Why Organized Commercial Chemical Development

IN its spectacular rise from early beginnings, the American chemical industry has passed through several important phases. Each major phase has seen the establishment of new products and processes, and what is probably more important, new principles of operation. In early colonial days our simple and limited chemical requirements were largely imported from England or supplied by small American producers. Leather, soap, brick, glass, and saltpeter were typical of these early products, and their manufacture in the Colonies was retarded by our colonial status and the ever-present threat of foreign competition. Prior to 1776, such limited chemical manufacturing continued to increase slowly in those fields where economic survival was possible. Following the War of Independence, the American chemical industry, greatly encouraged by a protective tariff, by the establishment of the U. S. patent system, and by the real desire of the Federal Government to aid American industries, looked forward to a period of expan...