Industrial Research 



35 



contained little mention of industrial research. In the 

 Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature the distinction 

 between scientific research and industrial research was 

 not made until the publication of a Supplement covering 

 the years 1907-15. In that volume six articles were 

 listed under the heading "Industrial Research," but all 

 of them discussed the subject in relation to England 

 and were published in the English periodical Nature. 

 Long before the war, however, leaders of research in 

 the United States were aware of Germany's accomphsh- 

 ments and pointed them out to American industrialists 

 and educators in an effort to arouse interest and create 

 conditions which would make for comparable achieve- 

 ments in this country. In 1911, Willis R. Whitney 

 wrote: 



For the past 50 years that country (Germany) has been ad- 

 vancing industrially beyond other countries, . . . bj' new 

 technical discoveries. In fact this advance may be said to be 

 largely traceable to their apparent over-production of research 

 men by well fitted universities and technical schools. "o 



He went on to point out that each year a few hundred 

 new doctors of science and philosophy were gradu- 

 ated. Most of them had been well trained to think 

 and experiment; to work hard, and to e.xpect little. 

 They went first into the chemical industry until it 

 could absorb no more of them, and then into every 

 other mdustry iji Germany. They became the teach- 

 ers, the assistants, and the professors of all the schools 

 of the country. They worked for $300 to $500 a 

 year, satisfied as long as they could make experi- 

 ments and study the laws of nature. The intense 

 and widespread activity of so many highly trained men 

 soon manifested itself in many physical and electrical 

 devices, and in hundreds and even thousands of new 

 commercial organic products. "England and America 

 had the raw material for such development. But 

 Germany had the prepared men and made the start." 



Effect of the First World War 



The outbreak of the First World War immediately 

 focused attention upon the technical and scientific 

 developments that had given Germany such industrial 

 strength and military power within a comparatively 

 short time. Industrial research began to have sig- 

 nificance for the general public. As F. B. Jewett 

 expressed it: 



Newspapers, magazines and periodicals are continually pub- 

 lishing articles on it; vast numbeis of people are talking, more or 

 less knowingly, about it; and industries and governmental depart- 

 ments, which, up to a few years ago had hardly heard of industrial 

 research, are embarking or endeavoring to embark upon the most 

 elaborate research projects.'' 



"Whitney, W. R. Research as a financial asset. Scientific American Supplimmt, 

 71. 347 {June 3, 1911). 



•' Jewett, F. B. Industrial research. {Reprini and CirciUar Seriet of the National 

 Research Council, No. 4.) Washington, D. C, National Research Council, 1918, pp. 

 2-3. 



321835—41 4 



The American Federation of Labor adopted resolu- 

 tions urging the President of the United States and the 

 leaders of Congress to foster in every way a broad pro- 

 gram of scientific and technical research because it 

 forms a fundamental basis upon which the development 

 of America's industries must rest, because it greatly in- 

 creases the productivity of industry, advances the 

 health and well-being of the whole population, an<l 

 raises the worker's standard of living. 



American industry was threatened with a serious 

 shortage when it could no longer get chemicals, dyes, 

 medicines, and glass from Germany, but a united effort 

 upon the part of scientists, industrialists, and Govern- 

 ment officials soon relieved the situation. With Amer- 

 ica's entrance into the war, teclmical problems multi- 

 plied and the efforts of research workers increased in all 

 the laboratories of the country. By the time of the 

 armistice, practically every scientist possessed of any 

 capacities for research had been called upon to aid the 

 country with his special knowledge. 



Wlien the war began only Germany could supply the 

 world with large quantities of diphenylamine — an in- 

 gredient necessary in smokeless powder to prevent its 

 deterioration — and aniline, the raw material used in the 

 manufacture of diphenylamine; the du Pont research 

 laboratories, however, set to work at once to meet the 

 demand for these materials and in 1918 diphenylamine 

 was being manufactured at the rate of 1,000 pounds a 

 day.«2 



A threatened shortage in the supply of sheet lead and 

 an actual shortage in lead burners seemed about to pre- 

 vent a tremendous expansion in the sulfuric acid indus- 

 try that the increased call for explosives was making 

 necessary. Again the research laboratory solved the 

 problem, and in 1918 milhons of pounds of sulfuric acid 

 were being manufactured in plants that did not have a 

 pound of lead in their construction.*' 



Another serious shortage was averted because shortly 

 before the war the research laboratory of the du Pont 

 Company had discovered the presence of potash salts 

 in its nitrate deposits in Chile and had found a satis- 

 factory method for their extraction. The company 

 was in a position therefore, to undertake the immediate 

 production of them on a commercial scale. 



Other industrial research laboratories were equally 

 active. The Eastman Kodak Company became the 

 main source of many chemicals essential to photogra- 

 phy and to the work in laboratories of universities and 

 industry. It also made extensive studies during the 

 war in aerial photography and naval camouflage. In 

 the General Electric laboratories a small but powerful 

 X-ray generating outfit was developed by W. D. Cool- 



" Reese, Charles L. Developments in industrial research. American Socletn for 

 Toting Malerialt, Proceedingt. IS, pt. 2, 37 (1918). 

 •> Developments in industrial research, p. 37. See footnote 62. 



