Evening journal., 1921-09-22

That disarmament In incapable OF
preventing war was clearly stated
by Brigadier General Amos A. Fries
last month before the Senate Com
mittce on Finance at the hearing
on the proposed Dye Embargo. Dis
armament is only an oconomio meas
ure not an insurance against inter-
national conragration. II we fall
to regard II In that light. II we neg
lect the development OF by-product
cooking and tho intensive manufac-
ture OF those coal-tar derivatives
that arc an essential factor on mod
ern industry and commerce, we will
then be putting this country into
the complete power OF some nation
that might become "an outlaw" to
quote from General Fries own testi-
mony:
THE world today demands. and
will have, dyes, Photographic chem
icals, perfumes. and medicines. The
greater part OF those In common use
today are products obtained by re-
fining the coal tar from by.product
coking. II we do not produce
these substances other nations will.
such industries here or not. Every
nation that possesses plants for
these manufactures. is. by that very
fact equipped 10 produce the most
deadly agents of modern farfare,
trinitrotolunol. and toxic gases. It
is a simple matter to convert dye
plants into munition factories, and
on the return OF peace to re-convert
them into the works for the produc-
tion Of innocent dyes and perfumes
No disarmament treaty could pre-
sumo to forbid the manufacture Of
these necessaries OF civilized life.
Therefore disarmament cannot dis
arm. II may limit the size OF
navies, the size and number OF guns
but II cannot prevent any nation
advanced in the chemical arts from
swiftly utilizing its dye plants for the
manufacture OF destructive gases and
explosives which may be dropped
from aircraft upon cities and
armies In the country It desires to
attack.
Already England. France. Italy
and Japan have placed an embargo
upon the Importation OF dyes. The
British embargo Is to endure for a
period OF ten years. Within that
Length OF time any great nation
would have developed the dye indus
try into formidable dimensions. and
in doing that 1t also would have de-
veloped a great army Of highly
trained chemists. familiar with the
multitudinouB transformations OF
which the coal-tar derivatives are
capable. A highly specialized
technical personnel is Of greater inn
portance even than the mere num-
Der OF plants.
When Germany began the use OF
poison gases we we're unable to fight
her on even terms because we had
no men who knew how to make
these materials Germany had been
developing dyes and other coal-tar
compounds for more than forty
years, and the secrets OF the difficult
processes involved had been closely
guarded. 1t was many months be-
fore we could produce anything ap-
preaching the deadly gases that the
b enemy poured into our ranks. Near
J ly one third OF all the American
casualties were the direct result OF
poison gases and this deadly ad-
. vantage was due to the tremendous
advances made by German chem
lists in the development of dyes and
related coal-tar products. Even
now, despite the rapid progress
achieved in this country under our
war-embargo upon dyes, we have
learned to make only a third as
many varieties as are known to the
Germans. This means that they
have acquired three times as great a
knowledge OF the methods for pro-
ducting new compounds from coal
tar as is possessed by the chemists
in this country.
J. The manufacture OF dyes is not a