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instance by the war, but men have been assigned by the War Department to assist in war problems. For example, the Bureau of Standards a t present has 7 0 men in uniform assigned to it from various brancbes of the Government. These are for the main part engaged on studies of new methods of analysis, research on analysis of special materials, analysis of Government supplies, and development of airplane dopes, and study of new and improved specifications on Government supplies. The studies of electroplating with reference to Government needs and the study of the physical characters of alloys have been taken up. The truly extensive chemical work of the civilian bureaus and their relations to war work will be published in detail a t some future time. IV-COMMITTEE
ON CHEMICALS. CHEMICAL ALLIANCE WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD
I n the very early days of the war, the Committee on Chemicals, headed by Dr. Wm. H. Nichols, president of our Society, and consisting of the leaders of our chemical industries, gave unstinted and invaluable service to the Government in coordinating the country’schemical manufacturing resources, in increasing the output of our chemical plants, and in allocating and fixing prices to the Government of the finished product. The value of these services cannot be over-stated, although comparatively little has been written about them When the various war committees of the Council of National Defense were discontinued and their functions absorbed by the War Industries Board, the Chemical Alliance was formed to serve as a clearing house of the chemical manufacturers in their dealings with the Government through the War Industries Board. It was organized primarily a t the request of the Department of Commerce to assist in clearing up business questions in connection with the importation of pyrite, but later it became a regularly organized trade association, without any official Government connection, t o which the War Industries Board can turn for expert advice. Some of the directors a t first were original members of the Committee on Chemicals, with Dr. Nichols as president. Later Dr. Nichols retired and Mr. Horace Bowker, vice president, was made president of the Alliance. The War Industries Board has been active in the chemical field since its inception. It has well-organized committees to deal with chemical trade matters, especially with the allocating of material, fixing of prices, study of contracts, and a clearing of orders for both the Army and Navy. V-NATIONAL
RESEARCH COUNCIL
The National Research Council early organized a chemistry committee, of which Prof. M. T. Bogert was made chairman. When later Professor Bogert was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in the Chemical Service Section, Dr. John Johnston was put in charge of this work for the National Research Council, and continues in that capacity. A meeting of prominent chemists takes place in Washington in the rooms of the National Research Council twice weekly, and the conferences serve as a clearing house of research work going on in Washington and in the country. The National Research Council has from the first served as a valuable feeder and intermediary on research between t%e universities and the Government. The Council has suggested and cleared many research problems both in this country and abroad. VI-GEOPHYSICAL
LABORATORY
The Geophysical Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Arthur I ,. Day, has engaged in important war work since the beginning of the war. The developments which this laboratory have made in optical glass are well known and have had an important bearing on the war’s progress. The laboratory has been assisting on the nitrate investigations and other problems. The
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high standing of its corps of chemists is well known to all members of our Society. VII-THE
WAR TRADE BOARD, SHIPPING BOARD, ADMINISTRATION, TARIFF COMMISSION
FOOD
These important Government departments all require chemists and utilize chemists in a consulting and directing capacity. The War Trade Board has as a member, Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor, who is assisted in passing upon chemical matters by Dr. A. S. Mitchell, Mr. E. M. Hendrix and Dr. R. P. Noble. The chemical work of the Shipping Board has been under the direction of Dr. W. €3. D. Pennirnan, who, while shutting off the importation of certain products, has helped produce- excellent substitutes theref or. The Food Administration has been guided in chemical matters chiefly by Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor and Mr. Charles W. Merrill. The chemical work of the Tariff Commissiog is under the direction of Dr. Grinnell Jones, who this morning gives you a full description of the information being gathered by the Tariff .Commission on chemical matters to guide it iq its recommendations to Congress, both during and after the vyqr.
. . . . . . .
Many departments of the Government have been in constant communication with our Alliei on research and industrial chemical matters. Chemical liason officers have been sent from the Army and Navy and some of the civilian bureaus t o keep in touch with foreign development and practice, aqd their services have been invaluable. In this connection it should be particularly pointed out that not all of the development of chemistry in this country is our own accomplishment, for we have obtained information of the highest importance through the efforts of these liason officers. On the other hand, chemical information of the highest importance has been sent from America t o Europe. War, the destroyer, has been on the other hand the incentive to marvelous chemical development with a speed of accomplishment incomprehensible in normal ’ times. Discoveries made in the search for instruments of destruction are already in use for the development of chemical industry. Many others, unpublished as yet, and to remain unpublished until the war is over, will prove of the utmost benefit to mankind. The same agencies that add to the horror of war to-day, the same reactions which are used in the development of explosives and poisonous gases on the one hand, and in counteracting their effect on the other, will find immediate and useful application in the years to come. The war has been prolonged by chemistry. The German chemist, apparently working for years with war in view, has supplied the German armies with the means for their ruthless warfare, but the chemists of America and our Allies have met them fully in chemical development, and when the chemical story of the war is written where all can read, it will be t h e verdict of history that the chemists of America were not found wanting. The chemical program of the United States Army and Navy has been a t all times ahead of our trained man power and the mechanical devices necessary to apply what the chemists of America have produced. THE WORK OF THE CHEMICAL SECTION OF THE WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD By CHARLES H. MACDOWELL Director, Chemicals Division, War Industries Board
Mr. Hoover says that Food will win the war. Mr. Garfield opines that Fuel will win the war. Mr. Hurley knows that Ships will win the war. Mr. Raplogle thinks that Steel will win the war. After hearing Dr. Parsons’ address I am sure you all feel that Chemicals will win the war. Of course, i t is the sum total of effort that will win the war.
O c t . . 1918
T H E JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING.CHEMISTRY
The chemical industry is a war industry; the chemist, a war worker. Both the industry and the chemist have been contributing their facilities, education, training, and ability t o defeat their enemies The German chemical industry has been the best advertised industry in the woild. Its personnel has been charged with arrogating to itself the possession of most of the world’s chemical ability, crediting but little of the sum total of chemical accomplishments to outsiders, This extreme claim of superknowledge and ability is disputed in many quarters, and it is even intimated that their chemical success has come more from their ability to exploit the ideas of the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin mind than from inherent chemical imagination and creative powers, and that much of their original woPk is the accomplishment of the Jewish rather than the Teutonic mind. Be that as it may, the Germans, through methodical work, aggressive trade exploitation, careful patent manipulation, and a clear chemical vision, have developed a war chemistry which has contributed enormously, through ruthless application, to their war success as far as they have achieved success. Modern war calls for much that is useful in peace times. Agricultural chemistry in its development has contributed in no small way to the forging of the sword. Nitrogen compounds, sulfur, sulfuric acid, phosphorus, potash-all feeders of food and clothing crops-also feed the cannon, the trench grenade, the gas shell. Germany, through developments of this industry, had it in reserve for use in carrying out her daring political and trade plans. Her developnient of by-product coking and aggressive maintenance of her dye monopoly covered the accumulation and a large immediate production of war chemicals. The development of her potash industry gave her large production of chlorine, bromine, and alkalies, and tied in closely with her government salt monopoly. Her work in ferro-alloys, as well as her manufacture and sale of armament, camouflaged a large production of special cannon, armor plate, ucts. Even in optical glass she had a s and the more or less innocent snapshotter contributed to her war purposes. The Diesel engine, the efficient gasoline motor developed by automobile racing and readily adapted for aeroplane work, were both available for war use. Haber’s nitrogen fixation method was developed and working, and connected with Ostwald’s work, hastened the decision to go to it. The Germans appreciated fully the significance of the old negro saying, “White man’s lazy.” They knew that i t was easier for most folk to buy rather than to make, and they pitched their price t o the end that they would make and others would buy They did not, however, give full credit to the latent powers of other people and what others would do t o keep from getting licked. The Allied world has found itself chemically, and has been happily surprised a t its chemical ability. What has been done in chemical, scientific, and mechanical accomplishment will be of benefit long after the war is over. When our country entered the fight, we were confronted with the necessity of starting a big business a t the top-always a difficult task. We were credited with rather an unusual ability for organization, standardization, and “get together,” and we had t o draw heavily on this credit. War material is a substance and not a theory. Ore had to be dug and shipped. Machinery had to be built. Articles had to be made. Vision had to be enlarged. We were asking much of our peace-time war organization. Our immediate political accomplishments were remarkable as evidenced by the draft law, the marshalling of our man power. The American mind is a direct mind. It is too near pioneer days t o be otherwise. It has, however, a peculiar conceit somewhat akin t o that possessed by the young man who wants to find out for himself rather than follow his father’s counsel. In some directions we were unwilling t o accept Brit-
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ish and French practices as a foundation and improve by experience. We thought we could do better than they to begin with, and lost valuable time in consequence. I n organization we have had to get the round pegs into the round holes, and this has taken time. On the whole, our progress has been remarkable. Our public has naturally been impatient, not always fully appreciating the enormity of the task, and this impatience has a t times tended to force premature action. On the whole, constructive criticism has been very beneficial. The public have responded promptly t o all calls made on them for financial help, both for direct and indirect war purposes. The discipline of the country has been splendid and the people have responded willingly to every request calling for self-denial. The various scientific associations have answered quickly all calls, and their members have contributed largely, both in a military and civilian capacity, to the results which have been obtained. It was the task of the Council of National Defense, and later of the War Industries Board, to marshal the industrial forces of the country and the raw materials of the world that we might assemble, manufacture, and distribute what was needed. At the start the call for raw materials was relatively small, as manufacturing facilities were not sufficient to make for large production; but as the months have gone by production has increased and with it the need for greater supplies. This demand, coupled with the growth of our military forces, has borne down hard on many industries which normally have their right to full production but which must now be more or less dislocated and reduced in output or converted to direct war manufacture. The War Industries Board is endeavoring to handle these questions with as little injury as possible t o the industries. Sacrifice is called for on the part of industries as well as individuals. It has been a source of great satisfaction to the Board to note not only the willingness but the desire of the industries t o assist in carrying out its work even though great sacrifice were entailed. All they needed was to have the problem clearly stated and to have an understanding of the necessities. Before the formation of the War Industries Board, the Chemicals Committee of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense, under the chairmanship of your president, Dr. Nichols, laid the foundation for much that has been accomplished. The chemical needs of the country were foreseen, and plans were laid for supplying them. When the Chemicals Committee was dissolved, ’along with other committees, the Chemicals and Explosives Division of the War Industries Board assumed in part the duties of the Chemicals Committee, the Chemical Alliance, Inc., as a war service committee representing in large part the chemical industry. Mr. I,. L,. Summers, who had been acting in a technical advisory capacity for Messrs. Morgan and Company, of New York, on Allied buying, had come to Washington a t the beginning of the war and was associated in a similar capacity with Mr. B. M. Baruch, now Chairman of the War Industries Board, Mr. Baruch a t that time handling raw materials. Later Mr. M. F. Chase joined the ranks working on the explosives program. Your speaker was commandeered about the first of November, taking charge of nitrates and general chemicals. At this time plans were arranged for the building of smokeless powder plants, nitrogen fixation plants, new by-product coke plants, gas-stripping plants, chlorine, and other needed facilities. Mr. Chase joined with Mr. D. C. Jackling, who acted as special agent in arranging for the erection of the smokeless powder plants. All of this work was done in cooperation with the War Department and the Navy. Dr. Marston T. Bogert joined the staff in November as its technical chemical adviser. In those days the organization was far from complete and every one acted as his own office boy; the hours were long and the work varied.
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Owing to the need of wood distillation products for aeroplanes, propellants, etc., the production of wood distillation plants throughout the United States was taken over and the product distributed. Platinum was also taken in hand. Arrangements were made for the international control of nitrate of soda and for its importation and distribution. This is in part the early history of the Chemicals Division of the War Industries Board. Mr. Baruch has been charged by President Wilson with the securing of new facilities for making war, with the conversion of existing facilities to war work, with the exercise of priorities, and has been termed the “official eye” of the Government t u view the entire field of war needs and arrange for procurement. I n carrying out this work as Chairman of the War Industries Board, which is no longer directly connected with the Council of Defense, he has continued as far as possible the organization existing a t the time he took hold. The Board is composed of members, directors of divisions, chiefs of commodity sections, a Priorities Division, a Price Fixing Committee, a Conservation Division, and a Requirements Committee. This latter committee meets each morning, its membership consisting of representatives of the Army, Navy, War Industries Board, Allied Buying Commission, Emergency Fleet, Fuel and Food Administrations, Department of Commerce, etc. Present and future requirements for the different commodities handled by the War Industries Board are submitted from time t o time and distributed t o the various divisions and commodity sections handling the different commodities. I n this way a reasohably correct idea of the present and future requirements is obtained. These are studied and from this suggestions are’ made as to the best method of procurement. If new facilities are required, the best way of obtaining them is studied and recommendations are made. While the Price Fixing Committee of the War Industries Board fixes maximum prices on many products, the actual buying of material needed for war purposes is carried out by the various procurement divisions of the Army, Navy, Emergency Fleet, and so on. The Conservation Division of the Board studies the possibilities of economies in industries, the substitution of more available materials for scarcer ones, the standardization of products as to packing, sizes, varieties of output, etc. I t has frequent consultations with the industries before askjng that their manufacturing procedure be modified in any way. The Priorities Division studies the subject of preference in raw materials, supplies, machinery, finished articles, etc., issuing to manufacturers priority orders of different grades in accordance with the need for the article desired. The Priorities Committee has recently issued a list of certain industries entitled to priority in accordance with their importance to the war program: industries in this list carry an automatic priority according t o their classification. Certain industries not listed in this general classification have priority as to specific plants. This classification will be changed from time to time as necessity dictates. There has recently been organized a new Facilities Division, which passes on all new facilities from the standpoint oE building materials, fuel, power, transportation, etc., after consultation with the different sectiops interested in these particular subjects. The Board has what is known as a “Clearance List.” Where articles are in short supply or where special reasons exist for keeping a close control, clearance for purchase is secured by the various Government departments before finally closing contracts. Before the Allied governments can negotiate for business, either for war purposes or for the use of their nations, clearance must be secured. The line-up of the different divisions and sections follows generally the organization of the Chemicals Division, which I will describe briefly.
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This Division a t present has twenty commodity sections, each headed by a commodity chief. Your speaker is Director of the Division. Mr. Marsh F. Chase, after finishing his work with Mr. Jackling, returned to the Board and has become Director of Explosives. The following is a list of the Sections and commodity chiefs:
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Alkalies and Chlorine Products Tanning Materials ........................ Inedible Fats, Oils, and Waxes Paints and Pigments..
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Acids and Heavy Chemicals.. Sulfur, Pyrites, and Alcohol.. Coal-Gas Distillation Products.. Creosote.. Artificial and Natural Dyes Fine Chemicals.. Refractories and Clays.. Ferro-Alloys.. Electrodes and Abrasives .................. Chemical Glass and Stoneware Asbestos and Magnesia.. Wood Distillation Products Platinum Mica Nitrates Technical
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Mr. H. G. Carrel1 Mr. E. J. Haley Mr. Prosser, Associate Mr. R. S. Hubbard Mr. Atwood, Associate Mr. Albert Brunker Mr. Wm. Woolfolk Mr. J. M. Moorehead Mr. Ira C . Darling Mr. J. F. Schoellkopf, J,r, Mr. A. G. Rosengarten Mr. Catlett Mr. Hugh Sanford Capt. DuBois Mr. R. M..Torrence Mr. R. M. Torrence Mr. C . H. Conner Mr. C. H. Conner Dr. Leith Mr. C. H. MacDowell
......
These sections work with the chairman and heads of the different sub-divisions of the Chemical Alliance, Inc. Officers of the Army and Navy, and representatives of the Emergency Fleet, Fuel, Food, and other administrative bodies, have been assigned to membership in these commodity sections. This personnel constitutes the section. The technical staff of the Chemicals Division consists of Dr. E. R. Weidlein, Dr. H. R. Moody, Dr. Thomas P. McCutcheon. and Dr. Staley. These men keep in touch with the research facilities of the country and are in constant contact with manufacturers. The facilities of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research are a t the disposal of the Chemicals Division, and interesting work is being carried on a t that Institute. Of necessity the work is‘ of a secret nature, and cannot be discussed a t this time. A number of commodities handled by the commodity sections of the Chemicals Division are allocated by the chiefs of the sections, notably chlorine and its products, alkalies, sulfur and pyrite, wood chemicals, toluol, platinum, nitrates ; and a control is exercised over the distribution of acids, electrodes, tanning material, and other commodities, The task is to secure in time the materials needed by the Government, by our Allies, and by our people. Mr. Baruch has asked me t o assure you that the War Industries Board appreciates fully the splendid cooperation which has been extended by the chemical industry and by the chemists t o the solving of the problems of the Board and of the Government as a whole. As we approach higher efficiency in the manufacture of war materials it will be necessary t o restrict the production of many articles normally required by our people. There is not sufficient raw material, steel, power, labor, or transportation t o take care of all industries. In following out this maximum production program it may be necessary to ask the chemical industry to forego in‘part or in whole the manufacture of many less essential articles. The cause is worth the sacrifice, and Mr. Baruch feels sure that as an industry and as a personnel you all will understand the real reason for such curtailment, and that i t will only be asked after careful study and with every desire to cripple industry as little as possible. There is an old saying that “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” The Germans, through their knowledge and through
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their instinctive desire t o make use of this knowledge to carry out an ambitious and brutal war program, have built a Frankenstein monster which bids fair t o destroy them.
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city gas works. The toluol is now going almost entirely into explosives as is also a considerable fraction of the benzol. When the demand for explosives disappears, i t is t o be expected that the prices of benzol and toluol will drop t o the point where it will be profitable t o add them t o gasoline for motor fuel. A WAR DISTURBANCES AND PEACE READJUSTMENTS IN similar condition will probably exist abroad and, since America THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES has the greatest known natural resources for the production of By GRINNELL JONES gasoline, benzol and toluol should be as cheap or cheaper here Chemist on the staff of United States Tariff Commission than abroad. Therefore the industries consuming benzol and When peace is restored the competitive strength of the nations toluol may be assured of ample supplies of these materials at in all industries will have been profoundly altered. Chemistry favorable prices. and machinery have played a larger part in this war than in any Before the war we had no synthetic phenol industry, whereas previous war, and therefore the greatest changes may be ex- in 1917, as is shown in our forthcoming report, 15 plants propected in the metal working and in the chemical industries. duced 64,146,499 Ibs. of phenol valued a t $23,715,805, most of Moreover, our new American cargo ships will make us more which was used in making picric acid. If this new industry is than ever interested in foreign trade. The Tariff Commission t o survive, there must be a greater consumption of phenol in the is actively studying these war disturbances in order t o assist industries for peaceful purposes. Fortunately, phenol is used in the readjustment and reconstruction that must follow when as an intermediate in the manufacture of some representatives peace comes. of every class of finished coal-tar chemical products, including Among the chemical industries, the first t o feel the stimulus dyes and lakes, photographic developers, medicinals, flavors, of war was the explosivesindustry. The expansion of American perfume materials, synthetic resins, synthetic tanning masmokeless powder plants was sufficient t o prevent a German terials, and explosives. Leaders in the chemical industries are victory in France and Russia in 1915. It is not revealing already making plans for the industrial development of the uses military secrets t o say that there has been some growth since of phenol when the phenol is no longer needed for explosives. 1915. We all hope that the peace terms will be so satisfactory Another war-baby is monochlorbenzol, which was made t h a t the military explosives plants themselves will no longer be during 1917 by eight American firms, with an output of needed. Nevertheless, there will be a permanent increase 24,624,099 Ibs., valued a t a little less than &,ooo,ooo. The dye in the competitive strength of the American chemical industries industry will use a part of this productive capacity permanently, through the growth of the subsidiary industries which now but new discoveries by American chemists will probably be supply the raw materials t o the explosives industry. needed to utilize the total productive capacity. Incidentally, Our production of sulfuric acid is a t least twice what it was this product furnishes a new outlet for chlorine, a new by-product before the war. The growth has been largely in contact acid, source of muriatic acid, and raises a new problem in the utilizaand therefore when the demand for explosives disappears, the tion of dichlorbenzol, an unavoidable by-product. American chemical industries will have available large supplies Before the war there was but one producer of aniline oil in the of pure and concentrated sulfuric acid. Moreover, the growth United States. I n 1917 there were twenty-three producers of the acid industry has been made possible by a great increase with an output of 28,806,524 lbs., valued a t $6,758,535. As in the production of American sulfur and by a smaller, although only a refatively small proportion of this substance goes into significant, increase in the mining of pyrites. explosives, the peace readjustments will not be complicated by a The nitric acid industry has grown relatively more than the collapse of a military demand, but will depend primarily on the sulfuric acid industry. The output of nitric acid from Chilean competitive strength of the American industry. niter is now more than ten times as great as it was before the The war has also stimulated the production of mercury for war. the manufacture of fulminates. The American production has The significance of this growth of the sulfuric and the nitric been about doubled since the beginning of the war. Formerly acid industries t o our dynamite, dyestuffs, and pyroxylin plastic we had a balance of imports-now we have a larger balance of industries need not be emphasized here. exports. Of greater significance than this stimulus to industries already Poison gas warfare is also destined t o have a permanent inwell established has been the birth of new industries. We have fluence on the chemical industries. Although there is no reason a new synthetic ammonia and nitric acid industry. Plants have t o expect that uses will be found for phosgene and mustard gas been built and, during the war a t least, will be operated by the on a scale approaching the present and prospective military use, Government. When the full story of these plants can be told, the plants erected for their manufacture need not prove a total it will reveal that American chemists have, under the pressure loss when the military demand ceases. Nearly all of the noxious of war needs, been able to devise substantial improvements substances used in poison gas warfare require chlorine for their upon the Haber and Ostwald processes developed by the Ger- manufacture, and an increase in the production of chlorine in the mans before the war. These processeswere the result of nearly two United States is therefore certain. There is much hope that decades OF work on these problems as a part of their military some of the substances produced as intermediate steps in the preparedness. It is not improbable that after the war nitric manufacture of the poison gases may be utilized for purposes acid made from synthetic ammonia may prove t o be cheaper other than warfare, but these are matters not yet to be discussed. than nitric acid made from Chilean niter. In any case, American Phosgene, except for the dangers attending its use, is an excellent agriculture will assuredly have a new large source of nitrogenous reagent for many processes involving chlorination or dehydrafertilizer materials. tion and for making Michler’s ketone. Fortunately, the risk In 1914 our production of crude light oil would have been in using phosgene is greatly minimized by the development of sufficient for the production of only about 4,500,000 gallons of the new gas mask. The intensive work which hundreds of benzol and of about 1,500,000gallons of toluol, and only a part American chemists have been and are doing t o improve the design of this was distilled. As is shown in our forthcoming report of the gas mask will undoubtedly prove a blessing to workmen on the production of American dyes and coal-tar chemicals, in exposed to noxious fumes in chemical factories throughout the I917 our output of benzol was 40,200,000 gallons, of toluol, world when peace is restored. 10,200,ooo gallons. In 1918 further substantial growth is t o Still another industry which has been stimulated by a direct be expected through the installation of stripping plants a t war demand is the manufacture of acetone, which is used as a
