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Marcu 31, 1923] 
WITHIN one generation we have seen the small 
“ mechanics’ institute in a provincial city develop 
into an institution of university standing, constitut- 
ing a technological faculty giving degrees, with some 
of its professors sitting on the university senate. In 
one way or another London, Birmingham, Bristol, all 
the large cities, show the same change. It means that 
within this period an enormous change has taken place 
in the character and requirements of our industries, 
and consequently in the demand for highly trained 
young men. The industrial world has changed. The 
present characteristic of industry is the tendency 
towards large units, using as one of their weapons 
an intelligence department (a research department), 
eaerpped with every resource of science. This is in 
itself nearly as far removed from the Victorian system 
f industry as that was from its predecessor, and it is 
causing nearly as great a social change as the indus- 
ial revolution that followed on the introduction of 
chinery. 
The scientific educational establishments in this 
untry are fundamental to the whole structure. By 
e vitality and originality, by the number and the 
uality of our teachers, the world can judge of the 
eabacity of Great Britain in the long-neglected scien- 
ific industries, of which dyestuffs and fine chemicals 
are eo ; 
The dyestuffs industry is what is loosely termed a 
key industry. Mr. Runciman, speaking in the House 
£ Commons on November 27, 1914, said: ‘‘ The 
combined capital of such operations of textile and 
ther industries which require aniline dyes comes to no 
less than 200,000,000/., and about 1,000,000 of our 
mployees are either directly or indirectly interested 
n the adequate supplies of dyestuffs for their main 
ndustries.’’ There were few people who questioned 
at that time the urgency and importance of producing 
within our own shores the commodities required to 
support so many staple industries. We were at war 
with Germany, on whom we had been dependent in 
peace time for 80 per cent. of our requirements, and 
at that moment it was necessary, both from an 
economic and military point of view, to replace at 
once those vanished supplies from home sources. 
What happened after the War? In 1913 the dye- 
stuffs industry in England supplied about ro per cent. 
of the British consumption, which amounted in round 
figures to rather more than 20,000 tons. The factories 
were comparatively small, and the number of chemists 
proportionately few. By Armistice Day the two 
principal companies, already loosely united, employed 
some 7000 ‘gaan nearly 300 of whom were academic- 
ally trained chemists—an unheard-of number in this 
country. During the two years following the Armis- 
tice more than 25,000 tons of dyestuffs manufactured 
by this British company alone went into consumption 
in Great Britain. 
The extraordinary prosperity in the textile trades 
at that period had its aftermath in the slump. In 
1919, however, the employment provided by these 
trades, and the money brought into this country as 
payment for exports, were factors without which this 
country would not have readily recovered from the 
paralysis of war. The total value of the exports of 
printed and cotton dyed piece goods alone during 
1919-20 amounted to 270 million pounds sterling. 
In October 1920 the British Dyestuffs Corporation 
alone employed some 8000 people, with a yearly wage 
roll of 1,600,000/. This company used 4000 tons of 
1 From a paper read before the Association of Technical Institutions on 
March 3. 
NO. 2787, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 

- The Dyestuffs Industry in Relation to Research and Higher Education.! 
By Dr. HERBERT LEVINSTEIN. 
coal per week, 1000 tons of pyrites, and corresponding 
uantities of heavy chemicals and raw materials. 
hese figures may be considered large in this country, 
where we are not so familiar with very large plants, 
but they are small compared with the aggregate of the 
German I.G. 
Suddenly in October 1920 the slump fell upon the 
country. The position was made much worse by four 
factors. German production revived, considerable 
quantities of German dyes were imported as repara- 
tions, the Sankey judgment temporarily removed all 
protection from the home producer, and the rapid 
external depreciation of the mark temporarily made 
it difficult to compete with Germany in neutral 
markets. Stocks fell in value, large sums of money 
were lost, and the production of British companies feil 
almost to pre-war figures. . 
The dyestuff and fine chemical industries in this 
country, are by no means assured of a prosperous, 
development. If the factories are allowed to decay, 
the staffs to be gradually diminished, the capital 
invested rendered unremunerative, our position will 
become less strong. At the moment, should the occa- 
sion arise, the factories and organisations created 
during the war years are a source of strength. 
The developments of higher scientific education in 
this country, on which our scientific industry is based, 
tend to strengthen the national life in a way which 
may not be immediately obvious but yet quietly 
and unobtrusively may be of fundamental importance 
tothe State. There is another reason of great import- 
ance in favour of a flourishing and progressive dye 
industry. The dye industry is a key industry to in- 
vention. Its importance as a factor in producing new 
inventions is well summarised by Mr. J. A. Choate, the 
author of an official American publication issued by 
the Alien Property Custodian of the United States 
Chemical Section : 
“The Technical skill and equipment provided by 
a successful Dye Industry, furnishes the means, and 
almost the sole means, to which every nation must 
look for advances in the application of chemical 
science to practical undertakings. No other industry 
offers a livelihood to any such large numbers of highly 
trained scientific chemists nor any such incentive to 
continuous and extended research.”’ 
Any firm wishing to become a serious factor in the 
world’s markets for fine chemicals and dyes must . 
employ a number of research chemists. Existing 
products tend towards obsolescence, competition from 
other makers tends to lower their price, and new 
demands constantly arise and are satisfied or created 
by new products for which high prices can be obtained 
owing to their novelty and, at first, the absence of 
competition. In the long run that nation will pre- 
dominate in this industry which brings out the best 
and the largest number of new products. 
These research organisations are expensive. Why 
then did the Germans start in this race for new pro- 
ducts? They found this kind of research to be 
extremely profitable to their shareholders. Conse- 
quently, it was developed, and they were able to bring 
out annually quite a number of new products which, 
pushed by enterprising salesmen in all markets, home 
and foreign, gradually became established branches of 
manufacture in Germany. 
Research for new products costing no more than 
the old, but for which the public will pay a higher 
price, is intimately wrapped up with the question of 
patents. Without the prospect of a monopoly for a 
term of years, and the lure of high profits, this kind of 
