1915^ CooPEKATiox IN Matteks Chemical 85 



not medicinal, should be taxed 15 per cent ad valorem and 

 3% cents per pound specific." 



Are the people of this country ready to cooperate with the 

 chemists by authorizing the prompt enactment of such legis- 

 lation ? If so, there need be no fear that active capital will 

 be longer withheld, and thus we can feel confident of a syn- 

 thetic dyestuff industry commensurate with our needs. 



As I think of the possibility of such an industry, I recall 

 the words of the Swiss professor, Gnehm, who, in 1900, after 

 one of his lectures on coal-tar dyes, said to me: "The 

 natural home of the dyestufi^ industry is in your country 

 and some day it will flourish there." 



The creation of such a self-contained industry, however, 

 has far deeper meaning for our national welfare than the sup- 

 plying of needed dyestuft's, for such plants would constitute 

 an easily convertible reserve for the manufacture of coal-tar 

 explosives in times of war. 



Through its stimulative effect on research, on technique 

 and in supply of material the dyestuff industry has furthered 

 the development of both the explosives and the medicinal in- 

 dustries. Its firm establishment here would foretell the com- 

 plete development of each of this great trio of industries, 

 which, as a whole, furnish the rational and economic 

 utilization of that great mass of coal tar which now wastes 

 itself in useless flames above the coke ovens throughout the 

 land. 



Cooperation — it is a good word, and carries with it a 

 wonderful power of accomplishment ! 



Chapel Hill, N. C. 



