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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 ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
Vol. 9, No.
EDITORIALS
12
I
USELESS WORK FOR THE TARIFF COMMISSION
EXPANDING NITRATE PLANS
At the request of the Chairman of the Tariff Commission there is printed on page 1148 of this issue a statement from the Commisrion concerning the information i t is now seeking from manufacturers of crudes, intermediates and finished dyestuffs as t o production of these materials within the United States during t h e year 1917. This action is evidently a tuning up of the extensive machinery which will be necessary t o determine whether or no a t the end of the five-year period following t h e enactment in September 1916 of t h e Dyestuff Section of the General Revenue Act there is being produced in this country sixty per cent of the values of domestic consumption of these products. Failing such a development within t h a t five-year period the special, but not the ad valorem, duties, are, by the terms of the Act, t o be a t once removed by Presidential proclamation rather than by the sliding scale of a twenty per cent annual reduction during the following five-year period. The early beginning of this work of compilation is clearly indicative Gf the technical difficulties the Commission foresees. It is equally evident t h a t the dyestuff manufacturers, a t present about the busiest set of men in America, are t o have another annual burden imposed upon their present overtaxed forces. Stronger and stronger is growing the appeal for a concentration of the nation’s energies on necessary industries a t t h e sacrifice, if need be, of unnecessary industries. Let the movement apply also t o matters of legislation. The sixty per cent clause of the Revenue Act admits of only one interpretation-doubt as t o the good faith or ability of American manufacturers of dyestuffs. Is there any fair-minded person in this country who is not proud of the accomplishments in this line during the brief period of scarcely more than one year since the legislation was enacted? Consumers have been supplied with the full tonnage of pre-war days and the variety of dyestuffs is constantly increasing. The progress made is the talk of the street. Highest endorsement of these achievements has been given by a distinguished member of the Tariff Commission itself, the Hon. William S. Culbertson. I n an address a t the recent National Exposition of Chemical Industries [THIS J O U R N A L , 9 (1917),10151, Mr. Culbertson said of the dyestuff industry: “The rapidity of its progress has amazed the world. The record of its achievement reads l i k e a f a i r y tale and will prove an imperishable monument to American chemists and business men.” I n view of such generally acknowledged progress and in the interest of economy of effort, we appeal t o the Tariff Commission t o recommend t o t h e Congress, about t o convene, the removal of this sixty per cent clause from our statutes.
The successful offense along the Flanders front within the last two months, resulting from the use of seemingly unlimited amounts of high explosives, has revolutionized prevailing views concerning the stalemate results of trench warfare. During this same period we have become aware t h a t while T. N. T. is the preferred high explosive, nevertheless our army must depend upon the gas works for toluol, the basis of this explosive, and this source, a t its maximum output, is sufficient for only one half of the toluol needed for an army of one million men. I n such a situation the officials of the War Department have naturally turned t o ammonium nitrate, for use with T. N . T. Abundant confirmation of the high value of such a mixed explosive has been given by British experts recently visiting America. The plans of our Government for independence in nitrate supply have necessarily undergone a rapid expansion, for in addition to nitric acid for explosives and ammonia salts for fertilizers, there must now be quickly available still larger quantities of ammonia for the explosive ammonium nitrate. The immediate need of ammonia can be met by drawing temporarily upon the supplies of coke-oven ammonia wLthout serious detriment to agriculture. We are informed by officials of the War Department that good progress is being made a t Muscle Shoals in the installation of the synthetic method for manufacture of ammonia from air nitrogen. Much of the machinery is completed and the remainder is ordered and will be delivered as rapidly as completed. Mater;als for the buildings have been contracted for and three hundred and fifty laborers are engaged in the work of construction. It is sincerely t o be hoped t h a t this synthetic plant will soon be greatly enlarged. The investigation of this method on April zo by Col. C. B. Wheeler and Col. C. C. Keller of the War Department, Dr. Charles L. Parsons of the Bureau of Mines and Dr. A. A. Noyes of the Nitrate Supply Committee, showed clearly t h a t a decided improvement had been made over the Haber process, now so largely employed in Germany, t h a t the method had passed the experimental stage, and was capable of producing ammonia a t lower cost than any other known method. As the procese was immediately available for use without recompense b y the Government it was recommended by t h e Nitrate Supply Committee t o the Secretary of War as most adequately meeting the terms of the National Defense Act, namely, “the best, cheapest and most available means for the production of nitrates,” etc. The situation has become suddenly so acute, however, that t h e officials have wisely decided that all possible sources of ammonia should be utilized, regardless of the relative merits of the individual processes or of cost of the product. They have naturally turned therefore t o the cyanamide process, the only other
