HERTY, CHARLES H. (CHARLES HOLMES), 1867-1938.
Charles H. Herty papers > Industrial progress and national defense > Industrial progress

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The first part of the subseries relates to Herty's involvement in the organization of a National Exposition of Chemical Industries (NECI). The NECI was intended to give the public some idea about the work of industrial chemists, and to encourage financial support for the industry as well as to promote research within it. The 1915 exposition was so successful that it became an annual event. Herty was a member of the Advisory Committee of the NECI from 1915 until his death in 1938. His position was mainly titular after 1922. Correspondents include NECI officials Adrian Naglevoort and Charles Roth, and also various exhibitors.

Herty was involved to a lesser extent with the Southern Exposition (1924-1928). He was a member of an award committee for the best state exhibit. The award was presented by the Manufacturers Record.

The next part of the subseries concerns a census for chemical imports. The threat of a world war underscored the need for reliable current statistical information about chemicals imported by the United States. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce (BFDC) of the U. S. Department of Commerce was aware of the problem. It was willing to gather the information but lacked the necessary funds. In 1917, the ACS set up an advisory committee to cooperate with the BFDC in the compilation of a detailed statistical review of chemical imports other than dyestuffs. By the end of June, 1917, the ACS committee, chaired by Herty, had raised the necessary funds ($2000) from American chemical manufacturers. In July an ACS Committee on Statistics of Imports was formed, chaired by Dr. Bernhard C. Hesse. The committee worked with the BFDC on the chemical classification of the imports. The committee was restructured in September, 1918, and became the ACS Committee on Import Statistics; Herty was appointed chairman. Dr. E. R. Pickrell was the official BFDC compiler of the census. The census was published in 1919 as Chemical and Allied Products Used in the United States, Department of Commerce Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce Miscellaneous Series No. 82. Correspondents include members of ACS committees: Dr. J. Merritt Mathews, Dr. Charles Baskerville, Dr. Bernhard C. Hesse; and Department of Commerce Officers E. E. Pratt, B. S. Cutler, and G. B. Roorbach.

Herty first came into contact with the issue of duty-free importation of scientific apparatus and chemicals for American educational institutions in 1915 as ACS president. An embargo on goods from Germany was causing complaints from many colleges and universities which considered American scientific equipment and chemicals inferior. News of the Lusitania disaster shelved the matter temporarily. In 1918 Herty was again dealing with this matter. Representative Isaac Bacharach introduced a bill (H.R. 7785) to repeal section 573 of the Tariff Act of October, 1913. This section granted to educational institutions duty-free import privileges regarding scientific apparatus and chemicals. Herty actively supported the Bacharach bill as a safeguard of and stimulant to American chemical industry.

In addition to Representative Bacharach, Herty corresponded with Representative Joseph W. Fordney, Representative Nicholas Longworth., and Senator James E. Watson about the Bacharach legislation. He also corresponded with American manufacturers of scientific apparatus and chemicals. These included Scientific Materials Company, the Arthur H. Thomas Company, Dr. C. E. K. Mees of Eastman Kodak Company, and Dr. Carl Pfanstiehl of Special Chemicals Company, Inc.

The Chemical Alliance files consist mainly of correspondence from 1918-1922. The Alliance was established in July, 1917, to handle the distribution of imported pyrites. In December, 1917, it took over the work and organization of the Chemical Committee of the National Defense Council. It became an alliance of all the branches of chemical industry designed to deal as one unit with chemical problem caused by the war. It provided contact between the chemical divisions of the War Industries Board and American chemical manufacturers. It was formally closed down in December, 1919. Herty was elected a director at large of the Chemical Alliance in 1919.

Box 72 also contains papers about industrial alcohol. American industrial chemists were hampered in their work by prohibition legislation which failed to recognize the importance of alcohol for industrial use. Herty, Dr. M. C. Whitaker, and Dr. G. D. Rosengarten were appointed ACS representatives to attend a Washington Conference (6-17-20) called by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to discuss the administration of industrial alcohol legislation and the regulation of its use. Much of the correspondence is with Dr. M. C. Whitaker of the U. S. Industrial Alcohol Company.

Herty was also interested in reforming existing American patent laws. The lack of a "working clause" allowed foreigners to obtain American patents without being obliged to manufacture in the United States or to license Americans to manufacture for them. Also, patent specifications, especially those submitted by foreigners, were often misleading or erroneous. Herty corresponded with Bert Russell, secretary of the Patent Office Society, about improving the efficiency of the U. S. Patent Office. Other correspondents included: James T. Newton, U. S. Patent Office, Dr. K. P. McElroy, Dr. F. R. Eldred, Dr. L. H. Baekeland, Edwin J. Prindle, and Representative John Nollan and Senator George Norris. In 1920 there is correspondence about the Nolan Bill (H.R. 11984) to reorganize and reclassify the Patent Office.

The last section of the subseries relates to Herty's involvement with the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA). SOCMA was created on October 28, 1921, because American chemical manufacturers realized the necessity of cooperation among themselves in order to insure the permanent establishment of an independent American synthetic organic chemical industry. Herty served as salaried president of the organization from 1921 through 1926, when he left to become advisor to the Chemical Foundation, Inc. As a trade organization, the primary function of the SOCMA was to safeguard the interests of its constituency; Herty was an active proponent of protective legislation for the industry. There is relatively little correspondence apart from correspondence about the SOCMA Committee on the Tariff Situation chaired by Herty (1922). Most of the papers consist of various SWTMA section meeting minutes, chemical import statistics, and new patent lists.