Am'  SepT'  i^™'  ^      German  Poison-gas  Factories.  629 
and  most  modern  of  German  chemical  plants.  It  is  a  veritable  city 
in  itself,  well  laid  out,  with  excellently  constructed  streets  and  brick 
buildings.  Their  office  building  and  recreation  buildings  for  the  em- 
ployees are  luxurious  palaces.  This  plant  has  expanded  consider- 
ably during  the  war,  and,  despite  the  contrary  assertions  of  its  di- 
rectors, was  widely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  war  products, 
particularly  poison  gases.  We  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  Dr. 
Duisberg,  the  chief  director,  and  incidentally,  one  of  the  ex-Kaiser's 
right-hand  men  in  the  development  of  the  war.  Many  will  remem- 
ber him  from  his  visit  to  this  country  at  the  time  of  the  Chemical 
Congress  in  1912.  Incidentally,  he  hopes  to  be  over  here  again  very 
soon  to  see  his  '  old-time  friends.' 
"  The  plant  of  Weiler-ter-Meer  at  Uerdingen  is  also  an  excellent 
development,  kept  up  in  very  good  condition.  ...  Of  all  the  men 
whom  we  met  in  the  various  plants  in  Germany,  the  head  of  this 
plant  was  the  most  cordial  and  open  in  all  his  dealings  with  us.  It 
was,  of  course,  a  difficult  and  humiliating  position  for  men  to  be  in, 
and  in  many  cases  we  encountered  sullen  indifference,  particularly 
among  the  plant  directors,  but  among  the  lower  classes  of  foremen 
and  workmen  there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  general  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  war  has  been  lost  and  also  that  the  cause  was  wrong  to 
start  with.'.  .  .  After  spending  a  few  days  in  Coblenz  ...  we 
journeyed  up  the  Rhine  to  Mayence,  the  headquarters  of  the  French 
area.  Within  this  area  we  were  privileged  to  visit  the  Kalle  plant  at 
Biebrich.  Very  little  war  work  had  been  done  at  this  place,  and  the 
plant  was  probably  the  poorest  of  all  we  saw,  being  old,  dirty,  and 
in  a  run-down  condition. 
"At  Hoechst-on-the-Main  we  went  through  the  great  plant  of 
Meister,  Lucius  and  Bruming,  who  were  the  pioneers  in  the  develop- 
ment of  German  poison  gases,  and  had  done  considerable  work  in  all 
kinds  of  war  material.  They,  too,  had  a  large,  very  fine  plant,  well 
laid  out,  and  in  good  operating  condition,  extending  for  many  acres 
along  the  river.  They  are  quite  progressive  and  have  developed  on 
a  large  scale. 
"  A  little  later  we  went  up  to  the  greatest  of  all  plants,  the  Badische 
Anilin  und  Soda  Fabrik  at  Ludwigshafen.  This  plant  employs 
about  16,000  men  and  covers  many  acres  of  ground.  They  have  the 
plant  for  dyestuffs,  intermediates,  etc.,  at  Ludwigshafen,  and  a  little 
further  up  the  river,  at  Oppau,  is  located  the  plant  for  the  Haber 
process.   Considerable  work  on  war  products  was  done  at  Ludwigs- 
