42 DDT— Killer of Killers 



of DDT are very waxy, and this makes it impossible to grind 

 ^i them to a fine powder. However, if DDT is ground with 

 If pyrophyllite, talc, or some forms of clay, a finely-divided, uni- 

 ^form, and fr<^ gj[Qwing^po wder res ults. 



Free Enterprise 



It was the summer of 1945, and the civilian population 

 of the United States, having heard of the wonders of DDT 

 on the battlefields of the earth, was waiting, almost breath- 

 lessly, to get some of this white magic to fight their own 

 battles against the fly, the mosquito, and other insect pests. 

 But the War Produaion Board said "No!" Although Ger- 

 many had been defeated, there was still a war on with Japan; 

 and the armed forces, of course, had the No. 1 priority on 

 this wonder killer. 



Manufacturers of DDT, according to the regulations 

 of the W. P. B., could release only 5 per cent of their output 

 for civilian purposes — the rest had to be reserved for the 

 armed forces. In view of the unprecedented demand, 5 per 

 cent was even less than the proverbial "drop in the bucket." 



But the picture suddenly changed. A smart young 

 chemist named Walter Steuber, of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 

 decided to cash in on this ready market. Like other chemists, 

 he knew the formula for DDT and how it could be made. 

 Furthermore, he knew that the raw materials — chloral hy- 

 drate, monochlorobenzene, and sulfuric acid — could be ob- 

 tained at that time without priorities at the corner drugstore. 

 So he converted the cellar of his house into a miniature 

 chemical plant, and started flooding the suburbs of Philadel- 

 phia with DDT solution at $1.00 per pint — paying no at- 



