260 HEPORT — 1901. 



Baeyer could not believe that the English manufacturer and capitalist 

 would stand calmly by and see an important industry which had had its 

 origin and early development in his own country taken from beneath his 

 nose without an effort to retain it. Yet the initial advantages which our 

 natural resources afforded us have been neglected, and now in 1901 the 

 conditions are completely changed. The adaptation of condensing plant to 

 the Westphalian coke ovens has rendered Germany, though still a large 

 buyer from England, no longer dependent on English tar and ammonia ; by 

 the development of the ammonia-soda process she lao longer requires English 

 alkali ; whilst all other raw products of the colour industry can now be 

 purchased in the commercial centres of Germany at least as cheaply as in 

 England, and some even at lower prices. Through the shortsightedness, 

 ignorance, and want of enterprise of those with whom the care of the 

 colour industry in this country has rested the opportunity has been 

 allowed to pass for ever. The English capitalist has passed over as not 

 sufficiently profitable for his consideration an industry which at present 

 amounts to nine or ten million sterling annually, and from which his 

 German confrere reaps a dividend of nearly 20 per cent. The English 

 manufacturer has considered that a knowledge of the benzol market 

 was of greater importance than a knowledge of the benzol theory, and 

 after the early but brilliant days in the infancy of the industry 

 when guided by such eminent workers as Hofmann, Perkin, and 

 Nicholson, commercial pi'ogress and scientific investigation went 

 hand in hand, but little encouragement has been given here to 

 chemical investigators and discoverers. The control of the in- 

 dustry unfortunately soon passed into the hands of men who had no 

 knowledge and absolutely no appreciation of the science upon which 

 their business rested, and, concerned only with getting the ultimate 

 amount of present profit, discouraged all scientific investigations as waste 

 of time and money. The chemist who devoted himself to the elucidation 

 of the chemical constitution of a colouring matter was regarded by them 

 as an unpractical theorist of no value to a manfacturing business. Even 

 when he discovered new colouring matters of commercial value they were 

 so blind to their own interests, and so incapable of believing that any 

 practical good could come out of such theoretical work, that in many cases 

 they refused to patent or in any way take advantage of the discoveries 

 made by him. Dui'ing recent years this attitude has certainly undergone 

 considerable modification, and some attempt has been made to call in the 

 aid of the science so long neglected. Certain firms indeed must be given 

 the credit of endeavouring to pursue a more enlightened policy, but these 

 attempts have been of a more or less sporadic nature and always directed 

 too much in the expectation of realising immediate financial results. The 

 difficulties which must be encountered in the attempt to regain the lost 

 round are of necessity very great, and are quite unappreciated by our 

 business men. It seems in fact to have been the opinion of the public 

 and the average financial man that this industry ought to be easily won 

 back by us by the establishment of a few technical schools, the engage- 

 ment of a dozen chemists, and the investment of a few thousand pounds 

 in new plant, forgetting that the supremacy of our German competitors 

 has been gained by years of patient toil, by the work of hundreds of 

 trained chemists, and by the outlay of millions of capital. Who can be 

 surprised therefore if such expectations have not been realised, and if in 

 spite of some notable successes the general position of the colour trade 



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