New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-07
w ar and Navy
Chiefs Advocate
Dye Embargo
Enactment of Ban i'm the
Fordney Bill Is Urged by
Weeks and DENLY as Way
to Protect u. S. Industry
Preparedness Measur e
Germany Now Said To Be
Uniting Chemical Trade
In Gigantic Combination

r YO'H 4 ne 4 rsoHre'S washington Bur6dH
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6.--Letters of
Secretary of War Weeks and Secretary
of the Navy DENLY to Senator Penrose
chairman of the Finance Committee
advocating an embargo on dyestuffs
and coal-tar chemical products, were
made public to-day. The letters were
hailed with satisfaction by the advo-
Gates of the embargo, which is now be-
ing vigorously attacked in the Finance
Committee
The Secretaries of War and Navy
based their pleas for an embargo on
reasons of national defense. Secretary
Weeks went into the subject quite fully,
and discussed the development of the
German dye industry which enabled the
Germans so quickly to manufacture
vast supplies of poisonous gases for
the army. He predicted greater use Of
gas in the next war than in the recent
war and stressed the danger of German
competition with the American dive in
dustry
Zone of the most startling discov-
cries of the World War;" Secretary
Weeks wrote, was the fact that the
United States could mobilize, train and
equip with clothing three or four mil
non men Lar quicker IMAM IL COQ1Q sup
ply the cannon, the rifles and the am
muntion for them. Notwithstanding
that from 1914 to 1917 our great steel
industries and our rapidly developing
chemical industries had been working
feverishly TO increase their facilities
to supply ammunition and guns to the
Allies, it was more than year after
we entered the war before those in
dustres were able to supply ammuni-
ton, war gases, guns and rifles to meet
American needs. Even then our chem
zeal industries were so undeveloped in
1917 that it was necessary for the gov
eminent to build tremendous high ex-
plosive plants, as at Nitro, W. Va, and
practically all poisonous gas plants for
supplying gases and smoke materials
to the United States Army.
Vital Preparedness Measure
$50 fully did Germany realize before,
during and after the war that pre-
dominance IN the organic chemistry if.-
dustry, and particularly the dye indus
try, meant the most valuable measure
for preparedness possible that she has
united all her organic chemical indus
tries into one great trust, the Interes-
sen Gemeinschaft.
"The use of high explosives and war
gases will unquestionably be far greater
in any future struggle than in the
World War. Inasmuch as the coal tar
industry, which is the base of all dyes.
is also the base of all high explosives
and most of our war gases, it is of the
most vital Importance to preparedness
that the dye industry be developed to
the fullest possible extent in this coun-
try. 1t is felt that this danger is so
great that | urge the enactment of the
embargo feature of the Fordney tariff
bill as submitted by the Ways and
Means Committee of the House as the
only way to prevent crushing our chem
ical market by German competition.
Position Endorsed by DENLY
Secretary DENLY wrote in similar
vein.
Joseph Fl. Choate jr, of New York,
again appeared before the Senate FL
nance Committee to-day and testified
at length, much of the time under a
fire of questions from Senator La
Toilette, Senator Moses and others
concerning the Chemical Foundation.
Mr.. Choate insisted that the Chemical
Foundation was not a money making
organization. He said it could not
be used in an improper way either
by chemical or textile interests. While
it took over the German dye patents,
Mr.. Choate insisted this was not
done with the idea Of profit, but with
a view to development of chemical
science. He declared the Foundation
had a deficit of more than $123,000