Evening star., 1914-12-13

to their troubles.
Censorship and Now that the move
| co++o c., ment of cotton to
| 1S' foreign ports has be-
gun a new obstacle to upset trade
conditions is the work of censors. who
are holding up cablegrams to and from
| the United States in reference to the
purchase and sale of cotton.
In an effort to prevent the possibility
| of information creeping into cable
grams which might be used by bellig-
erents on either side the censors have
held up code messages. Within the
| past few days cotton brokers Of the
United States, represented by H. G.
| Hester. secretary of the New Orleans
cotton Exchange, have urged upon the
state Department the necessity of suf-
ncient latitude in sending cablegrams
10 allow for the transmission of bona
noe messages on actual business.
According to information which has
| just been transmitted to Secretary
Bryan "a large percentage of cable
grams sent to and from Barcelona,
Spain, and Milan, Italy, never reached
| their destination" and another COM
plainant says we had cable from our
| representative at Genoa, November 81,
giving details of several orders cabled
by him during the previous few days,
none OF which orders or cables came
dealer writes that sit is impossible to
secure any informa tfon as to why our
cables are held up" and still another
complains of the manner in which all
OF his cable correspondence to Spain is
treated
Owing to the situation in the south,
caused by the war, the further inter-
| ruption to the movement of cotton be-
cause of the holding up of cable orders
is reported to be particularly Distress
ing to persons interested in seeing the
cotton market brought back to normal.
At present no cable codes are allowed
in messages to and from neutral coun-
| tries such as Italy and Spain. Cable
companies, delivered or undelivered,
| and when the least trouble or con-
fusion arises because of some cable
| that is missing it simply means an
| endless expense in sending various
| cables trying to get one Of them to
destination explaining all that has
been done in the past.
Most Of the dealers in cotton use two
| recognized cotton cable codes, and
what the American cotton dealers de-
sire is that the State Department Sc
cure the European censors' approval
and recognition of these codes. Tele-
graph companies on the other side have
authorized the use of other codes which
| are unIdnll1dr ana nOL FeCOSHiHcu ny
the cotton dealers, and are said to be
absolutely useless for the intricacies
of the highly technical cotton trade.
Secretary Bryan will send the COM
plants of the cotton dealers to Sir Ed
ward Grey and ask his consideration
Of the dealers complaints. Great Brit
| ain, it is believed. can solve the prob
lens faced by the cotton men. AL
though cotton is now moving much
better than 1t was. the war in Europe
r,R AVpon ion n
cotton from ten to fifteen dollars
bale below the cost of production, and
further depressing prices are feared il
the orders sent in by cable continue to
be held up. European mills now want
American cotton, and are willing to
buy It If they can be permitted to do
so. Cotton is in no sense a contraband
of war and Secretary Hester and
others of the New Orleans Cotton EX-
change ask why should it be held up.
4. i.
Government chemists look upon the
report Just made by the special COM
mittee Of the Ameri-
Coal Tar Dive can Chemical Society
c:4,4: on the coal tar dye
situation as the most
important development since the early
days of the war. when Secretary
the Interior invited group of ex-
perts to meet with him in Washington
to consider the ways and means of
providing for the demands of Ameri-
can textile and medicinal manufac-
turers for coal tar products.
The report of the committee. which
has just been sent to Washington, goes
into all of the features of the coal far
industry, which has reached it's high
est development in Germany. which at
the present time manufactures about
so per cent of the worlds demand for
coal tar dyes. Bernhard c. Hesse, chair
man of the committee of chemists max
ing the report. points out that last
year Germany had for sale to foreign
ers 50 worth of coal tar products. as
against every dollars worth which it
coal tar products made by Germany
amounted to more than S6S,O0O. 900,
with Switzerland coming second with
less than $7,0O0,000. Great Britain third
with less than 100000. France with
$5,000.000 and the United States with
only $3,750.000 worth
DR.. Hesse says that it is to the credit
of the chemists and coal tar product man
ufacturers of the United States that this
country's record is as good as it is today
in the face of the well organized manu-
featuring plants of Germany and of
Germanys very superior facilities for
ioTelen trdde, DOth banking and trans
portation. The New York chemist be-
lieves that America can have a strong
coal tar industry if the people of this
country really desire it and will give
it their support.
German manufacturers have an ad-
vantage over those Of the United
States. the report points out, because
manufacturers of this country are pro-
hibited by law from making use of CO.
operative commercial devices such as
pools. trusts. manufacturing and sell
ing agreements and the like. where
as such devices are wholly lawful
abroad and are encouraged by the re-
spective governments.
One feature of the report which in
terests government chemists is the sug-
gestion that before the coal tar dye
industry can be developed in this
country there is needed legislation to
provide for an effective 'tanti-dumping"
clause. which will certainly prevent
undertaking of domestic manufacture
ers in the United States by the unfair
methods of the foreign dye concerns.
At the present time the German coal
tar dye industry is SO extensive that
the foreign trust can at any time un-
dersell an American who plans to
manufacture any one or number of
the dyes to compete with the Eu-
ropean products. The committee of
chemists does not suggest the kind of
clause which they think would prevent
the dumping practice, but they say
that it Is strictly a lawmaking and a
Ia