THE RISE OF THE ORGANIC CHEIVHCAL INDUSTRY IN 

 THE UNITED STATES ^ 



By C. M. A. Stiitb 

 Vice president, E. I. du Pmit de Nemours d Co., Wilmington, Del. 



[With 4 plates] 



The results of the rapid development of the organic chemical 

 industry in the United States have been so far reaching and are so 

 obvious as to require no proof that there is in existence today a 

 great industry showing a phenomenal growth in the last two decades. 

 It is young and extremely vigorous; its fruits are of such beauty 

 and utility that I am satisfied as to its continued cultivation and 

 development. 



Let me mention two of the most important and tangible results 

 of the development of the organic chemical industry of the United 

 States; first, the fostering of a tremendous expansion in the train- 

 ing of research workers in our universities, and the promotion of 

 a great and widespread interest in organic research. This has had 

 significant repercussions in practically all fields of research, leading 

 to expansion and intensification of effort and to results of enhanced 

 value. 



The second has been the tremendous contribution to national self- 

 sufficiency in this country which the rise of our organic chemical 

 industry has made. There is good ground for believing that self- 

 sufficiency very definitely makes for peace. Through research and 

 synthesis we have obtained methods of preparing certain materials 

 of organic origin which are not available in this comitry because 

 of limitations of soil or of climate, or for some other reason inherent 

 in our national economy. For instance, we are not able to grow rub- 

 ber in the United States, and even though climatic conditions were 

 favorable we should still be unable to harvest it at the low costs 

 which now prevail in the rubber-producing countries. Research 

 and the reduction to practice of the results of this research have not 



^ An address delivered on the occasion of the presentation to Dr. Stine of the Perkin 

 Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry, at the Chemists' Club, 52 East 41st St., New- 

 York City, on the evening of January 12, 1940. Reprinted by permission from Industrial 

 and Engineering Chemistry, vol. 32, No. 2. February 1940. 



177 



