SCIENCE IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 



tivated extensively until recently, in many countries, for 

 its roots, from which some of the most important lake 

 pigments were made. The principal coloring-matter 

 of madder was alizarine, from which a permanent red, 

 arid several other colors, invaluable for dyeing fabrics 

 and making pigments for painting, were obtained. But 

 alizarine is now made from coal-tar at a cost so much 

 less than it is possible to produce the natural color- 

 material, that the madder-growers have been obliged 

 to plant their fields with grain and forego their time- 

 honored vocation. 



The struggle of the madder-growers against the en- 

 croachment of the new, laboratory-made product that 

 was destined to engulf their industry, is a tragic page in 

 the history of scientific advancement and commercial 

 progress. English scientists had been foremost in pro- 

 ducing colors from coal-tar; and as a result the estab- 

 lishment of great manufacturing plants for making 

 them were in progress. The increase of the madder 

 industry of such establishments became apparent; and 

 so great was the influence of the madder-growers, that 

 laws were enacted for protecting the older industry and 

 curtailing the new. For the moment these laws proved 

 effective; but only for the moment. Laws made for 

 the benefit of the few and against the interests of the 

 many cannot be long effective. The English artificial- 

 color manufacturers, who were then leading the world, 

 were ruined, but the manufacture of artificial colors 

 crossed the Channel to France and Germany, and the 

 madder-growers soon found themselves unable to com- 

 pete with the foreign artificial colors which now flooded 



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