The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-16


 be the recent case of the Houdry Process Corporation which, out of a clear sky just few days ago, by apparently spontaneous combustion, exploded in magnificent full-page ads captioned:
 The American Public Has Right to Know THE TRUTH ABOUT SYNTHETIC RUBBER.
 In excellent industrial advertising taste, the ad stated that the Houdry Process Corporation had system for producing butadiene in plants that could be built in less time, at less cost and using less critical ma terials than any process now being considered by the government in its synthetic rubber program. The ad | held hope of tires or recapS even for civilians.
 On the same day the ad appeared, Eugene J. Houdry, president of the corporation and inventor of the catalytic process that bears his name, held a press conference in Washington. It was well attended, and as the wire services, the spe- cials and the radio all went to town on MT. Houdry's statements, it cre- ated quite bonfire. Even the labor press endorsed 1t with big stories on the general theme of why doesn't somebody do something about this?."
 Now MT. Houdry is no phony. He is French-b American citizen, president of the De Gallue backing French Forever Society, he has been written up in Fortune, and his cata- lytic process is used by half a dozen or more big oil companies in the manufacture of 100 octane aviation gasoline. But at MT. Houdry's press conference, he made charges that although some of these leading oil companies - notably Sun, Socony- Vacuum and Standard of Califor- mia had thoroughly investigated and approved his process at the Marcus Hook, Pa, pilot plant, the governments Rubber Reserve Con- pany, in charge of the synthetic rubber program, had merely sent one engineer up for a couple of hours superficial investigation, then written MT. Houdry letter saying that although they were not reject ing his process, they did not believe it sufficiently developed. The infer ences were clearly that the govern ment people were a bunch of dopes who didn't know a good thing when they saw it.
 PRESS AGENT FEEDS FIRE
 When MT. Houdry was asked for a copy of the letter from Rubber Reserve, he consulted with his pub lie relations counsel and decided that the letter, If given out, should building bonfire in Washington, rule No. 1 seems to be to hire a press agent to fan the flames and throw on paper in the form of hand outs. The Houdry public relations man was Frank Waltman, formerly chief publicity man for the Repub- lican party)
 All the foregoing was right out in the open, but there are several angles of the story that have to be dug for. In the first place, two of the oil companies which MT. Houdry said had approved his process for making butadiene, Sun Oil and Socony-Vacuum, each owns nearly third interest in the Houdry Process corporation. Arthur Pew Jr., of Philadelphia. is vice president of both Sun and Houdry. Sun Oil thus far has no part of the governments butadiene program, in which Stand ard of New Jersey is of course domi- nant from the oil standpoint.
 It is therefore natural and not in the least dishonorable that the gentlemen of Sun, Socony-V Vacuum and Houdry might have figured that if this synthetic rubber indus try is going to amount to something, they would be wanting 8 piece of it. The motives could be entirely pa- triotic, as MT. Houdry said they were, but they could also be strictly business. Hence Che bonfire.
 ONE SIDED BLAZE
 Washington bonfires, like all oth- CT bonf1res, have one weakness in that they shed light on only one side-the side of the question which the bonfire-lighter wants illumina- ted. On the other side, in the Rub Der Reserve letter which this bon fire revealed only in part, it was stated that the government had asked the Phillips Petroleum com pany to consider the Houdry process for plant to be built in the south west, and that the Phillips people did consider 1t. Later it came out that the War Production Board was also considering it.
 Houdry, in other words, hadn't been given the complete brushoff which he indicated. He had not presented his revised process to the government until May, when the synthetic rubber program was al- ready five months underway. So even if one of his plants could be built in nine months, 1t still would not be producing butadiene before plants already started.
 The Houdry bonfire may have been kindled just to help make up for lost time. The question is whether it helped or just further confused the already terribly in- volved rubber situation.