22 



A somewhat obscure statement by Ritchie in the Senate hearing 

 seems to foreshadow this comment by the Academy committee. He 

 agreed : 



Most of the learned men with whom I have worked on [AD-X2] have expressed 

 the opinion that it did not make a great deal of difference what it is made of. 

 [And later on] It is my opinion that what is in it doesn't have a great deal to do 

 with the subject matter at all. It is what it does.^i 



From the point of view of the scientists of the NBS and the Academy 

 who investigated AD-X2, the composition of the additive was not of 

 consequence. However, if the preparation consisted merely of two 

 salts, untreated, without unusual additives, then some extent of mis- 

 representation was present- — if only in the name of the product. Also, 

 there would be an extraordinary price markup, if the "raw" material 

 wholesaled at 2.5 cents per pound and retailed at $18. Moreover, it 

 was to be Ritchie's claim that his additive was different in composi- 

 tion from the scores of others tested by the NBS, and that therefore 

 the NBS publications declaring battery additives without vu'tue did 

 not apply to his. If the first part of his claim was without substance, 

 then there was no substance to the second part. 



When Senator John Sparkman, toward the latter part of the hear- 

 ing, sought advice from Dr. Harold C. Weber, professor of chemical 

 engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on whether 

 trace elements might prove beneficial the answer was vmhelpful. 



Senator Sparkman. Here is a question that comes over from yesterday. If you 

 were here, you may recall that Dr. Astin stated in answer to a question which I 

 put to him — and I am refreshed by one of Senator Smathers' questions — that 

 in the chemical analysis of this AD-X2, it was broken down to a fineness of five 

 points in a million; in other words, that the seven trace elements were found to 

 that extent. Is that a close enough analysis? Could there be other elements in 

 there in that small amount, five points in 1 million, to be effective? 



Dr. Webkr. I cannot answer your question. I do not know.^^ 



Ill — How THE AD-X2 Issue Came Before Congress 



The AD-X2 issue emerged gradually as a question inviting congres- 

 sional consideration. Most of the ways in which it impacted on the 

 Federal Government resulted from the vigorous merchandising and 

 promotional efforts of Ritchie himself. His attempts to establish re- 

 spectable bona fides for his product brought him successively under 

 scrutiny of the National Better Business Bureau, into controversy 

 uith the National Bureau of Standards, and within the regulatory 

 purview of the Federal Trade Commission and the Post Office Depart- 

 ment. Progressively, concurrently with these encounters, appeals were 

 made by Ritchie or on his behalf to individual legislators in the Con- 

 gress. When at length he appealed to the Senate Select Committee 

 on Small Business, that took a leading role in reviewing the issue, 

 some 28 Senators had records in their files of communications with and 

 concerning Pioneers, Inc. 



Ritchie's early appeals to individual Members of Congress were 

 dealt with in the customary manner — by being referred to the Bureau 

 of Standards, or to the Department of Commerce, with a request 

 that information be provided as to the merits of the case. His appeals 

 to NBS were dealt with, at first, in accordance with established 

 policy — - 



21 Hearings. Op. cit., pp. 183, 184. 



22 Ibid., p. 392. 



