permits a few leaders to precipitate a coal strike. As for t h e present strike, we devoutly hope that no hasty settlement will be made. I n time past various compromises have been effected, always a t the expense of the public, and although the additional cost has not always been considerable, we must not lose sight of the fact that unless a stand is taken against the unreasonable positions of certain factions of organized labor, we shall soon find ourselves in the hands of these groups, often operating under incompetent leadership, and eventually-be in the same predicament as our good friend England. With all due respect to labor, i t would be deplorable if our Government found itself unable
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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
to operate without going to the length which England finds necessary in consulting labor, which is often incompetent to consider and decide the questions involved. Labor is well treated in America and is more often than not misrepresented by the groups usually meant when the term “labor” is employed. The power of these groups must not increase.
Lectureships in Chemistry ORNELL UNIVERSITY has been so fortunate as to receive an anonymous gift of $250,000, the income of which is to be used to bring prominent men of science to Cornell, each for one or two semesters, to present the most recent advances and the methods and results of their own investigations in chemistry and allied fields in which they have won distinction. T o benefit science still further, the endowment will make possible publication of these lectures which, in time, will form a series of authoritative monographs of distinct interest and value. The lectures will be open to the members of the staff of other educational institutions, thus giving them an unusual opportunity to hear world leaders in chemical and physical science. I n addition to the honor of presenting such lectures, the nonresident lecturers will have placed a t their disposal a private research laboratory where they will instruct a limited number of properly qualified students. Shortly after the New Haven meeting we stressed the desirability of bringing to our centers of learning the chemical leaders of other lands and of offering in exchange our own chemical leaders on some mutually satisfactory basis. While the establishment of the new nonresident lectureship a t Cornell is not an exchange professorship, it does mark a new departure which we heartily commend and establishes a t least one center in the United States to which will come in unbroken sequence the men whose work is known and whose names have become renowned in the field of chemistry. This anonymous gift, generous in its proportions but none too large for the work to be done under it, will not only add prestige to a university already famous, but do much toward furthering chemistry in America,
Vol, 18, No. 1
that the new program will enlist a more general scientific interest in petroleum, as well as promote the work by the employment of specially qualified workers. It is hoped that others who have devoted their talents to the develop ment of the petroleum industry and have greatly profited thereby will follow the lead of Mr. Rockefeller and later enhance the sum which the Institute will have available for research purposes. The AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, several of whose members are active in the American Petroleum Institute, congratulates the Institute and confidently expects the results obtained to assist in winning further substantial support for such an important undertaking.
Control from the Grave
M O R E than a generation ago conditions existed which led to the enactment of laws designed to forbid the operation of combinations or “trusts” detrimental to the best interests of the public. American business has learned much since that time. Conditions have changed in our own country and throughout the world. American business, today more prominent in world markets than ever before, is still being controlled by laws passed to meet conditions of a generation ago. Abroad changes have been made in business organizations to meet new world conditions. I n Japan two dye groups have merged in order to carry out a program of economy. This has been done to prevent wasteful competition and has the approval of the Japanese Government. The press has been devoting much space to mergers in Germany, where the vertical and horizontal trusts have been merged into one powerful cartel. The benefits include elimination of competitive buying of raw materials, reduction in overhead, consolidation of selling agencies, and a merger of financial resources. Whole plants may be devoted to a specialty with nothing to interfere with straight-line production. Other plants found to be surplus under the new order, are maintained in stand-by condition ready to speed the manufacture of new products born in the research laboratory. There is less competitive bidding for labor. There is a distinct saving in patent litigation, and innumerable opportunities so to reduce costs as to win a decided advantage in world markets. American business men are not blind to the potential ECEMBER was marked by the announcement of two advantages of such mergers. I n the chemical industry, notable gifts for the promotion of chemistry. Dr. in particular, great gains are possible for, as is well known, William H. Nichols, a charter member and the only American the by-products of one chemical group are the raw materials honorary member of the AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY, for another, and the economies that can be perfected in gave through the Nichols Foundation $600,000 with which allocation of plant space, transportation, handling, and to erect a new chemistry building at the University Heights the storage of both raw materials and finished products branch of Kew York University. With these new facilities are large in the aggregate. But American business men the program of graduate work in chemistry will be enlarged are barred from enjoying these advantages and are required and an impetus will be given to the chemical work of that to compete in world markets with a system which appears university. to have superior advantages. We have accomplished much John D. Rockefeller has pledged a fund of $250,000 for by mass production, but we no longer have a monopoly the initiation of a program of scientific research in petroleum, on that method and have never learned to practice those the work to be directed by the American Petroleum Institute. small economies in great business organizations which This fund is to be available in annual instalments of $50,000 characterize our foreign competitors. for five years, and is to be expended “primarily in supporting How long can the present American system successfully research fellowships in scientific institutions, the recipients compete in foreign markets with the German system of of such fellowships to engage in research on some problem business organization? We must have world markets if of the physics, chemistry, or geology of petroleum oils.” our chemical industry is to flourish. Has not the time come The results are to be made freely available to the industry when old legislation should be amended, or perhaps wiped and the public. off the statute books, and new laws enacted that will embody The need for such research in this important field has what we have learned regarding the federal control of business frequently been stressed and at times the industry has been organizations, so that we, too, may enjoy the advantages criticized for its failure to apply more intensively the tools of such combination for the promotion and not for the of the scientist in tilling its special field. It is believed restraint of trade?
Notable Gifts
