646 



NATURE 



[February ii, 19 15 



THE MANUFACTURE OF DYESTUFFS. 



IN an article in Nature of January 21, p. 555, 

 the National Dye Scheme put forward by the 

 Board of Trade Advisory Committee. on December 

 22, 1914, was outlined, and in some of its aspects 

 the development of dye manufacture in this 

 country is of such far-reaching- national import- 

 ance that the subject claims the close and con- 

 tinued attention of all men of science. As stated 

 last week (p. 621), the original scheme has now 

 been replaced by modified proposals, the full 

 details of which are not, however, yet available. 



The outstanding- feature of the new scheme is 

 that the Government has undertaken to make a 

 g"rant to the new company, for a period of ten 

 years and to a total amount not exceeding 

 ioo,oooZ. , for the specific purpose of experimental 

 and laboratory work, this grant being independent 

 of the Government loan of a portion of the work- 



FiG. I. — A German coal-tar colour factory. 



ing capital of the company. Chemical research 

 has thus officially been recog-nised and endowed 

 as an essential factor in solving a national in- 

 dustrial problem ; and this most important and 

 far-reaching- decision has everywhere been favour- 

 ably received, and represents a permanent advance 

 in public thoug-ht and official procedure. Probably 

 the main factor in moving- the Government to 

 assist the development of dye manufacture is the 

 fact that one and a half millions of workpeople 

 are more or less dependent upon the continuance 

 of the dyeing- industry. While we realise these 

 special claims to attention, we hope at the same 

 time that similar practical steps will at once be 

 taken to promote the development in this country 

 of glass manufacture and other industries de- 

 pendent for their success upon progressive scienti- 

 fic knowledge. 



The new dye company is to have powers to 

 arrange for the assistance of a committee of ex- 

 perts conversant with the dyeing trade and its 

 NO. 2363, VOL. 94] 



requirements. In the absence of details of the 

 scheme, it does not appear that this proposal will 

 adequately meet the claim that the technical ex- 

 pert should be largely represented on the 

 directorate. 



A perusal of the Press correspondence on the 

 whole matter indicates that opinion has crystal- 

 lised to some extent into a general agreement 

 that the first aim should be immediately to de- 

 velop and co-ordinate our existing manufacturing 

 concerns, and encourage an increased output from 

 Switzerland by arranging for the export of raw 

 tar products to that country, and for transport 

 facilities through France. But these expedients 

 can afford only a very partial relief, and stocks 

 of dyes are rapidly disappearing. It is therefore 

 generally recognised as a matter of great urgency 

 that the new manufacturing company should 

 commence operations, and the first act of the com- 

 pany should be to devise an organised scheme of • 

 research on the initial problems 

 of processes and yields. 



One of the most instructive 

 discussions of the problem 

 facing the manufacturers of coal- 

 tar dyes in competition with 

 Germany is to be found in an 

 address recently delivered by Dr. 

 W. H. Nicholls before the 

 Philadelphia meeting of the 

 American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, and 

 printed in Science for January 8 

 under the title "The War and 

 Chemical Industry." Dr. 

 Nicholls, speaking with the au- 

 thority of one who has been 

 for many years at the head of 

 a large chemical organisation 

 in the United States, throws 

 some interesting sidelights on the 

 reason for American inactivity in 

 this field. American manufac- 

 turers were at first assured by ■ 

 "one of the large producers in Germany that it" 

 was absolutely certain that American coal did not 

 possess the necessary constituents to make it use-j 

 ful as a basis for the production of organic chemi-j 

 cals." When, in spite of this discouragement, it] 

 was actually found that aniline oil could be made] 

 at a profit in the States, "down went the price] 

 below cost. A tariff of 10 per cent, which was^ 

 put upon the article was immediately absorbed by 

 the foreign makers, and the price became lower" 

 still." The result was that the infant industry 

 ceased to exist, and has only come to life again 

 since the outbreak of the war. 



It is emphasised that "to take away the dye" 

 business from Germany means attacking the best 

 equipped and the best income-producer of Ger- 

 many's entire chemical and allied industry" — a 

 branch which, in 191 2, with a total capital of nearly 

 8,ooo,oooZ. , paid a dividend representing 22 per 

 cent, of the capitalisation. The fact that German 

 works have long ago written off the cost of their 



