630  German  Poison-gas  Factories.       { Am-  J™r-  ™a9Tm- 
hafen,  but  they  also  were  able  to  make  dyestufTs  on  an  appreciable 
scale  during  the  war.  At  the  present  time  they  have  a  large  stock 
on  hand  ready  to  turn  loose  on  the  markets  when  permission  is 
granted.  They,  too,  had  done  considerable  w.ork  on  poison  gases 
and  explosive  intermediates,  but  not  to  an  extent  which  would  at  all 
interfere  with  their  resumption  of  dyestufl  manufacture  on  a  large 
scale. 
"  At  Oppau  we  saw  what  is  probably  the  most  phenomenal  scien- 
tific development  up  to  date — namely,  the  practical  realization  on  an 
operating  basis  of  the  Haber  process  for  ammonia  production.  The 
buildings  are  all  quite  new  and  well  constructed,  and  the  vast  amount 
of  detail  has  been  studiously  and  carefully  worked  out  on  a  practical 
operating  basis,  producing  upward  of  100,000  tons  of  ammonia  per 
year.  This  plant  was  a  large  factor  in  enabling  Germany  to  stay  in 
the  war  as  long  as  she  did,  by  means  of  producing  large  quantities 
of  nitrates.  The  Germans  have  also  another  plant,  a  duplicate  of 
this,  which  they  are  operating  in  the  unoccupied  area  of  Germany, 
so  that  it  is  really  a  great  practical  possibility  at  the  present  time. 
Incidentally,  it  came  to  our  attention  that  Haber,  to  whom  Germany 
owes  so  much  of  her  development  in  chemical  products  in  warfare, 
had  never  attained  a  higher  rank  than  captain  in  the  German  chem- 
ical warfare  service,  despite  the  responsibility  and  immensity  of  his 
job. 
"  Looking  at  our  inspection  of  the  German  plants  from  a  general 
viewpoint,  it  is  my  opinion  that,  considering  the  advantage  gained 
in  America  by  the  last  four  years  of  experience  in  chemical  manu- 
facturing and  the  lessons  learned  by  our  equipment  manufacturers, 
the  German  plants  at  the  present  time  from  an  equipment  standpoint 
and  general  layout  are  not  superior  to  the  existing  American  de- 
velopment, their  advantage  being  that  they  have  an  experienced  and 
long-trained  personnel  schooled  and  willing  to  carry  on  the  laborious 
details ;  but  if  our  people  here  at  home  will  encourage  our  new, 
rapidly  growing  industries,  there  is  no  reason  why  our  own  per- 
sonnel cannot  equal  or,  in  fact,  surpass  that  of  the  Germans. 
"  There  are  but  few  distinctive  features  to  be  observed  which 
might  advantageously  be  adopted  in  some  American  plants.  For  in- 
stance—  (1)  the  Germans  have  a  very  clever  method  of  building 
their  water-towers  around  the  power-house  chimneys  or  stacks,  thus 
utilizing  the  waste  heat  and  keeping  their  water  from  freezing;  (2) 
they  have  a  method  of  distributing  the  pressure  in  the  filter  presses 
