The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-06-01
NATURAL DYES IN DEMAND.
But They Hardly Take the Place of
the Aniline Products.

the Aniline Products.
A virtually forgotten industry is
being revived with frantic haste as
result of the discontinuance of Ger
many's world commerce in aniline or
coal tar dyes, according to bulletin
issued by the National Geographic
society from it's headquarters in
Washington.
The United States, like many other
countries, is looking longingly once
more to Avignon's madder root for
its s'Turkey-red," to India's indigo
for it's blues, to Mexico's cochineal
for its scarlets, to Central Americas
logwood for it's blacks and browns, to
our own oak forests for their quer-
citron yellow, and-no, not to the
peculiar Mediterranean seashell for
its purple, for the manufacture of
the Tyrian shade beloved by emper-
ors is one of the so-called lost arts.
But these ancient vegetable dyes,
some Of which were in use when the
mummy cloths were being made for
the pyramid builders of Egypt, can
never replace the coal tar dyes,
which, during the sixty years since
they were accidentally discovered,
have reyolutionized the art of adding
color to our clothes, our houses, our
inks, our shoes, our wall paper, our
hats and our bookbindings. In fact,
aniline dyes furnish almost all of the
modern tints for which man is re-
sponsible.
It was in 1856 that a young Eng
hsh chemist, while trying to produce
artificial quinine, distilled from coal
tar substance which had beautiful
mauve tint. This was the first of the
aniline dyes, dyes which have now
been produced in nearly thousand
commercial shades, 400 of which are
widely used. This young chemist,
William Henry Perkin, secured capt.
tai from his father and began the
manufacture Of dyes, as result of
which he was knighted and amassed
fortune. His discovery Immediate
ly attracted the attention of German
manufacturers who, aided by far
sighted bankers, employed university
chemists, and established dye plants
on the Rhine and Main rivers, inau-
gurating an industry which has en-
joyed phenomenal success. At the
outbreak of the present great war
twenty-one manufacturing establish
ments, most of them within an area
of 130 square miles, had a practical
world monopoly of the aniline dye
trade. ~
1t is not coincidence chat twelve
Of Germany's biggest dye factories
are located at Essen, adjacent to the
leading munition plants of the Teu-
tonic empire. The same coal tar
which produces dyestuffs also fur
nishes the essential ingredients of the
high explosives used in the shells of
the 16-inch guns which battered
down the forts Of Liege and which fill
the head Of the deadly submarine tor
pedo.
Up to the time of Peking's epoch
making discovery, coal tar was the
despised by-product when coal was
burned to produce coke and illumi-
mating gas. To-day the once rejected
third product has become, as it were,
the keystone in the manufacture not
only Of dyestuffs and high explosives
but of many perfumes, photograph
developers and innumerable medici-
nal compounds known as coal-tar
preparations.
At the outbreak of the world war
the United States was importing an
nually from Germany about s15,000,.
900 worth of aniline dyes. The dis
continuance of these dye shipments
has had an effect upon our indus
tries out of all proportion to the ac-
tual value of the imports, for the
manufacturing establishments in this
country which used these dyes en-
ploy more than 100000 workers
and many of the factories have been
forced to run on half time or even
less.
The increase in the prices of some
of the dyes can only be compared
with the astonishing increase in the
prices of shares in some of the "war
bride" stocks. For instance, patent
blues have registered the astonish-
ing advance from 60 cents to $24 q
pound. Other dyes which formerly
sold for rs cents a gallon now bring
$12.
Since 1898 the United States has