The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-25

any soldiers manned or SerlOuSly ln- capaCitated. As for the argument that chemical attack may be carried so far as to blot out entire nations, this mly be an argument against war in any form and in favor of a League of Nations. but it will not prove a l deterrent to the nation that is using I it. Wars usually occur as the result 1 of some breach of convention or of promise. And even if we establish 1 the convention that chemical warfare , shall be forbidden. none the less we ! should keep ourselves at all times | fully informed concerning it. Other i wise we are placing our country anE | our people at the mercy of any pow | CT that may see fit to break its word. | So we chemists hold that the work ! done in providing this instrument for | our army, and in organizing labora- | tories for service. offensive and de- | fensive, in chemical warfare, should l be maintained as a regular branch of | our military system, whether we our | selves adopt the convention forbidding ! Its use or not.
 West Point Tradition
 This has been said, and urged, and
 repeated. and printed, again and | again; but the West Point traditions 1 are stronger than our utterance, if not than our argument. The Chem l ical Warfare Service for the most part
 has been scrapped. It is about to be filed, rather than turned over to | the Corps of Cngineers-for there is 1 hardly enough left to turn over provided the present army rC5rganiza-
 ton bill now before the House Is ! adopted. And even today to equip | the Corps of Engineers with a com ! petent chemical service would re- | quire, not only that much of the work
 be done over again, but that the army
 should have something which the General Staff seems resolved not to
 have, and that is chemistsl
 The voice of authority Is not
 achieved by cultivation. It does not depend on pitch, nor on tone.
 It must be earned rather
 than trained. But sometimes it's
 failure to function is due to the deaf ness of the auditors, and 1t may be ] that the Great American Ear is not ] yet sufficiently attuned to the call of l chemistry to hear even so urgent an | appeal as that our Chemical War Ser
 vice be retained. In the bill for the { reorganization of the army now be-
 fore Congress the plans for the dis
 tSAL4L 1ulLIS are IbSE tIlCuSh A
 great institute for scientific research
 is provided as an additional part of the Corps of Engineers; but for the
 present we chemists hold that if re-
 search is to continue, 1t must remain
 @ separate corps. We recall tha
 amazing wastes in preparing for war
 due to the lack of understanding of
 chemical reactions by men in author ity, and we fear that if chemistry is
 now made a subordinate department
 of the engineers 1t will cease to func-
 ton. The chief of the division,
 whose time in days of peace is devot-
 ed to the improvement of rivers and
 harbors and the digging of canals, is likely to detail the least useful en-
 gineer officers to direct chemical re-
 search. And that will mean, so far
 as chemical warfare is concerned
 Defenseless America once more!
 Teaching and Industry.
 ! So let's take a hitch in our belts and look to the morning. We are doing pretty well in industry and teaching
 In pure research we are holding ouI
 own, and the outlook Is good. There
 have lately appeared the LangmuiI
 POstulates in regard to the cOnstitu-
 ton of atoms and molecules that are ] eDOCn-IldklIE 1IlG lIClu bApiSLIldllOAAs
 of the nature of the nitrogen mole
 cule as compared with its atom, | of the character of the halo-
 gems and the aIkaI metals, of car
 bon monoxide, and of other prob
 lens, are vastly Illuminating and
 helpful. The researches of Professor
 W. D. Harkins, of Chicago, always
 interesting and worth while, the great authority among chemists the
 world over achieved by the work o1 { Theodore W. Richards, of Cambridge ] Mass; the clear thinking of G. N . Lewis, of California; the masterly ac. | complishments of Edward c. Franklin
 on the ammonia system of acids, bas : es and salts; the constant and repeat ed flashes of light thrown from the , brilliant mind of Wilder D. Bancrof only to mention a few of our mast
 CTS whose work suggests itself 1T ! passing-aII are indicative of the fac , that the chemists of America ar'
 alive; alive and awake. It is theory 2 and not a condition, that confronts ui ? in chemistry, and unless we are sound
 in our theories of chemistry we art , bound to fail.
 In regard to teaching, we have the Q men and we have the students. w also have an advantage that is pecu liarly noticeable in the country-w' work together in both pure and ap' 1 piled science. In other words chem . istry is ready for industry On th'
 other hand we are somewhat careles in the training of the imagination . and the requirements of general cul = ture demanded of our students Thf , is no appeal for chemical snobbery = i: is rather an appeal for recognition . of the fact that the man of researci , | needs a trained imagination And II = industry especially it is needed tha . the chemist be proficient in tha |, greatest of the arts, which is th' art of living. In indus.ry he meet n men whose lines have not fallen II
 pleasant places. Here are those Wh' r have not had a fair chance, and h. | can give 1t to them. The chemls s represents the scholastics and phil V osophy of manufacture. He can con = tribute the guiding hand, thought sl full advice, the pleasant Headings tha
 can never be put into the pay envel h ope. It is in the factory that his cul . t1re. his scholarship and his grace O living are most needed. Nor are we a a generous as we might be in rewardinl : | with r1OnAv will