THE INFLUENCE OF THE WAR UPON THE DYESTUFF INDUSTRY
In Chapter II of this book it has been explained how the dyeing
industry of the whole world was changed by the discovery and
commercial preparation of the first aniline dyestuff, mauveine,
in 1856, by the English chemist Perkin. Under his leadership the
supremacy in this new industry was kept in England; but when he
retired from the field the manufacture of dyestuffs was soon
concentrated in Germany. For over forty years before the beginning of
the Great War, the Germans had almost complete and absolute control
over the whole color business, including many allied industries like
the manufacture of organic chemicals, drugs, perfumes, flavoring
matters and the like, derived originally from coal tar. In Germany
were four or five great and splendidly equipped factories, and some
ten or fifteen others of less importance, all thoroughly organized
and working together most harmoniously under what would, in the
United States, be called a most perfect specimen of a Trust. Opposed
to them all over the world there could be found but a handful of
comparatively small and unimportant firms in Switzerland, France,
England and the United States—producing altogether not over about
ten per cent of the output of their German competitors.
Compared to other industries the output of dyestuffs needed for
the whole world’s consumption is not a very large one—some sixty
or seventy million dollars a year all told; and it was freely
boasted, and more or less accepted by the rest of the world, that
“the dyestuff industry is a one-nation industry, and that nation is
Germany!”
=Rise of the German Dyestuff Monopoly.=—The story of how this came
about was once told the writer by Sir William Perkin, when he was in
New York, in 1896, at the time of the “Coal Tar Color Jubilee,” the
fiftieth anniversary of his famous discovery.
He said that in the early days, when he was running his plant near
Manchester, the most dangerous competitors he had to face were
the French. He described them as excellent chemists and keen, but
fair-fighting business men; and the Germans, in those days, were far
inferior to them in every way—in ability, in originality, and, above
all, in honesty.
He went so far as to say that, for years before he left the business,
he and other English chemists had entirely abandoned attempts to
patent their discoveries in Berlin. He had found, by sad experience,
that whenever he sent over an application for a patent on a new
dyestuff, or new chemical compound of importance, the German Patent
Office would at once call in, for consultation, the leading German
chemists who were interested in that line of work. He would get
request after request for more and more detailed information about
every part of the process; and then, when they had got from him
every bit of information that they could, they would grant the
patent to some one of his German competitors, who, in many cases at
least, had never even dreamed of the thing, until Perkin had sent
his application to Berlin. In fact, he said the English and French
chemists considered them as rank, bare-faced pirates, and none too
successful pirates at that.
Two Germans however, in 1869, did work out the composition of
alizarine, the dyestuff of madder, and published their discovery in
the chemical journals. But while they discovered and patented one
method for preparing this Alizarine from coal tar on a commercial
scale, Perkin in England, and some dyestuff chemists in France
discovered other methods equally good or perhaps better for producing
the same identical color at less expense. So they still kept well
ahead of the Germans even in that.
Soon after this, in 1870, the Franco-Prussian war broke out. At
once the French and German factories closed, at any rate for any
foreign trade, and as the cultivation of madder had by that time
been abandoned, Perkin found that all the Turkey red for the whole
Eastern market must be dyed with his Manchester alizarine. Orders
came pouring in, and in order to keep up with the demand, it would be
necessary for him to greatly increase the size of his plant, and to
put back into it all his savings of the past fourteen or fifteen very
profitable years.
This, he told me, he was unwilling to do. But, just at that moment,
he was approached by a firm of Manchester business men, who had been
supplying his works with some of the raw materials from coal tar
(crudes and intermediates as they call them now), with an offer to
buy his works and his interest in the business. He was perfectly
frank and open with them, showed them his books, his profits for
the past few years, his present orders and the rest, and after a
little bargaining he sold out to them for a very fair price, which he
immediately invested in the best of securities and on which he lived
in comfort for the rest of his long and extremely happy life.
=Ruin of the English Dyestuff Industry.=—As soon as they had gained
possession of his factory, the Manchester people began to pass word
around among their friends, that they were going to show the whole
world how to run a chemical industry. Perkin, they agreed, was
indeed a clever fellow in his way, and undoubtedly a good chemist,
but he was no _business_ man. They were going to run those works on
good, practical, common-sense business lines, and they and their few
friends whom they allowed to join them, boasted loudly and deeply
of their expected profits. Their motto was the well-established one
“Manufacture cheap and sell dear”—and they proceeded to follow it
implicitly.
They went over all the details of the business with the greatest
care, and soon found what seemed to them a willful piece of
extravagance. Perkin himself, and three or four other chemists, were
drawing salaries, not for the actual making of the dyestuffs but for
_experimental_ purposes, and they had quite an expensive laboratory
used for that purpose alone!
Of course this was at once eliminated—and great was their
satisfaction when they found that they had thereby cut down the price
of making their dyes two or three cents a pound.
Then it came to the “selling dear” part of it. Perkin told me that
the last few years that he ran his factory, he kept the price of his
dyestuffs at a reasonable figure, so that, indeed, he would get a
good profit from them, but that, on the other hand, it would be no
easy matter for competitors to break into his field with success. His
alizarine, in particular, he had kept at a price just below what it
would pay to grow madder in opposition to it, and he had not raised
the price to any great extent since the war had given him a monopoly.
These Manchester people, however, fully recognized that they were the
only manufacturers of alizarine, anywhere, and were over-flooded with
orders—so they instantly jumped up the price of their alizarine to
four or five times its former figures.
Barely had they completed their “business” reorganization of the
plant when the war came to an end, and the Germans marched back to
their own country, with “five milliards” of French money, full of
self-confidence (to use a very mild term) and looking around for new
fields to conquer in peace, now that they had won all that they could
at that time by war. Instantly every German with any knowledge of
the textile or dyestuff industries turned his eyes at once in that
direction. “What! Alizarine at five dollars a pound instead of a
dollar; why, any fool can make a profit on colors at that price!” And
immediately, in different parts of the country, factory after factory
was started, each one centered around some first-class chemist, of
national if not international reputation, with instructions to gather
around himself a staff of the most brilliant and best trained organic
chemists he could find, to be used first of all in experimental and
investigating work as well as for the mere preparation of dyestuffs.
As a result, in a very short time, these new German firms were
supplying alizarine and other dyestuffs to the Manchester Turkey red
manufacturers at lower prices than they could be made for in Perkin’s
old factory in the immediate neighborhood; and, before the end of the
year, those clever business men were complaining bitterly to Perkin
that he had cheated them in the sale of his works, and were wanting
him to give them their money back, which, as the old gentleman told
me with a chuckle, he very positively and decidedly refused to do.
From that time until the beginning of the Great War the great English
textile industry, with its enormous trade all over the world, was
obliged to buy practically all its dyestuffs from Germany.
=Dyestuff Industry in the United States.=—The manufacture of
dyestuffs in this country was a little better than in England,
because of the tariff protection granted it by the Government for
many years. Four or five factories of very moderate size kept up a
rather precarious existence, because their chief raw materials, the
so-called “intermediates,” organic chemicals made from coal tar and
from which the principal products, dyes, drugs, perfumes and the like
are made in turn, all had to be imported from Europe, and, in most
cases, from their German rivals who naturally kept a tight rein upon
the quantity and quality of their output.
In 1913 even this industry was destroyed by the abolition of the
duties on dyestuffs in the new tariff, thanks to the pressure for
free raw materials brought by the great textile industries, probably
at the instigation of the foreign color houses.
=Changed Conditions Due to the War.=—Since 1914 this whole situation
has been radically and completely changed all over the world.
Appreciating the great danger to their textile trades from the lack
of dyestuffs, and also the vast military importance of a large and
highly developed coal tar products industry, for the manufacture of
high explosives, smokeless powder and the like, nation after nation
has given government assistance not only in the line of money,
but also with patent legislation and new tariff. England with its
British Dye Works, Ltd., France with the St. Denis Works, now greatly
enlarged and strengthened, Italy, Japan, all have made arrangements
for supplying their trade with home-made dyestuffs, of excellent
quality, not only during but after the temporary disturbance due to
the actual fighting.
In the United States there soon were made many more or less
independent and spasmodic efforts to supply at least the principal
and most generally used colors, notably the Basic dyes, Methylene
Blue, Methyl Violet and the like, so much used in calico printing,
silk and wool dyeing, leather and other lines, and the simpler
Sulphur colors, like Sulphur Black, Blues, and Browns. These were
selling, before the end of 1914, at comparatively huge prices, and
until the peace will probably still command from five to ten times
their usual values.
But out of these scores of generally quite small and isolated
factories, there have sprung, by the fourth year of hostilities, a
few large, well equipped and fully financed organizations which will
be able, within a very short time, indeed probably before these lines
appear in print, to fully provide this country with the main standard
dyes, quite as good in every respect as the same dyes made by the
best German color houses. And, unless very adverse tariff legislation
should be introduced, they should be in a position, after the close
of the war, to hold their trade against any foreign competition.
It will, of course, take several years before they can supply in
this country the very finest special dyestuffs, of which but small
quantities are ever needed or used, and which in most cases are fully
protected by patents, as well as by secret methods of manufacture.
But, with the exception of the vat colors, of which artificial Indigo
and the closely allied Brom-indigo are at present the only ones made
in this country, the dyeing trade will be, in a short time, well
supplied with excellent standard colors “made in America.”
The three important American dyestuff houses already started with
the addresses of their New York offices are as follows:—
_American_—American Aniline Products. Inc.,
80 Fifth Avenue.
_Marden_—Marden, Orth and Hastings,
61 Broadway.
_National_—National Aniline and Chemical Co.,
244 Madison Avenue.
And also, soon to engage in the manufacture of dyestuffs on a large
scale:—
The Dupont de Nemours Chemical Co.,
of Wilmington, Del.
Lists of the Best Dyestuffs, in the Different Classes, Made Thus Far
by the American Manufacturers
At the present moment, November, 1917, but few of the home-made
colors are as fast to light as the specially selected dyes of the
great German houses, listed on pages 66, 89, 103 and 127. Those in
the following lists are the best made at present, in the United
States, and will be steadily improved upon as time goes on.
_Direct Cotton or Salt Dyes._—
American—Benzo Fast Yellow, A
Direct Sky Blue
Marden— Stilbene Yellow
Direct Blue
Direct Brown
National—Delta Red, 2 B
Niagara Fast Yellow, F
Niagara Blue, 2 B
Erie Black, G X OO
_Sulphur Colors._—
Marden— Sulphur Black
Sulphur Brown
National—Sulphur Brown, W F
Sulphur Yellow, B W
Sulphur Direct Navy Blue
Sulphur Black, F conc.
_Vat Colors._—
Dibrom Indigo, powder and paste
Synthetic Indigo, 20% paste
_Made by the Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. New York
Agents, Geisenheimer & Co., 134 Cedar Street._
Synthetic Indigo and Sodium hydrosulphite can also be obtained from
_Klipstein, 634 Greenwich Street, New York_.
_Basic Colors._—
Many of these such as Methylene Blue, Methyl Violet, Phosphine,
Bismarck Brown and others, including leather Black, are being made by
_American_, _Marden_ and _National_, as well as by many firms that so
far have not gone into the general color business. One of the most
important of these last, who, besides the above, make a brilliant
basic Green, called by them Methylene Green, is the _Meth-O-Lene Co.,
Inc., 81-83 Fulton Street, New York_.
Auramine, at present, can best be obtained from _Klipstein_.
Nigrosine soluble in water, in jet black and bluish shades, is made
by _Marden_, _Meth-O-Lene_ and other firms, and is largely used for
dyeing leather fast brilliant shades of black.
_Acid Colors._—
American—Fast Yellow, H Ex.
Brilliant Blue, conc.
Cloth Red, H
Acid Black, L conc.
Marden— Metanril Yellow
Orange, No. 2
Fast Acid Red
Croceine Scarlet
National—Azo Yellow, A S W
Scarlet, B R
Acid Black, 4 A B
Also Tartrazine, a fast acid yellow much used for wool, not for silk.
SPECIAL NOTE
Further information concerning dyestuffs, apparatus, textiles,
chemicals, etc., connected with this work, may be obtained on
writing to the author at 7 West 43rd Street, New York.
INDEX
There is no mention either of the Plate illustrations or of the
Figure illustrations in the index; these may be found in a list of
the illustrations in the front of the book.
Acid Azo Colors, 123, 124
Acid Colors, 52, 54, 123-131, 131-136, 148-150, 152, 165-168, 219,
258
After-treatment, 18, 67, 68, 89
Alizarine and Alizarine Dyestuffs, 22, 23, 42
Alizarine Assistant or Turkey Red Oil, 88, 106, 232
Aniline, 40, 41
Aniline Black—for Stencilling, 224-228
Aniline Colors, 109. Also see Basic Colors
Aniline Red or Fuchsine, Magenta, 40, 109
Animal Dyes, 11-14.
Also see Cochineal, Kermes, Lac, Tyrian purple
Artificial Silk, 39, 87, 112, 181, 184-192
Artificial or Synthetic Indigo, 92, 93
Bagobo Tied Work, 196, 199, 200, 202, 206
Basic Colors, 52, 54, 108-123, 148-153, 220-223, 258
Basketry, Dyeing of, 113, 114, 116-123, 258
Batik or Wax Resist, 241-260
Benedict, Miss Laura (Tied Work from Philippines), 199, 200, 206
Bismarck Brown, 109, 115, 124
Bistre or Permanganate Bronze, 32-35
Black Dyeing—with Coal-Tar Colors, 69, 86, 89, 114, 168, 169
Black Dyeing—with Logwood, 21, 138, 169-172
Black Stencilling, 224-228
Bleaching Powder, 208-211, 234-236
Boiled-off Liquor, 161, 162, 164, 168, 174
Bone-colored by Batik Process, 258
British uniforms, dyed with cochineal, 19
Bronze on Leather, 153-155
Bronze (Permanganate) or Bistre, 32-35
Brown (Bismarck), 109, 115, 124
Brown, dyed with Permanganate of Potash, 32-35
Cachou de Laval, 85
Catechu. See Cutch
Chardonnet Silk, 184, 185, 189
Chloride of Lime. See Bleaching Powder
Chrome Orange, 32
Chrome Yellow, 32
Chrome Tanning, 144
Chundries or Chunaries (Indian Tied Work), 196-199
Classification of Coal-Tar Colors, for Craftsmen, 51, 52
Cochineal, 11, 18, 19
Congo Red, 55, 56, 57
Cordovan Leather, 142
Cotton Colors. See Salt Colors
Cotton Dyeing, 59-64, 86, 88-90, 98, 99
“Covering,” 83
Crackle Effect—in Batik, 244, 246, 247
Cutch, 18, 85, 146, 171
Direct Coloring, 193
Direct Cotton Dyeing. See Salt Colors and Sulphur Colors. Also 17,
53, 55, 85
Discharge Stencilling, 233-241
Discharge work, 193, 208-211
Discovery of Acid Colors, 123, 124;
Aniline or Coal-Tar Colors, 40, 41, 46;
Basic Colors, 108, 109;
Indigo, 9, 10, 91, 92;
Salt Colors, 55, 56;
Sulphur Colors, 85, 86;
Vat Colors, modern, 103
Discovery (Perkin’s), 40, 41, 46, 54, 108, 109
Dyeing Directions—for Acid Colors, 127-131, 132-137, 148-153, 162,
163;
Artificial Silk, 187, 189, 190;
Basic Colors, 117-123, 148-150;
Basketry, 117-123;
Batik, 254-258;
Cotton and Linen, 27, 30, 33, 59-64, 87-89, 98, 99, 105-108;
Feathers, 132-137;
Imitation Silk, 183;
Indigo, 98, 99;
Iron Buff (Iron Rust), 27-29;
Iron Grey, 30;
Leather, 148-150;
Permanganate Bronze, 33;
Raffia, 120-123;
Resist Stencilling, 232;
Salt Colors, 59-64, 175, 176, 233;
Silk, 162-165, 174-181, 207;
Straw, 117-120;
Sulphur Colors, 87-89, 180, 207, 232;
Tied and Dyed Work, 206, 207;
Vat Colors, 105-108, 177-181;
Wild Silk, 164, 165;
Wool, 24, 127-131
Eastern Dyes, 10, 13, 17-21, 22, 199, 200, 245
Elberfeld Silk, 185, 189
Embroidery-fast Silk, 175-181
Equipment needed for Dyeing, 35-39
Fastness to Light, 42, 49, 63-66, 89, 100, 102, 103, 112, 114, 126,
153
Fastness to Washing, 64-67, 89, 100, 103, 124, 137, 174-181
Feathers and Feather-dyeing, 39, 131-141
Fermentation Method of Vat dyeing, 94
Finishing—Artificial Silk, 39, 189, 190;
Feathers, 39, 134, 135;
Leather, 153;
Silk, 39, 163, 164
Fustic, 20
Gambier, 146, 171
Gelatin or Glue, used as Reagent, 87
Glanzstoff (Elberfeld Silk), 185, 189
Glucose, 33, 87, 179
Grain Colors (Cochineal, Kermes, Lac), 11, 12, 19
Grey, Miss Mary—Tied Work, 203
Grey, from mixture of colors, 72, 73, 82, 83
Grey, from Iron Salts and Tannin, 29, 31
Heating devices, used in Dyeing, 36
History. See Discovery.
Also Ancient Dyestuffs, 8-16;
Artificial Silk, 184-187;
Batik, 241-245;
Dyes of our Ancestors, 17-24;
Imitation Silk, 182, 183;
Leather, 141-144;
Silk, 156, 157;
Stencils and Stencilling, 211, 212;
Tied and Dyed Work, 192-200
Horses, dyed Brown with Permanganate, 34
Hydrosulphite of Sodium, 35, 97, 98, 104, 105, 118, 209, 210, 237-241
Imitation Silk, 181-184
Indian Dyes, 17, 18, 199
Indian Tied and Dyed Work, 196-199, 202, 206
Indigo and Vat Colors, 9, 10, 14, 91-108, 222-225
Indigo, Application of, 93, 98-100
Introduction, 5-8
Iron Buff (Iron Rust), 25-29, 103
Iron Grey, 29-31
Japanese Practice, 31, 211-219, 228-231
Javanese Practice (Batik), 242-256
Kermes, 12
Khaki, 28
Lac Dye, 11, 19, 20
Leather, 141-156;
Dyeing and Staining of, 111, 148-153;
Finishing of, 153;
History of, 141-144;
Preparation of, 143-148;
Stencilling of, 219
Linen—Dyeing of. See Cotton Dyeing, 59-64, 86, 88-90, 98, 99
Local Dyeing Formulæ, 24
Logwood, 21, 138, 169-172
Madder, 10
Manufacturers of Coal-Tar Colors, 48
Matching Shades, 77, 78, 101
Matching Shades by Night, 84
Mauvine (Perkin’s Violet), 40, 41, 108, 109
Metal, Etching of by Batik Process, 259
Methyl Violet. See Basic Colors, also 49, 108
Methylene Blue. See Basic Colors, also 109, 112, 114, 149
Mineral Dyes, 25-35
Mixed Shades, with Diagram, 78-84
Modern and Ancient Dyestuffs, compared, 5, 6
Mordants and Mordanting, 11, 18-25, 53, 55, 110
Murex Brandaris (Tyrian Purple Fish), 12
Murex Trunculus, 12
Night, Matching Shades by, 84
North Carolina Practice, 24
Perkin, Sir Wm. Henry, 40-43, 46, 108, 109
Perkin’s Discovery. See Perkin
Permanganate Bronze (Permanganate Brown, Bistre), 32-35
Peruvian Tied Work, 196
Philippine Tied Work, 196, 199-201
Primary Colors, 72, 73
Purpura Lapillus (Tyrian Purple Fish), 12
Raffia, Dyeing of, 120, 121
Rainbow Dyeing, 74, 75, 82, 83, 119-122, 129, 136
Rajput Tied Work (Chundries), 196-199, 202, 206
Resist Stencil Paste, 229-234
Resist Work, 194, 195, also 196-209, 229-234, 241-260
Rubber Gloves—Useful for Dyeing, 37
“Rubbing,” 101, 102
Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 211
Ruskin, John, Opinion on Modern Dyestuffs, 5
Safflower, 17, 55
Saffron, 10
Saffron, Indian (Turmeric), 17
Salt—used in Dyeing, 62, 87, 88, 107
Salt Colors (Direct Cotton Colors), 51, 55-71, 111, 175, 220, 237,
238-240;
List of Properties and Uses, 69
Sarongs, 243
Selected Dyestuffs, Lists of—
Acid Colors, 127, 152, 166;
Basic Colors, 114, 115, 149;
Salt Colors, 66;
Sulphur Colors, 90;
Vat Colors, 103, 179
Shades, Matching of, 81
Shikar, Chundries (Tied Work from India), 197
Silk, Artificial, 39, 87, 112, 181, 184-192
Silk, 156-181;
Dyeing, 58, 86, 87, 161-164, 174-181;
Imitation, 181-184;
Preparation of for Dyeing, 159-162;
Stencilling of, 219-223, 240;
Tests for Weighted, 173, 174;
Varieties of, 157-160;
Weighting of, 169-175;
Wild, 157-159, 164-167
Skein Dyeing 129, 130, 163
Soap, uses of, in Dyeing, 60, 61, 161-166, 171
Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate), 27, 28, 88
Sodium Bicarbonate, 27, 28
Sodium Carbonate. See Soda Ash
Sodium Hydrosulphite, 35, 97, 98, 104, 105, 118, 209, 210, 237-241
Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda), 97, 105
Sodium Sulphate (Glauber’s Salt), 128
Sodium Sulphide, 85, 86, 88
Starching (for Feathers), 134-136
Stencils and Stencilling, 211-228, 228-241
Stencil Salt, 223, 224, 239
Stripping, 126, 137, 166, 167
Sulphur Colors, 85-90, 102, 111, 179, 180, 224, 237, 238
Tannin (Tannic Acid), 18, 30, 31, 145, 146, 171
Tanning, 143-148
Three-Color Shades, 79-81
Tied and Discharged Work, 208-211
Tied and Dyed Work, 31, 192-211
Ties and Stops, 214-217
Tin salts as Mordants, 11, 19
Tin Weighting of Silk, 171-175
Tjantings. See Batik, 244-254
“Topping,” 111
Turkey Red, 11, 22, 56, 57
Turkey Red Oil (Alizarine Assistant), 88, 106, 232
Turmeric (Indian Saffron), 17
Tussah Silk. See Wild Silk
Tyrian Purple, 12-16, 91
Vat Colors. See Indigo, also 102-108, 222-225
Vat Dyeing, 94-100, 178-180
Vegetable Colors, 8-11, 17-19, 20-25
Viscose (in Artificial Silk), 185, 186
Washing, Fastness to, 64-67, 89, 100, 103, 124, 125, 137, 166, 174-181
Weighting of Silk, 170-175
Woad, 9, 10
Wood, Dyeing of, 258
Wood, Etching of, by Batik Process, 259
Wool, Dyeing of, 58, 86, 128-131
Wool, Stencilling on, 221
Wringers, Use of in Dyeing, 38
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