Show J lEAR SECRET OF OE DYE o Build Industry to Relieve Dependence Depend- Depend ence on Germany MANY CHEMISTS ENGAGED Plant Springs From Little Factory toOne to toOne to toOne One of Big Proportions Proportions Master Master Problem of Cheap Production of intermediate In Products Which Is Key to Profitable Production of Dyes Dyes- Dyes Dyes- Results Savor of Magic I In a a. secluded Yorkshire valley Is- Is Is-be Is be ing fought one of the grimmest and umI most reaching far battles of the war It Is the preliminary ury bombardment of the gr great groat at commercial war after the war var For here are arc situated the w works rJ's of the British D Dyes es company which Is struggling with Germany for one of 01 the most vital Industries of the modern modern modern mod mod- ern commercial world that of the dye The works of the British Dyes Dres undertaking undertaking undertaking under under- taking are t typical of the evolution of the new Industry and the new idea lIen Sprawling the length of a n scarred and Yorkshire valley the sheds boiler bOnel plants and serried rows of ot retorts occupy acre after urtel acre of ground Sunk In the background in a atin tin tiny cobbled street a n little factory that struggled for ears against swelling German competitors has tack tacked d on either elther ei el el- el ther side and behind it a n phalanx of at raw red brick buildings Stretching far along the valley absorbing green greenfields greenfields greenfields fields and coppices fed by miles of light railway and drained by 13 miles of sewers are the great grent new sheds Many years ago ngo an nn English chemist I discovered that artificial dyes co could ld be made by submitting coal conI tar to various chemical processes On that discovery a great Industry responsible today for almost every atom of color In our clothes our books our pictures and our household goods has hns been built Germany was the first to realize the value of such an Invention Every possible Inducement was put In the way of at Intending manufacturers and andall andall andall all German firms engaged In the new Industry were subsidized by the government gov gov- British Progress Rapid What took Germany over thirty years to accomplish with laborious research research re reo re- re search cannot annot of ot course be achieved by British chemists in a year or two but surprising and nd gratifying progress has been made mad The cheap production of ot the intermediate products without without without with with- out which the finer products cannot be made profitably Is guaranteed PatInce Patience Patience Pa Pa- tience tInce and perseverance are expected to win further success It is essentially a key Industry The I problem the British works attack Is not that of providing this or that dye or discovering the secret of one or another obscure German patent but that of establishing an nn Industry which can an stand on Its own bottom and which is riot not to be upset b by the withdrawal with on the part of a foreign competitor competitor com com- of any essential substance used In the manufacture In this valley the gospel of thoroughness thoroughness thoroughness thor thor- has hns not been preached in vain In building after building there goes on a silent almost automatic series of operations that prepare the raw material and produce the Inter inter- mediates Results Savor of Magic In the laboratories a chemist performed performed per formed two or three little pieces of magic with colorless liquids from glass bottles these seething into brilliant color before ones one's eyes ayes e es The magic that one meets In the factories Is less visibly Impressive There Is a n sufficiently arresting sequence of ot smells to be encountered In a walk through the works but a surprising absence of at color There were ere remarkable experiments with new found secrets In acid basic mordant sulphur union and vat colors colors col col- col ors all of at which are being marketed by y British h Dyes Des Through three miles of works one passed to the intermediate Intermediate Inter Inter- mediate to and nu auxiliary service plants to examine the costly equipment of ot the oleum and nud nitric acid Installations and ascend among boiling greens samples It seems of a thousand different different different differ differ- ent odors varying ing from the hot bot vinegar vinegar vine Inc gar variety to the scents of Araby to see the the new discovery blue the first filst of a series which has been beel followed b by ehI blue I B D D and yellow D and andon andon on Into the factories factories facto facto- factories ries where acid dyestuff for fOl wool and silk with extraordinary properties In bright shades of ot fast blues are now produced and sold under distinctive brands B Band and E E and pass through mountains of ot crude chemicals This leads lends to the last point the point the research research re reo re- re search and chemical laboratory It ItI I has a hundred chemists and more and has made a great be beginning In guaranteeing guaranteeing guaran guaran- te teeing tho the cheap production of ot intermediate Inter r. r mediate ten products ts |