and consumer are not due so much to the inherent viciousness of business men as to their lack of true facts. Give a man the truth and he will generally do right. The trade association furnishes these true facts and advocates high principles and so is a compelling power for good and is strong in that its very being and motives are the self-expression of business members themselves.

The dreams have faded, the dawn has blown to fullest day, and the new vision of business is here, vitalizing and spiritualizing the service and the reward of business men.

WILLIAM HENRY NICHOLS

THE CHEMIST AND RECONSTRUCTION

William Henry Nichols is one of our chief representatives of the union of science and manufacture. Born in Brooklyn in 1852, graduating from New York University in 1870, he has been since then constantly engaged as manufacturing chemist, copper refiner and smelter and is head of great corporations including the Nichols Copper Co., the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation and the General Chemical Co. He was incorporator and president of the American Chemical Society and has been member of many scientific and engineering societies. He has received honorary degrees from many American Universities and decorations from foreign Governments. This address, dealing with the part which chemists may play in the great task of world reconstruction, was delivered before the American Chemical Society in May, 1919.

In accordance with the plans outlined by the Council at its December meeting, the Spring meeting of this Society, now beginning, will devote itself in particular to questions of reconstruction facing us at the termination of the most destructive war that the world has ever seen. The solution of these questions will influence for good or evil the next century of the world's history. The chemist will have a very responsible part not only in the discussion, but in the work which will follow; and it is, therefore, with feelings of earnestness, soberness, and eagerness that we should approach the deliberations of the coming days. In all human probability, it will not be long before terms of peace have been agreed upon, and peace itself take the place of the unspeakable horrors of the years since August 1914. During that period, every public and private interest has been subordinated to the one question of winning the war for right and justice, thereby providing the firm foundation on which to build for the future. All over the world, civilized and uncivil

ized, there has been derangement beyond conception, and the first part of the reconstruction problem is to get back as soon as practicable to an approximation of the conditions of five years ago. Aside from the impossibility of restoring the millions of human lives which have been lost, and the other millions which have been tortured, and homes made desolate, the question, wanton and otherwise, of untold billions of dollars of property, cannot be adjusted by resolutions to be good in the future, even though regret for the past be honestly felt by the chief sinners, which I fear is not the case. The property has been destroyed and most of it can never be replaced, but out of it all has come the victory of liberty and freedom, the fruits of which if wisely directed will bring a new and better era to the world. Conversely, if directed unwisely or selfishly, we will have a new era just the same, but one which may put civilization back a hundred years.

We will be falling short of a proper understanding of the difficulties and needs for reconstruction if we consider the task simply of putting back what has been displaced. We might just as well meet the matter fairly and squarely by recognizing at the outset that the world can never go back to where it was five years ago; too many things have happened in the interval, and too many thoughts and ideas have been in process of development during the preceding fifty years. A revolution has taken place, none the less effective because so much of it has been below the surface. It is perfectly true that a number of pressing matters on which the very life of the people depends must be settled, at least temporarily, before we can begin to live even ordinary lives, but we must not deceive ourselves with the thought that having temporarily settled these matters the whole question is out of the way. Let us set ourselves to briefly consider some of the forces that have been at work during the last half century, with the knowledge that whatever form of reconstruction the future has in store, these things can not be left out of our calculation. Let us look at a few of the elements of this quiet revolution, in order that we may not be taken unawares at a later period by the inrush of some crushing force of whose existence we were wholly ignorant.

Enormous sums have been added to public debts during the

last five years, but we must not forget that during a long preceding time this condition of mortgaging the future has been in somewhat steady and continuous practice. I have seen it estimated that public debts of countries and municipalities to-day exceed $315,000,000,000. I do not know how correct that estimate is, but I imagine it is below rather than above the mark. That is what the future has got to pay for what the past, including this terrible war, has done for it. Any honest consideration of reconstruction must contemplate a gradual lowering of this terrible debt, and its ultimate extinction. We have used a large part of our assets, and have gone in debt doing it— not good business practice you will agree, but one in keeping with age-long traditions.

An unknown force confronts us in this country by the gradual growth of sentiment which has resulted to a large degree in giving the vote to women. The question is not whether they are qualified to vote, but rather what will they do with the vote and what effect will it have on our public life? As far as we have gone, it does not appear to have produced any startling changes in results, but I am not so sure that it will not eventually produce changes that will surprise us. Whatever the effect, it is a new and a little understood question, and must be taken into very careful consideration. Allied with this is the forced necessity of employment of women, in many instances to do the work previously done by men. Our experience of this phase has not been nearly as extensive as that of some of our allies, and yet the question is here, and has got to be considered if we are to make correct diagnosis of the future.

Employers of labor have realized for a long time that they have a problem to solve which is not an easy one. It is perfectly clear that we have passed the stage of public enlightenment which justified the employer, in his own mind at least, in looking upon his workmen as so many hands. It seems likely that the swing of the pendulum has carried it to the other side in which labor feels its ability to lead rather than follow. One of the greatest problems in the reconstruction period will be to find the point where both sides (if we can properly use that term) are fairly and justly treated. We have accustomed ourselves too much, I think, to consider the rate of wages paid to

workmen as differentiated from the results the payment of a dollar will produce. We have got to learn, if we have not already done so, that labor efficiency is of much more importance than the rate of wages. The problem, therefore, must be solved not by one side yielding to the other, but by both meeting on terms of mutual friendship and understanding, so that the employer can pay the largest possible share to labor which, on its part, is rendering the largest possible amount of return. When this happy state is reached, it will be found, in my opinion, that labor in this country will receive higher reward than anywhere else in the world, and the employer of labor will at the same time be able to compete with any country in the world.

A careful study of this question cannot be made without due consideration being given to the change in the character of our population within the last fifty years, rendered inevitable by the large influx of immigrants, many of whom have remained to become incorporated into our body politic, but many of whom, I fear, have not lost the old world notions which they brought with them and which they strive, by unlawful methods, to force upon the freest people on the planet.

One of the recent questions which has unsettled our minds, as much as almost any other, has been the apparent necessity of the Government taking over the management of railroads and other public utilities. While this was done doubtless as a war measure, although it had been long in the air, there is an overwhelming feeling that we have had enough of it. This is a question which must be decided promptly and for all time. It does not stand alone, but is part of a larger question, namely, whether ours shall be a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" or something sadly different.

For many years, there has been a feeling, shared by a small but respectable minority, that the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic beverages should be prohibited. Suddenly, and to the surprise of the country, our Constitution has been amended to that effect, and whether it be the will of the majority or not, prohibition is in sight. This is no place to discuss the morals of that question, or whether light wines and beer should be ex