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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
value to all by eminent food chemists and received new points of view for betterment of work each in his own factory. Can anyone doubt that f h e net outcome of such a gathering is increased prosperity to all? And the price of it was the disclosure to the Technical Bureau of the once prized secret formulas, the guarding of which had proved a brake upon the entire industry. Is there not food for thought in all of this for the chemical industries? Secrecy has been a part of our inheritance handed down from the age of alchemy, but the days of ultra-secrecy are passing. Not necessarily through a Technical Bureau, nor that fortunate medium which the canners found in their Research Laboratory in Washington, but certainly through some agency which will be found best adapted to the needs of their chemical staffs, a way will be found out of the fog of secrecy which now prevents full steam ahead. He who finds that way will be the true leader and benefactor of the American chemical industry.
The President Takes ,4 Hand The legal power of the War Trade Board to control by license importations of synthetic organic chemicals was to expire on August 27; unmistakable activity was noticeable in importing circles preparatory to the great day; Mr. Longworth, always on the watch, had introduced a resolution ’extending the period of this control five months; this had been reported favorably from the Ways and Means Committee, but amended to read three instead of five months. On August 11 the resolution came up for debate before that same House which only recently had defeated the embargo provision of the tariff bill, but suddenly the atmosphere cleared and the measure was quickly passed, for Mr. Longworth read to the House the following letter from President Harding: The White House Washington, August 10, 1921 Hon. Nicholas Longworth, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. My Dear Congressman Longworth: I have your note calling my attention to the fact that the bill extending the provisions of the emergency tariff act relating to the protection of the American dye and chemical industry is to be before the House on the morrow. I am aware that the Secretary of the Treasury has already called the attention of your committee to the extreme desirability of extending this protective provision. ’ Surely we would be both unmindful and unjust if we failed in a suitable protection of this industry until the new and complete tariff revision act is made effective. Very sincerely, (Signed) WARREN G. HARDINC Never was a more complete summing up given than in the three words: “unmindful and unjust.’’ They tell the history of yesterday, the duty of to-day and the danger of to-morrow. The President has plainly saved the day for the Emergency legislation. A still greater debt of gratitude will be owed to him if in the light of the strong letters of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy he throws his great influence to the preservation of the embargo feature in the permanent legislation, thereby assuring beyond a question the future of the industry. Mr. Harding is looking f a r into the future and seeking higher ground than either trade o r war. On the same
Vol. 13, No. 9
day his letter to MY. Longworth was made public there was published the text of the formal invitation to the nations to join in a disarmament conference. Evidently both the President and Secretary Hughes have. been giving due thought to the question of chemical disarmament, for in the invitation it is stated: “It may also be found advisable to formulate proposals by which in the interest of humanity the use of new agencies of warfare may be suitably controlled,” a cautious sentence conveying a conviction of the realities, the difficulties and the necessities of this momentous question. It may be that the President is “thinking it through.”
The Meeting and the Exposition The period, September 6 to 17, 1921, should prove historic for chemistry. Beginning with the Council Meeting on the sixth the Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Society will be held in New York City. British and Canadian chemists will join in the sessions. The advance activities of the officers of the Divisions and Sections give promise of scientific programs of unusual value, while for the general meetings with speakers of national and international distinction have been announced. With a brief intermission for excursions there follows the Seventh National Exposition of Chemical Industries, whose doors will be open from September 1 2 to 17. The conversion of the Grand Central Palace into an office building made necessary the removal of the Exposition to other quarters. Fortunately, there was found in the Armory of the Eighth Coast -4rtillery an ideal building. Its floor space is so enormous a s to admit of installation of an even greater numbel. of exhibits than in previous expositions, all on one floor. Perhaps this may prove symbolical of greater unification in the industry. The past year has been a trying one. Chemistry was no exception to the rule in the depression which characterized all lines of industrial effort. But we have carried an additional load of uncertainty as regards the ontcome of legislation. The sky is not yet clear, but the clouds are breaking and a t any time the sun of prosperity and certain future may break through. If so it will make this great gathering one long to be remembered. Frankly, we are optimistic.
Experimental Evidence It was in Philadelphia, t h a t city of due decorum, on July 19, 1921, some four years after the use of tear g a s for dispersing men engaged in fiercest warfare, that there assembled, despite the prevaIent crime wave, some two hundred members of the Police Force, with no sense of the humor of the situation, to determine definitely whether, as an organized group, they could, without gas masks, charge a given point through an atmosphere of one of the most powerful lachrymal gases known. The impossibility of such an accomplishment could readily have been attested to b y the merest yardboy a t Edgewood Arsenal. Such conservatism and such slowness to utilize modern weapons suggests the attitude of those thoroughly set and comfortable officers of our Navy who still see no demonstration of anything worth while for their consideration from the recent sinking of a destroyer, a cruiser and a battleship off Hampton Roads by high explosives dropped from airplane squadrons. Experimental evidence sometimes leads to false conclusions. The doughboys could have given advice based upon actual experience.
