The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-02-12
Products Germany Sold to
America Are Now Being
Made in Our Country
OTHER COUNTRIES
ALSO AWAKENING
Many Methods Are Being Employed to
Produce Potash, Some of Which Will
Compete with Germany After the War
Struggle Is Ended.

NEW YORK, Feb. 12-Before Ger
many plunged the world into war she
sold to the United States $250,000000
worth of chemicals every year, and not
more than per cent of the amount rep
resented labor cost. BY the time the
war is over Germany win have lost that
immensely valuable special commerce
because the chemicals of the United
States, spurred by necessity, have.
learned to do what the Germans ac-
complish and are learning more every
day.
This was the interesting review pre-
scented by Prof. d. D. Jackson of the
chemical engineering department of
Columbia University. Prof Jackson,
surveying more than three years of war,
sees It as struggle of the chemists,
who were called upon to furnish ma
terials for bombing and gassing, fuels
for ambulances, supply automobiles and
airplanes, euncotton for torpedoes, high
explosives for depth bombs, cement for
concrete defences, gas masks, oils and
concentrated foods, potash, nitrogen and
PHOSPHORUS compounds, for fertilizer.
khaki color for soldiers uniform and
| numerous pharmaceutical products for
hospitals.
But in this country, as in all other
countries which had formerly to depend
upon Germany for Invaluable chemicals,
the war has given a great impetus,
| Prof. Jackson finds, to the manufacture
Of Photographic developers, lenses, thar
maceutlcals, synthetic perfumes, flavor
! ing extracts, saceharine and numerous
! other products. Before the war Ger
many supplied the world with the bet
| ter grades Of chemical apparatus and
| reagents. The United States bought
| many millions of dollars worth of lab
! oratory glassware annually. Since all
| Of these importations ceased we have
| been able, Prof. LAC ks9n notes. to make
| our own glassware, which is of a quail
| ity superior to that manufactured in
! Germany or Austria, and an excellent
| quality of porcelain is also being made.
! Prof Jac kson continues:
Before 1911 every pound of syn
| thetic phenol came from Europe Now
score or more plants are producing
it in large quantities, chiefly for use
in the manufacture of pieric acid for
war purposes The September Chemical
Engineer stated that the Edison works
at Orange, \. j., are furnishing regular
/ ~ 100000 pounds Of phcnol a month
At the beginning Of the war pot
ash salts, as, for instance, pearl ash.
| was selling at less than three cents a
pound, and shortly after the price rose
to $3.50 a pound, or more Industrial
establishments were obliged to use sub
1titutes for all potash compounds or 60
out Of business. Germany produced prat-
| tically all Of the potash at that time.
| Today many methods are employed in
this country to produce potash, some
| Of which may well compete with the
| German products after the war.
= Before the war Germany made most
Of our eolors used in textiles, leather,
straw, feathers, paper, ink. pigments,
varnisheS and for innumerable other
products of our manufacture. At pres
ent We are ourselves manufacturing a
quantity of color compounds equal to
that used by us in normal times, and
the number of colors produced is con
stantlv increasing. Many concerns now
manufacturing dyestuff intermediates
have their own nitric acid oleum, nj
tration, sulphonation and acid recovery
plants
With proper legislation we can
manufacture on competitive basis
practically every chemical product
which we now import. Cheap labor is
not a factor of Importance.
The tremendous advantage which
Germany had at the beginning of the
war has taken more than three wears
) to counterfeit, and the result has beer
? an awakening in other countries to TIM
necessity of furthcring the chemical and