The Penn's Grove record., 1919-08-15

conld be established on a competL-9
basis. They had, however, some re-
nnct for the Swiss, French, ano ing
fish industries, though at the time OF
he commencement Of the Europeal
war Germany w2S supplying, appfoAi-
uately nine-tenths Of the world heeol
in dives. With the aid OF the patents,
especially the product patents they
could and did exclude all imporCaUohs
IF competing dyes in tie most lhl-
portant classes. Z
AS if the legitimate advantages O,
4be German industry, supplemented
nv tie ruthless if legal tactics OF
dumping and destructive underseillng'
we're not enough, the methods OF the
GREAT German houses in carrying on
their business in this country were
rom the first honcycombed with cor,
ruption. Bribery of dyers was carried
on almost universally and ON a large
scale. The head dyers Of the various
mills and other chief customers OF the
dive manufacturers were subsidized IN
many direct and indirect ways. THESE
Divers frequently controlled the sltua-
ton, since if any of them wished 70
have his s%uperiors cease using the aye
of one manufacturer and buy instead
the dive made by some other company
nothing was easier than to control the
complicated process of dyeing n such
a way that the dye furnished by the
house which was the least liberal to
the dyer would produce wretched re
suits. 1t would then be an easy mat
ter for the dyer to get the manager
of his mill to try the dyes offered by
the more liberal briber, and with the
exercise of a little care, the new dye
would be sure to produce satisfactory
results. So extensive was this cor
ruption that | came across only n
American consumer that had escaped
its i'll effects. This concern, the
United Piece Dye-Works of Lodi, n.
J., avoided the difficulty by having all
its dyes purchased by the head of the
company himself, under contract pro-
viding that no barrel or package
should show the name of the manufac-
turer. The company was thus able to
designate the dyes which its dyers
were to use solely by its own arbi-
trary numbers, and the dyers were
thus unable to determine whose dyes
they were using and to whom they
should look for their graft. Against
these illegitimate methods practiced
by concerns having such resources and
compelled by such an imperious ne
ccssitv to seek and maintain supre-
macy in foreign fields, honest domes-
tic competition found the utmost diff
in maintaining itself, and it is
therefore not strange that until the
outbreak of the war the American in
dustry was of little importance.
Besides the obstacles, legitimate and
Legitimate, thus placed by the Ger
in the way of the establishment
Of an American industry, it would ap-
pear that there was considerable or
propaganda intended to dis
courage American attempts. 1t seems
to have been regarded as the duty of
good German chemist in the Unitd
to preach the doctrine of the
.nvincibility of the German chemical
industry, the impossible difficulty of
the processes involved in the manu-
of many important dyes, and
the hopelessness of procuring the
accessory technically trained men and
labor outside of Germany. How
far this was an Intentionally organ
ized movement and how far merely a
sample of the prevalent German me-
galomania, it is difficult to say, but
results were analogous to those of
well-known potash propaganda, by
which it would seem that the farmers,
and to some extent even the scientific
men, of the United States were per-
Suaded that far more potash was re-
for u soil than was actually
needed. Whether intentional or not,
this propaganda had its effects. At
all events prior to the war only a few
Americans had the temerity to believe
that anything could be done in this
country against the German advan-
tages in the way of technical skill,
cheap labor, governmental support, and
INSCRIPTIONS methods.
Indeed, up to August, 1914, the
American industry in d~yestuffs and
medicines consisted of little more than
a series Of rather small assembling
In spite of the fact that en-
ormous supplies of coal tar were avail
able and that several of the crudes
could be secured in this country under
most advantageous conditions, hardly
any of the necessary intermediates
were made here, and the manufacture
Of dyes was almost entirely confined
working upon intermediates i'm
from Germany.
At one time the industry seemed to
have taken a real start. Between
1879 and 1888 nine establishments had
commenced the manufacture of dyes
and we're apparently prospecting. In
1888, however, there was a sudden re-
Versal of conditions, and within a year
five of the nine had shut down. The
other four continued on a close a
gin and were still in existence at the
outbreak Of the war. Of these by far
the largest was the Schoellkopf Ami
line & Chemical Works, Buffalo. This
company, organized and maintained
0y an American family of German
origin, which had at its disposal very
large resources derived from other
business, had continuously made a
strenuous and honest effort to estab-
lish a real dye industry. From time
to Time they commenced the manufac-
ture Of various Intermediates, includ-
ing at one period aniline oil, which
vas manufactured on a large scale.