Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1915-03-19
THE COST OF SMOKE.
New York Independent)

retary OF the Interior announces with
proper pride that DR.. Rittman in the
Bureau Of Mines has discdyered Il
process by which petroleum can be
made to yield larger quantity OF
gasoline than is at present obtained
and also the compounds which form
the basis of the aniline dyes. Mr..
Lane adds. Il understand that some
benzol and toluol have been obtained
from American coal and water-gss
tars, but this supply does not begin
to satisfy the present demands"
But at the same time with this
/ comes out report from the Depart
.nent Of Commerce showing that The
American coke ovens waste enough
benzol and tar TO more than cover
the worlds consumption in makns
artificial dyestuns" Mr.. Redfeld adds.
evidently without consultation with
/ his colleagues in the Cabinet, that If
1t commercial demand is prescnt.
American tar works can quickly pro-
vide all Of the crudes needed. praci-
ically as cheaply as in Europe" ard
further. There is no question of t7a
readiness Of tar distillers to enlarge
their plants for the production OF an
ample supply OF the needed crudes if !
continued demand is certain"
The Secretary of Commerce has the /
right of ii. We trust that Dr. Ritz
mans process viii provide another |
source of such material, but it mus, I
be distinctly understood that it is no. /
the lack of tar which has kept our
explosives dependent upon Germany
our coke ovens are sending up IN
smoke colatile distillates worth $75,-
100000 year which in Germany are
saved and sold to us under various
fancifu or cumbersome names at
high price per ounce. There are about
thousand of these coal-tar products
now in use and over nine hundred of
them are free from patent restrictions-l
We have competent chemists or could
train them in our universities if there
was any demand for them. 1t is, then,
not the lack of capital. material or in
ventive genius that has kept Us in
this humiliating, costly, and in crisis
like the rosent-dangerous state II
dependence.
The fundamental cause Of our back
wardness in this most profitable in
dustry is. as the Secretary of Com
merce says. the lack of business or
ganization. and one reason for this. IS
he does not say, is that the Amer lean ,
Government. urged thereto by Aneri-
can public sentiment; is determined to
keep business in state Of disorgani-
zation 1t is the common belief that
such restriction is necessary -. ordec
to prevent the oppression of the pub:ic
by trusts. This theory may be cor
rect. but the result in this case as in
others is to put the public at he
mercy of foreign trust
The German chemical companies are
able to control ninety five per cent of
The worlds dyestuns ard to make a :.
profit of twenty to fifty per cent out
Of it every year is largely due to the
fact that they work together and
handle all the products ana by-pro- >,
lucts in systematic way to the best =.
advantage. Such results can never be :.
attained where the mining of coal. the r
making of coke, the distillinG of tar. -
he preparation of the ten crudes and
he three hundred intermediate pro-
lucts and the manufacture and mar
,eting of the final products are in the :,
lands of separate companies each :,
oncerned solely with making the
nost profit out of its particular stage
f the complete process without re- !.
ard to the effect or the industry as
Ihole.
The reason why the Germans have
cen able to monopolize the chemical nj
is the same as for the fact
hat they are able to fight six nations
I a time: that is, unity Of purpose
nd efficient organization. How long ca
'ould the French armies have bo
cen able to stand against them if la
leir Government had compelled each as
rmy corps to act Independently and III
rohibited an interlocking directorate 20
the artillery. infantry, cavalry, avia- co
on and commissary departments? sh
We must either find some way by fir,
hich business consolidation may be Ca
emitted without injury to the public
we must frankly recognize the i'm ba
of competing in the foreign be
arlSets, and. as Secretary Redfeld wa
iggests. put up tariff wall srfIici- nc,
lily high to prevent the organized in
lstry Of other countries from preyins
ION our anarchic business If an in ON,