xl PROCEEDINGS. 



the apportionment of that raw material among the different 

 industries; and it is shewn again in the losses which attend 

 nearly every step in the progress of the raw material towards 

 the finished product. The absence of proper selective economy 

 in the adaptation of raw material to use is everywhere, as 

 when our railroads use untreated ties and poles, when coal tar 

 is burned as fuel, crystal alum used for purifying water, or 

 valuable publications printed on ground wood papers. We 

 -are still polluting our streams with wool grease, still wonder- 

 ing whether we can make alcohol from waste molasses, and 

 still buying coal without refrence to heating power. 



When wastes so obvious and so easily remedied are every- 

 where taking heavy toll from our manufacturers, it is not sur- 

 prising that in all lines of productive effort subtle and elusive 

 problems present themselves and still further lower our indus- 

 trial efficiency. Steel rails break by thousands; trolley wires 

 snap; boilers corrode; milk cans, wire fences and iron roofing 

 rust; unsightly bloom appears on leather; cloth is stained; 

 paints fail to protect the metal underneath. 



In a large proportion of cases those who are confronted by 

 the problem have neither the time, the training nor the equip- 

 ment required for its solution, and yet such problems and 

 thousands of others far more complex upon their face must be 

 solved if our industrial efficiency is to be brought to its proper 

 level. 



No one at all conversant with the facts can doubt that our 

 industrial salvation must be found in a closer alliance between 

 the scientific worker and the actual agencies of production. 



Since all material is subject to chemical laws, and its prop- 

 erties and behaviour are influenced or determined by these 

 laws, it follows that a large number, probably by far the 

 greater number of our industrial problems are problems in 

 applied chemistry. No better field for the initiation of work 

 intended to be directly effective in its bearing upon industrial 

 efficiency could therefore be chosen. 



In selecting problems, preference should always be given 

 to those which promise in their solution to prove of greatest 



