Evening star., 1924-10-22
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

A news item informs the Ameri-
can public that Germans have under
taken TO build up a great dye in
dustry in Japan, and that, with the
cheap labor of that country, Japan
will be able to compete successfully
with American production of dyes.
Such an undertaking can hardly be
appreciated without recalling the
marvellous romance of the creation of
the manufacture of dyes in this coun-
try in the last eight years and the
demonstration of the peril of war and
the handicaps of peace, where no such
productive and commercial tndepend-
ence exists.
There is one dye of which g. single
ounce is sufficient to supply the
United States for year, yet the
dearth Of which constituted one of
the perils of the war. in 1917, when
not a pennyweight could be gotten
at any price outside of Germany.
Every amateur photographer knows
that with ordinary plates he cannot
photograph red, but not every photog-
rapher understands that even the
greenest foliage is red underneath
the green coloring matter, called
chlorophyH. When leaves lose their
chlorophyll in Autumn, then the red
appears 1t was there all the time,
but did not show because the green
was more abundant and was stronger.
That explains the glorious color of
the forests at this season
During the war the enemy camou-
tagged their batteries by overcasting
them with foliage painted on burlap.
But when our aviators photographed
1n n
plates which had been treated with
this special dye, which the chemists
of our Department of Agriculture
learned to produce, the negatives
clearly differentiated between the
real foliage which has red beneath
the green and the camouiage which
had no red.
When the war stopped Germany
from shipping her dyes-of which she
then held a monopoly-it was a dis
aster to the entire Industrial world.
In the United States it came near to
closing hundreds of manufactures of
silks, woolens and cotton and 1t
came near to throwing hundreds of
thousands of working people out of
employment.
Such was the desperate demand for
dyes that scores of companies started
to make them. The dyes produced. in
most cases, were worthless, being not
fast" either under the sun or water
tests. Prices were exorbitant, but
failures came not from extortionate
prices, but because of defective quail
ity. Dishonest dealers palmed or
real German dyes of low grade as
american" and it is alleged that
they had a double purpose-the i'm
mediate profits and the hope of dis
crediting and discouraging American
efforts in the interest of German
prestige.
To-day. American dyes are equal TO
the finest that Germany car produce,
and we are supplying 90 per cent OF
our own needs, besides exporting
is. 900 pounds annually, in direct
connection with Germany. The in
dustry is row in the hands of sue
cessful dive manufacturers whose
canital devoted exclusively to dye
nroduction Is estimated betw cen
800 100000 and s125,0o0,o00. The
manufacture is founded upon broader
scientific knowledge than is in prac-
tice in Germany. where the working
chemist in the factory simply follows
instructions covering his particular
part of the process, and only a few
know the whole process. In America
there has been a continual shifting
of the personnel in the factories, so
that there Is no secret process not
known to all rival American makers
Besides, Americans have now in their
employ some of the most expert of
German chemists, and are paying
them Snos oua salariss-as high As