Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 248, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1918 — DYE INDUSTRY GROWING [ARTICLE]

DYE INDUSTRY GROWING

Government Report Shows Remaskable Progress Made. One Hundred and Ninety American Firm* Now Make Dyea and Drugs. Washington.—The remarkable success of the American chemists and chemical manufacturers In developing the dyestuffs industry, when the supplies of dyes from Germany were cut off, is strikingly shown in a report just Issued by the United States tariff commission entitled, “Census of Dyes and Coal-Tar Chemicals. 1917.” : f At the outbreak of the European war, Germany dominated the world’s trade in dyes and drugs derived from coal-tar. Before the war, seven American firms manufactured dyes from Imported German materials. In 1917, 190 American concerns were engaged in the manufacture of dyes, drugs and other chemicals derived from coal-tar, and of this number, 81 firms produced coal-tar dyes from American materials Which were approximately equivalent in total weight to the annual imports before the war. The total output of the 190 firms, exclusive of those engaged In the manufacture of explosives and synthetic resins, was over 54,000,000 pounds with a value of about $69,000,000. ~ Large amounts of the staple dyes for which there Is a great demand are now being manufactured in the United States. A few of the Important dyes, such as the vat dyes derived from allsartn, anthracene, and carbazol, are grill not made. The needs of the wool industry are being more satisfactorily met than the needs of the cotton industry. / The report gives in detail the names of the manufacturers of each dye or other product and the quantity and value of each produced, except in cases where the number of producers is so small that the operations of in-

dividual firms would be disclosed. Seventeen hundred and thirty-three chemists or engineers were engaged in research and chemical control of this new industry, or 8.8 per cent of the total of 19,643 employees. The report also contains an-interesting account of the history and development of the industry since the outbreak of the European war.