The Washington times., 1921-04-09
s1OFE SOON ON DYE MONOPOLY.
CANAL TREATY Seen AS PERIL
lnseparabIy interviewer With
important Industries Of Ma
ton, Says Hapgood.
BY NORMAN HAPGOOD.

told recently the story OF the
attempted monopoly In dyes and the
extremely severe criticism passed
on the methods of the trust by q
distinguished Harvard scientist. To-
day l want to point out the import
ance Of this attempted monopoly to
the ordinary business man and the
ordinary consumer.
The serious condemnation Of the
trust that quoted from The Harvard
professor was based on ethical
grounds.
TOUCHES ON NEW ASPECT.
DR.. Hamilton was strongly inclined
to think that II was no proper busi-
| ness of Mr.. Garvan, acting as alien
property custodian, to constitute him
| self the head of an organization to
confiscate patents, allow those whom
he and his associates choose to sell
goods under the trade marks OF peo-
pie whose business had been taken
away from them, and take away the
| copyrights Of foreign scholars for
their own benent.
DR.. Hamilton did not go into an
other aspect of 1t, and IL is that aspect
that 1 touch today. Ethics entirely
apart, Is 1t a good thing for American
business and the American consumer
that processes that enter into such a
wide variety Of business activities
today, should be put into the control
of few men?
Against the character Of those men
nothing need be said, and some of
them stand at the very top of the
business world. Cleveland H. Dodge
Is one Of the trustees and there is no
more conscientious capitalist in the
United States. Otto Barnard enjoys a
high confidence in business circles.
The other trustees are former Judge
George l. Ingraham, of New York;
Ralph Stone. president of the Detroit
Trust Company, and Benjamin Girls
void. OF Brown & Son, Baltimore. All
of these gentlemen have served on the
advisory sales committee Of the alien
property custodian.
The president Is Francis P Garvan,
who was alien property custodian at
the time the trust was formed anu up
to the early days Of the Harding ad-
ministration.
OTHER LINES AFFECTED.
The vice-president is Col. Douglas
I. Mckay. vice-president of ]. G..
White 4 Co. The secretary and treas
urer Is George ]. Corbett, assistant
secretary of the Union Trust Com
pany, The counsel is Joseph H.
Choate, and the patent counsel is
Ramsay Houget
These excellent gentlemen ask Con-
gress to adopt license system by
which the men in question shall de-
eide who 10 patriotic enough to go
into the dye business in the United
States with the advantage of the best
known processes.
There is not only the dye business
itself to consider. It has became al
most matter of school-boy knowl-
edge nowadays that the dye business
Is inseparably interviewer with many
OF the most important industries.
Dyes have a direct and important
bearing on the textile industries.
which are SO large q part Of Ameri-
can business. They have a direct and
important bearing on the leather in
dustries. on the paper industries, the
paint and varnish Industries, the
making Of many of the most impor-
tant medicines.
FINDS LESSON IN WAR.
The recent war taught US all to
understand the intimate connection of
dye processes with the manufacture
OF the most import ant modern ex-
plosives. Thrilling books could be
written, and have been written, on
the subject OF how closely related are
all these industries that have chem
istry for their foundation. And they
are not at the end of their develop
ment. They may be only at the be-
ginning of it.
Congress, therefore, ought to be at
tentive to all the immediate and re-
mote consequences before it turns
over in free country like ours a
despotic power over such an enormous
complex of industries to small
group OF men, however respectable,
the more so II their plan rests on a
basis that is open to doubt. both In
its ethics, in its probable effects on
tion to the peace Of the world.
URGES AMERICAN ACTIVITY.
OF it's ethics I have said enough at
least to set people thinking. or its
probable effect on American inven-
tiveness I quote from the pamphlet
describing a chemical exhibit now
going on in the city of Washington.
under the auspices of the National
Research Council. DR.. Slosson in this
pamphlet says:
Science does not stand still. The
only way to keep ii is to keep ahead
in 1t. The American dyemaker now
has at his disposal all the German
patents, but the German chemists have
not stopped using their brains, and
unless we use ours we shall soon be
left behind.
"Of what use was the best patent
on flint lock the day after the per-
cussion cap was invented? As soon
as the Germans found out how to
make artificial indigo the indigo crop
of India lost it's value"
What we need is American mental
activity in this field. not monopoly
and secret service work. 1 do not
believe the road to that activity or to
san science the world over lies in at
tempts by Mr.. Garvan to revive anti
German hatred in its most hystericaI
form and use 1t as an excuse for
monopoly in complicated, interre-