January 8, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



41 



fore, to discuss this at some length, as it is 

 probably the most pressing question before 

 the chemical world in this country to-day 

 and I fear the one least likely to receive a 

 favorable reply. A few years ago every 

 coke oven in this country was what is 

 known as a bee-hive oven, and all the by- 

 products of the distillation of coal were 

 lost. It is only in comparatively recent 

 years that by-product furnaces have been 

 constructed and various by-products saved. 

 The ammonia was naturally first utilized 

 and the products of the distillation of tar 

 have been among the last. In fact, a theory 

 existed in the minds of many people that 

 the tar produced by American coal did 

 not possess the necessary constituents to 

 make it useful as a basis for the production 

 of organic chemicals. I have been myself 

 told by one of the large producers in Ger- 

 many that it was absolutely certain that 

 American coal did not possess the neces- 

 sary qualities. The object of this informa- 

 tion was probably to put out of my mind 

 any latent ambition along forbidden lines, 

 but as it was given by the commercial 

 manager and not by one of the scientific 

 staff, I believed him, but wondered if it 

 were true. 



In a lecture delivered to the board of 

 directors of the General Chemical Com- 

 pany on October 23, 1914, the subject and 

 its difficulties were outlined by Dr. B. C. 

 Hesse. Owing to the immensity of the 

 subject only a small part of it was treated. 

 This able lecture has since been published 

 in the Journal of Industrial Chemistry, 

 but I can not do better than quote from it 

 freely, as I consider it the best exposition 

 of the case that has come to my attention. 

 He says : 



At the very beginning it should be pointed out 

 tliat the world's market in coal-tar dyes, as it 

 stands to-day, comprises, in round numbers, 900 

 distinct and different chemical substances which 



are made by the aid of 300 products of transfor- 

 mation, themselves not dyes, of 10 products ob- 

 tained or obtainable from coal-tar by distillation, 

 refrigeration, expression or the like. Therefore, 

 actually and in reality the present coal-tar dye in- 

 dustry comprises no fewer than 1,200 different 

 products and as many or more different processes 

 of manufacture and requires many hundred dif- 

 ferent sets of apparatus of varying capacity and 

 of different kind for many hundred different 

 operations. A manufacturing problem compris- 

 ing so many independent and yet interlaced units 

 of manufacture and production has therefore 

 within it many elements of complexity. 



World's figures are not available. The fullest, 

 best, most dependable and most recent figures are 

 those dealing with Germany. In the year 1913 

 the total export value of Germany's coal-tar in- 

 dustry, including dyes and products of chemicaJ 

 transformation or intermediates, amounted to 

 $55,264,522 distributed over 33 countries and 

 shared in by 22 factories; on June 30, 1912, 21 of 

 these factories had a combined capitalization of 

 $36,700,000 and declared and paid dividends of' 

 $11,600,000, or 21.74 per cent, of the capitaliza- 

 tion, for that year. 



Of the 5,369 active corporations in Gernmny on 

 June 30, 1912, 1,004 or 18.69 per cent, are di- 

 vided into 19 groups of the chemical and allied 

 industries. Arranged in the order of their in- 

 come-producing effects these 19 groups are, in part, 

 as follows: 



No. of 



Per Cent. Corporations 



Coal-tar dyes 21.74 21 



Metallurgy 11.78 61 



Soaps and candles 11.65 21 



Glass 11.61 38 



Heavy chemicals 11.51 104 



Explosives 11.22 28 



The remainder range between 5 per cent, and 10 

 per cent., except mining which is at the foot of the 

 list with 0.51 per cent, return. 



Therefore, any attempt to take away coal-tar dye 

 business from Germany means attacking the best 

 equipped and the best income producer of Ger- 

 many's entire chemical and allied industry. 



Dr. Hesse estimates as follows on the 

 entire world production: 



Germany $68,222,846 



Great Britain 5,982,675 



Switzerland 6,452,651 



France 5,000,000 



United States 3,750,000 



$89,408,172' 



