Am.  Jour.  Pharru.  1 
November,  1915.  } 
Progress  in  Applied  Science. 
531 
selling,  and  other  methods  of  competition,  to  win  back  this  profitable 
market  and  put  out  of  business  a  new  and  struggling  dyestuff 
industry." 
This  statement  was  made  before  the  Society  of  Chemical  In- 
dustry, in  session  in  New  York*  October  22,  by  Dr.  Edward  Ewing 
Pratt,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  in 
his  address  on  the  subject,  "  Do  We  Want  a  Coal-tar  Chemical 
Industry?"  Dr.  Pratt  pointed  out  the  efficient  organization  of  the 
European  coal-tar  dyestuff  industry,  and  particularly  the  German 
industry.  He  stated  that  "  the  German  coal-tar  chemical  industry 
is  probably  the  most  highly  and  completely  organized  industry  in 
the  world.  The  industry  involves  not  only  complex  chemical  proc- 
esses, but  elaborate  and  expensive  plants.  It  requires  the  services 
of  thousands  of  scientifically-trained  chemists  and  vast  armies  of 
workers.  Not  less  highly  organized  is  the  commercial  end  of  the 
business,  devoted  to  merchandizing  the  products  of  the  twenty-two 
dyestuff  factories  manufacturing  in  Germany.  Commercially,  the 
coal-tar  chemical  industry  of  Germany  is  a  unit.  Prices,  terms, 
conditions  of  sales,  market  competition,  and  export  policies  are 
determined  and  fixed  by  the  industry  as  a  whole. 
"  Up  to  the  present  time  there  has  been  no  serious  competition 
with  the  foreign  coal-tar  chemical  industry.  Any  attempt  to  seri- 
ously dispute  its  dominance  in  other  countries  is  persistently  checked 
and  prevented  by  the  united  action  of  European  producers,  by  under- 
selling and  boycotts.  Of  the  world's  production  of  coal-tar  dyes, 
valued  at  $92,150,000,  Germany  produced  $68,300,000  worth,  or 
practically  three-fourths  of  the  world's  supply.  Of  the  world's 
export  trade,  Germany  has  an  even  larger  share,  taking  for  herself 
over  88  per  cent." 
Dr.  Pratt  pointed  out  that  the  United  States  has  the  raw 
materials,  the  markets,  the  technical  skill,  and  the  capital  to  develop 
this  new  industry,  but  he  went  on  to  cite  specific  examples  of  how 
the  coal-tar  chemical  industry  in  this  country  has  been  throttled, 
and  he  cited  an  example  of  a  company  which  had  been  organized  in 
the  State  of  New  York  "  for  the  manufacture  of  organic  and  inor- 
ganic chemicals  and  its  homologues  and  by-products.  Although  this 
company  started  with  a  capital  of  approximately  only  one-tenth  of 
the  United  States'  consumption,  the  European  convention  immedi- 
ately announced  its  intention  of  putting  us  out  of  business  as 
promptly  as  possible  by  underselling,  regardless  of  costs.  Accord- 
ingly, it  at  once  cut  the  regular  net  delivery  market  price  of  its 
¥* 
