It was not until the declaration of war that the world recognized the extent of the tribute it had been prepared to pay annually to the Teuton in this one field of trading. The sudden interruption of supplies of colouring agents derived from coal-tar, and made in the huge factories fringing the Rhine, Main and Spree, threatened a whole host of trades from China to Peru. The competitive nations were forced to turn their attention to the mastery of an industry which hitherto they had virtually neglected in order to keep their industries alive, only to discover that they had much to learn. In the United States thousands suffered want and distress from unemployment just because the stocks of dyes had run out and their domestic dye-manufacturing plants were unable to rise to the occasion with sufficient promptitude. Antiseptics were difficult to procure, especially those which had achieved such a wide measure of popular favour during recent years, because they were of German origin and were no longer forthcoming. Amateur photographers were compelled to pack away their cameras and to forgo the pursuance of their hobby until such time as the essential chemicals once more became procurable and cheaper, while doctors were forced to polish up long-forgotten or rusty knowledge concerning the herbaceous drugs which had been displaced by those derived from coal-tar.
A few figures will serve to drive home the stranglehold which the Germans had secured upon the trade of the world from the scientific exploitation of a waste product. For 5,000 years India supplied the world with indigo which was of vegetable origin. Apparently it held an unassailable commercial position and was held in particularly high esteem by Japan and China. Bauer, the German chemist, resolved to solve the indigo riddle and at once set out to make it from coal-tar. It proved a difficult quest occupying many years and involving thousands of experiments. But perseverance brought its due reward although success was not recorded until a round £1,000,000 had been spent. Then, before it had become established upon the market, it suffered eclipse by an improved process which had also been perfected by a German.
Within five years of its appearance upon the market synthetic indigo had driven its natural rival from India virtually into oblivion. The coal-tar competitor even established a firm foothold in the land where the vegetable article had held sway for so many thousand years. Throughout China and Japan a similar story was related. Indian indigo was no longer required. It was beaten hopelessly in price, the factor which counts in commercial circles, by the synthetic German article. Of the artificial colouring materials imported by China German indigo claimed two-thirds. A seventh of the artificial dyes imported by Japan was German indigo, while one-tenth of the dye-stuffs imported from Germany into the United States was artificial indigo.
As a result of less than fifty years’ ceaseless endeavour Germany built up an industry specializing in the manufacture of tinctorial matters derived from coal-tar, capitalized at £50,000,000—$250,000,000—and had a list of 2,000 different colours of a synthetic character which she could supply, one thousand of which were in steady daily demand. We talk about the restoration of the British coal-tar dye-stuffs industry. The Americans voice a similar story. It is glib. How far have we got? As a result of five years’ hard work in Britain we are in the position to market about 300 of the 2,000 dye-stuffs which Germany has in her trade catalogue, while America can point to a list of about 200. True, these represent many of the colours which are in heaviest request, but it will be seen that we have a very long way to go yet before we can claim to have wrested the industry from Germany, while in comparison with the £50,000,000—$250,000,000—of capital invested in the Teuton industry, the £5,000,000—$25,000,000—sunk in the British enterprise appears paltry.
To indicate how industriously and comprehensively the German houses have probed this particular waste utilization problem it may be mentioned that one of the leading houses in the industry has taken out approximately 6,500 patents to protect its activities, while it turns out a round 2,000 different products all made from coal-tar. The manufacture of the synthetic drugs—aspirin, veronal, sulphonal, phenacetin—and a host of others runs into stupendous figures. That concerning antiseptic preparations as well as the production of chemicals incidental to photography and the leather trades is equally imposing. It is estimated that the total capital sunk in German enterprises identified with the exploitation of coal-tar ranges between £140,000,000 and £160,000,000—$700,000,000 to $800,000,000. The return is exceedingly attractive, exceeding £80,000,000—$400,000,000—per annum in value.
To the British nation the magnitude and prosperity of this huge traffic in coal-tar derivatives with its enormous wealth is particularly galling. Had we displayed a more sympathetic attitude towards the discovery of Perkin and his endeavours, and had we displayed similar initiative, energy and enterprise the monopoly which became Germany’s might have been ours. But we disdained to exploit a waste. We left it to a persevering rival, and became content to pay him tribute for the utilization of a fundamental British discovery and incidentally to charge his coffers with the sinews of war. Had we kept the potential treasure-house of coal-tar to ourselves the history of the world might have been written very differently. It was the wealth accruing from the coal-tar dye-stuffs industry which enabled Germany to play a far bigger part than may be generally conceived in the development of her other industries, especially that pertaining to the chemical trade, the dye-works constituting the nursery where Germany raised her battalions of chemists.
It must not be inferred from what I have narrated that the German has a peculiar prerogative in the mastery of waste products: far from it. In certain ranges of industry we have eclipsed the Teuton and have paddled our own canoe so far as blazing the trail of industrial economy is concerned. Nor is the Teuton temperamentally better adapted to the scientific exploitation of refuse. For the most part he has been compelled to investigate these divers potential raw materials to maintain his industrial existence. Moreover, as may be readily conceived from what I have related, the issue has been forced upon him by repressive official machinery and legislative measures. Discipline in this as in many other fields has fulfilled its purpose. Certainly it has reduced every German scrap-heap and dump into a Tom Tiddler’s ground and the application of its contents into a semi-automatic operation, or at least into part of the intricate routine of industry. It is to be hoped that we have not allowed the lesson thus taught to be lost. By now we should have learned, and digested thoroughly, the truth of the precept that waste creates wealth—and commercial power.
CHAPTER III
SALVAGE FROM THE ARMY SWILL-TUB
Waste is one of the concomitant evils of a high civilization. Undoubtedly it is incidental to the primitive as well, but to a lesser degree. In this instance, however, the waste incurred does not represent a complete loss, because upon being discarded it decomposes, and thus continues the cycle of Nature.
Under conditions of advanced civilization, where a blind worship of Hygiene rules, residues of an organic character, from their very ready susceptibility to decomposition, are construed into a menace of health, although, as a matter of fact, the danger in this connection is more imaginary than real. Such refuse invariably suffers destruction by fire or by some other so-called sanitary method involving either the total or almost complete loss of valuable materials. We satisfy our consciences, however, by reflecting that the pursuance of such drastic methods satisfies the faith of hygiene, although the community suffers very pronouncedly in pocket in the long run.