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Χ ^ Τ ; «£'~fe£ Murphy was guest speaker a t first anniversary meeting of American Scientific and Technical Representatives Cin Eux-ope)"

Chemicals in a Unified Europe Editorial Director Murphy, back from a European tour, envisions unified market of 250 million people

JAL U N I T E D W E S T E R N EUROPE, includ­ing Great Britain—is this a dream, or could it become a reality in t h e fore­seeable future? Should it occur, how significant would it b e for t he European chemical industry?

T h e elimination of t rade and tariff barriers, possibly the estabhshment of a common currency, would create a unified market of 250 million p e o p l e -one larger at least in population than that presently enjoyed by U. S. manufacturers.

Many obstacles of long standing have prevented t he formation of a United Western Europe , or even a federation based mostiy on economic and financial considerations. Yet many in h igh places in government, business, and finance in Western Europe and Great Britain are today seriously work­ing to achieve an acceptable plan of either unification or federation. Those who are most concerned with this effort point out t ha t Western Europe and Great Britain have no other choice

if they are to survive in the competitive world economy that can be foreseen. Before many years, such countries as China, India, and Indonesia may be­come highly industrialized. Russia al­ready is well on the way. Japan has been for years.

Is it difficult to envision what unifica­tion or even federation would mean to the chemical industries of Western Europe? These industries, like the American chemical industry, are ex­panding at unprecedented rates and need new and expanding markets.

The current Suez problem is a potent element focusing attention on unifica­tion or federation. These ideas are by no means new. Some progress in the direction of federation has been made since the end of World War II. In fact, it might be said that a number of far-reaching steps already have been taken—the most recent, the agreement between France and Germany on the Saar.

Any serious interruption in the trans-

° Standing, left to r ight: Leonard B. Edwards of Baldwin Lima Hamilton, Gwyn Benson of Shawini-

.„ ring, . „ - - . . . - _ . of Ess ο Research. Seated, left to right: Robert J. Ballantyne of U. S. Embassy, London, Alfred E. Laurence of Minnesota Mining & Mfg-, A. Renfrew of ICI , William Q. Hull of AMERICAN C H E M I C A L SOCIETY Applied Publications a n d secretary of ASTR, E . William Cook of American Cyanamid, Edward C. d'Aprix of Monroe Calculating Machine, Elizabeth Bryan of ACS Applied Publications, Ion Edeleanu of Cities Service, and Philip E. Newman of Scientific Design. Chair­man of the group, John G. Malloch of Canada's National Research Council, was not present.

portation of Middle East crudes to Western Europe will crip>ple intdustry badly if the supply is c u t off or reduced, The petrochemical industr ies of Great Britain and Western* Europe most likely will b e given priority t n any emergency. Nevertheless,, if oil must be shipped around Africa or iirtported from the Western Heirtispher^, the volume may be reduced as mtich as 25% and prices to consumers irt Great Britain and Western Europe will rise sharply.

Not many Américains realize Great Britain and Western Eurorpe are chang­ing slowly b u t surely frorxi a cc*al to a petroleum economy. Farsighted Brit­ish and European industrialists,, scien­tists, yes, even the politicians, a r e still another step ahead in their thinkrng and planning. They see the necessity of developing quickly a sizable volume of power from the atom. Qudte justifiably the British are very p r o u d that Calder Hall, the first large reactor, went "oa stream" last month. "West: Genr&an offi­cials point out, that if: the present rate of industrial expaasion i s to continue in the next decade, a considerable amount of the necessary power must come not from coal o r petroleixm, but from nuclear reactors. Those who

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have studied the over-all problem of fuel recognize that within compara­tively few years, the present Suez Canal will be wholly inadequate to handle the volume of crudes needed by Great Britain and Western Europe.

Coal as a source of power and as a basic chemical raw material is by no means entirely on the way out in the foreseeable future. However, quality is dropping, particularly in Great Brit­ain and Belgium, and coal is more difficult to mine. Welsh and Belgian coal miners are finding more lucrative, safer, and more pleasant ways of mak­ing a living. All this adds up to rising prices.

W e on this side of the ocean prob­ably fail to visualize the present size of the petrochemical industries in Eng­land, France, Germany, and Italy. They are important now and are in­creasing in size rapidly. More and more important organic chemicals, plas­tics, and synthetic fibers are being produced from several relatively simple chemicals, such as ethylene, propylene, and ethane. Europe has suffered for years from insufficient forestation. Therefore, Great Britain and Western Europe need relatively greater amounts of plastics and resins for construction purposes. This is but one reason why the chemical industries of these nations are growing by leaps and bounds. The petrochemical industries at the moment are holding the center of the stage in European chemical circles. However, it is important to point out that acetylene as a chemical raw ma­terial is still very much in the picture. There are rumors that ways and means of producing it at still lower costs are being worked on, but these rumors cannot be confirmed at this time.

Currently the chemical industries of Great Britain and Western Europe are experiencing unprecedented prosperity and the outlook, despite the Suez problem, is bright indeed. British chemical production, for example, is likely to show a slight gain over the record 1955 figure, despite a possible decline in the sale of plastics to the automobile industry. The export pic­ture for British chemicals also is more than satisfactory. For the first six months, exports are up about 10% over the same period a year ago. This increase, however, is due more to higher prices than any material increase in export volume.

In West Germany, the current growth of the chemical industry is between 12 and 15% over last year.

Murphy toured Pfizer Ltd., antibiotic plants in Folkestone and Sandwich. With him, left to right, Alan H. Owen, Kenneth Lynes, Philip V. Colebrook

Murphy confers with Farbwerke Hoechst, AG. officials (left to right) W. A. Menne, board member; Otto Horn; BE. Rossow, foreign relations department

Jean Gerard, Société de Chimie Industrielle (second from right) receives Murphy in Paris. Left, J. J. BousQuet; right, T. Faivret; both of SCI

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Herbert Bretschneider, DECHEMA's managing director, shows Murphy 1958 ACHEMA exposition plans

This rate exceeds the average of 10% for the U. S . chemical industry. West Germany once more actively is cultivat­ing foreign customers for the products of its chemical factories. The intrigu­ing series o£ advertisements of Farben-fabriken Bayer, iLeverkusen, currently mnning in leading American news­papers, is perhaps an indication of what may b e important from many angles a few years hence. Likewise, in other countries, notably Belgium, Holland, France, and Italy chemical production and sales axe booming.

In 1945, this author was a member of the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent over t o study wartime industrial developments in Germany. When hos­tilities ended, h e visited, among other cities in Germany, Hoechst, Leverku-sen, and Ludwigshafen. In June 1945, not a wheel was turning in Hoechst, nor were tnere more than one or two employees in evidence. Ludwigshafen

Walter Reppe, Badische Aniline- & Soda- Fatrnk research director, told of recent ^vork in acetylene chemistry

Many <5erman industrial visits were plannecl for Murphy by Hans Stork, Verbanul der chemische Industrie e.V.

was practically destroyed. Today, Hoechst employs 36,000 workers, and Ludwigshafen is not only rebuilt, but is expaxiding rapidly. Within the past few years, one of the most modern researcli laboratories, largely devoted to nigra pressure research, has been built s& Ludwigshafen, presided over by Dr. Reppe, whose name is practi­cally synonymous with the term acetyl­ene cfaemistry. The history-making progress of the German chemical in­dustry during the latter part of the 19th century and that of the 20th century was and has been built on a very close relationship between funda­mental research and applied research and development. This same approach is everywhere in evidence in Germany today.

The question is frequently asked: Where do Great Britain and Western Europe stand today in the fields of fundamental research, applied research, and development? The answer is, high, despite obvious shortages of scientists and technologists, particularly the lat­ter. A t the end of World War II, it was generally agreed the United States no longer could depend upon Europe as an imrportant contributor in the field of fundamental or basic research—that through sheer necessity it would be necessary for the United States greatly to step up its efforts in this area.

The recovery in research activities of all types that has taken place abroad after t h e interruption caused by World War EI, with the attendant destruction of many laboratories and the breakup of highly trained and well integrated research groups, is nothing short of phenomenal. Most certainly, it is un­necessary to enumerate for a C&EN

R. Morf, left, IUPAC secretary-general and L. H. Lampitt, treasurer. Murphy attended Lisbon XVth Congress

audience the many new chemical prod­ucts and processes that ha%re come out of the laboratories of Western Europe and Great Britain since 1945. Many more are in the offing.

The scientific and technical man­power problem is critical in every country visited. Even Spain, now highly research conscious, is finding it difficult to recruit top scientists and engineers. In Great Britain, for ex­ample, there is considerable evidence to substantiate the opinion that the coun­try is 10 years late in taking proper steps to increase the number of chemi­cal engineers being trained. Germany traditionally has not trained chemical engineers as we have done in the U. S. Rather the training has been largely in the mechanical engineering field. A German chemical industrialist when asked to comment about this replied, "We put one chemist and one engineer together and come up with two chem­ists." However, West Germany un­questionably is short of engineers and will be more so in the next few years as its industrial expansion continues.

Under these adverse conditions, it is not difficult to understand the resent­ment by industry and by governments against "the recruitment of scientists and engineers by the United States." Russia reportedly is making fantastic offers to West European scientists and engineers, but indications are that very few are choosing careers behind the Iron Curtain.

Speaking of research, comment on the impact of the Battelle in Frankfurt is much in order because this activity is introducing into Western Europe a somewhat novel approach in the field of research.

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Murphy inspected modern antibiotics plant of Compania Espanola de Penicilina y Antibioticas near Madrid, Jose L. Mas, (right) explains plant equipment was fabricated on spot. At left, Jose Barcelo, of Revista Espanola de Quimica

In the beginning, Battelle's operation was viewed by many German indus­trialists as a masked form of industrial know-how espionage and a consider­ably less veiled attempt to recruit Ger­man scientists and technologists for work in the U. S.

These suspicions have been dissi­pated by the sound approach taken by Battelle. Within a period of three years, its dollar volume has reached a figure achieved at Columbos, Ohio, only after a struggle of 11 years. The list of German industrial firms sponsor­ing research projects at Battelle in Frankfurt is most impressive.

Interestingly enough, considerable emphasis at Battelle is being placed on market research—a term somewhat new abroad. Nevertheless, the chemi­cal industries of Great Britain and Western Europe are masters at analyz­ing markets both domestic and foreign. They may not use the same descriptive term we do, but their techniques are superb. We in the U. S. could learn a great deal from them in this area of business activity.

And now for some very quick gos­sip, impressions, and actual facts:

• Rumor has it that today Vienna is the chemical crossroads between the West and the East—trading products and process know-how.

• Opinions differ on the present state of the Russian chemical industry—some will say it is not as big or diversified as generally it is supposed to he. Others believe quite differently. AH agree Russia aggressively is seeking chemical know-how from every possible source.

• Opinions differ on the numbers actually being trained in Russia as sci­entists and engineers. Those who

question published estimates express the belief that many are really being trained as technicians. Just about everyone agrees, however, that those who are being fully trained are highly competent scientists of the first order.

• Look for more moves such as those made by two American instrument manufacturers setting u p production facilities abroad. Unquestionably, more and more American chemical com­panies will, through varying corporate devices, establish companies and pro­duction facilities in Great Britain and Western Europe. The U. S. cannot build a Chinese wall ignoring progress going on in Europe in both funda­mental and applied research. The U. S. and the countries of Western Europe stand to benefit by the widest kind of exchange of this information.

•Technical press, and particularly the chemical journals, once again are flourishing on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The Russians are reproducing scientific and technical journals pub­lished outside the Iron Curtain and doing it quite openly. The other side of the coin, if such an expression can be used, is a recent high court decision in Germany to the effect that it is un­lawful to reproduce anything from a copyrighted journal without the ex­pressed permission of the copyright owner.

• In summary then, the chemical in­dustries of Great Britain and Western Europe are in a sound condition, are aggressive and determined to expand. They fully expect to obtain a sizable part of the chemical export business.

• One can find all kinds of indica­tions of further growth in the chemical industry abroad. For example, prac-

J· Givaudon, to Be secretary-general of IUPACL XVIth Congress in Paris, shows Murphy bulletin on plans

tically every space is sold for the 1958 Achema—the chemical equipment ex­position staged in Frankfurt b y DECHEMA.

• France, which will be the host country for the 1957 Conference and Congress of the International "Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, ex­pects the largest audience i n Paris i n IUPAC's history.

• You can find plenty of pessimism i n every country of Western Europe. You can also see tangible evidence of great optimism. You cannot drive through the new suburbs of London, Madrid, or Lisbon and see the beautiful and new colorful apartment house develop­ments without becoming an optdmist-You cannot walk around the center of a completely rebuilt Frankfurt and not feel that by one means or another, Western Europe is shaping u p for a real period of growth and prosperity, de­spite many serious political and eco­nomic problems.

James Davidson Pratt, BCMA director and secretary 3 gave views o n outlook of U.K. chemical industry

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