July, 1922
T H E JOURNAL OF I N D tiSTRIAL A N D ENGIA-EERIXG CHEMISTRY
661
WASHINGTON NOTES THETARIFF Notwithstanding the numerous vehement attacks made against the domestic dye industry by Senator King, t h e Senate has passed Paragraphs 25 and 26 relating t o dyes. Paragraph 25 carries a d u t y of 50 per cent ad valorem and 7 cents per pound on crude coal-tar dyes, and Paragraph 26, 60 per cent ad valorem and 7 cents per pound o n intermediates. The dye embargo, around which t h e greatest opposition centers, has been passed cover temporarily, b u t it is generally conceded t h a t t h e tactics employed by t h e opposition t o prevent its passage will, in reality, b e a blessing in disguise t o t h e industry, a n d while t h e fight will ‘be a long and bitter one i t seems certain t h a t sufficient votes will be secured t o guarantee t h e retention of the embargo clause in the bill. With one or two notable exceptions, the Senate has stood strongly back of t h e recommendations of its Finance Committee. It overruled t h e committee, however, when i t placed cyanide and manganese on the free list. It is greatly t o be regretted t h a t the Senate changed t h e d u t y ‘on scientific and laboratory instruments and apparatus from 55 t o 35 per cent, and it is t o be hoped t h a t t h e conferees will restore the 55 per cent duty when the bill goes t o them for consideration. MUSCLESHOALS The House Committee on Military Affairs, after exhaustive hearings covering several months, has introduced a bill in Congress recommending t h a t the Ford offer, as modified by the committee and approved by NIr. Ford, be accepted with the single exception t h a t t h e Gorgas Warrior steam plant be eliminated from the proposal. In submitting its report the committee urged upon Congress the desirability of early action in accepting t h e Ford proposal and in t h e enactment of t h e necessary legislation. . Minority members of t h e committee have also introduced a bill recommending t h a t t h e Ford proposal be accepted in its entirety. Still other members of the group feel t h a t the Ford proposal should undergo further modifications before it is accepted, and have so recommended t o Congress. Meantime, t h e Attorney General has decided that t h e contracts entered into by t h e War Department and the Alabama Power Company, which were believed by some t o give t h e Alabama Power Company exclusive or preferential rights t o purchase t h e Gorgas plant and Nitrate Plant N o . 2, are invalid. The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry has practically concluded t h e hearings which i t has been conducting for some weeks on Muscle Shoals, although upon request i t continues t o hear witnesses from time t o time. Senator ATorris, Chairman of t h e committee, has introduced a bill in the Senate providing for the operation of the Muscle Shoals project by a government corporation t o be known as t h e Federal Chemical Corporation, and t h e Senate has passed a n amendment t o the Army Bill appropriating $7,500,000 t o continue the work on the Wilson Dam. Just what action will be taken by the conferees upon this amendment remains t o be seen. Much interest centers around this action, particularly in view of t h e increasing sentiment among representatives in favor of t h e acceptance of t h e Ford proposition in an amended form as recommended by t h e Committee on Military Affairs. REPARATION DYES On June 16 Senator Shortridge introduced the iollowing Joint Resolution which was referred t o t h e Committee on Foreign Relations : Resolved b y t h e S e n a t e a n d House of Representatives of t h e United S t a t e s of America i n Congress assembled t h a t t h e President be a n d he is hereby authorized a n d requested t o t a k e such measures as may be required t o secure for t h e United S t a t e s of America o r i t s Nationals t h e dyestuffs a n d chemical drugs t o which t h e United S t a t e s of America may be entitled under Section 1, Article 2 of t h e T r e a t y of Peace between t h e United S t a t e s of America a n d Germany, proclaimed November 14, 1921.
The appointment of C. R. DeLong as head of the new Chemical Division of the Bureau oE Foreign and Domestic Commerce is announced. M r . DeLong is a t present head of the Chemical Section of the Tariff Commission and will assume his new duties in t h e Department of Commerce on August 1.
~4BOOSTFOR CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE The Senate amended t h e Army Bill by increasing the appropriation for Chemical Warfare Service from $500,000 t o $750,000. One million dollars was originally requested as t h e minimum amount necessary for the efficient conduct of this work. If the conferees agree t o this amendment, therefore, it will mean t h a t Chemical Warfare Service will be able t o preserve more df t h e nucleus of its organization, which is imperative if it is t o c a r e out a well-ro.unded program of research and development. CONSERVATION O F HELIUMGAS The bill before Congress authorizing the conservation, production, and exploitation of helium gas has for its main object the conservation of our fast-diminishing supply of helium gas. At the present time i t is estimated t h a t 500,000,000 cu. f t . of helium gas are lost annually through the ordinary commercial use of natural gas containing it. The bill carries with it a n appropriation of $5,000,000, of which $4,000,000 are desired for conservation purposes and $1,000,000 for the purchase or control of gas fields, drilling wells, laying of pipe lines, and for the construction of a plant o n or adjacent t o the contemplated gas fields purchased, for the purpose of supplying such amqunts of t h e gas as may be necessary t o meet the future requirements of the A4rmyand Navy. The bill was considered in conference by t h e Secretaries of War, Navy, and Interior and has been unqualifiedly approved by them. It has also been strongly endorsed by the President. If the bill is passed in its present form i t will put all work of extracting helium from natural gas under the Interior Department. Dr. R . B. Moore, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Mines, gave a public lecture a t Universi:? College, London, on May 24, 1922. H e chose for his subject The Commercial Manufacture of Helium by the Giovernment of t h e United States.,’ Dr. Richard C. Tolman has resigned a s Director of the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory to accept a position as Professor of Physical Chemistry and Mathematical Physics in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics a t the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Cal. The California Institute of Technology has recently been reorganized with Prof. R. A. Millikan as Director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics, and Prof. A. A. Noyes as Director of the G.ates Chemical Laboratory. The Institute plans a strict limitation o n the number of undergraduate students, and will concentrate o n graduate and research work. An active cooperation will be maintained between the research work of the Institute and t h a t of the M t . Wilson Solar Observatory along the fundamental lines of common interest t o physics, chemistry, and astronomy. Dr. Tolman will assume his new duties a t the commencement of the fall term. Dr. F. G. Cottrell has been appointed t o succeed Dr. Tolman as Director of the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory. At the meeting of the Trustees and Editorial Board for t h e publication of Critical Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants which was held in Cleveland, M a y 21, 1922, it was agreed t h a t t h e official designation of t h e tables should be “Intkrnational Critical Tables;” t h e sub-title t o read “Tables of Constants and Numerical Data of Physics, Chemistry, and Technology Critically Prepared under t h e Auspices of the international Research Council.” It was decided t h a t the initial office staff should consist of an editor, one chemist, one physicist,. and such other assistants as should be needed during the progress of the work. Dr. C. J. West was appointed as t h e assistant editor representing chemistry. The editor was authorized t o arrange for one corresponding member of the editorial board for each country represented in the International Research Council, and t o visit certain European experts for the purpose of securing their cooperation and assistance in the compilation of the Tables. Dr. John Bassett Moore has been appointed t o represent the United States o n the Rules of Warfare Commission, authorized by the Disarmament Conference. The Commission will consist of not more than two representatives from each of the following countries: United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan. June 17, 1922
