In this biography of Charles Holmes Herty (1867-1938), Germaine M. Reed portrays the life and work of an internationally known scientist who contributed greatly to the industry of his native region and who played a significant role in the development of American chemistry. As president of the American Chemical Society, editor of its industrial journal, adviser to the Chemical Foundation, and as a private consultant, Herty promoted southern industrial development through chemistry. On a national level, he promoted military preparedness with the Wilson administra­ tion, lobbied Congress for protection of war-born chemical industries, and sought cooperation and research by business, government, and universities. In 1932, he established a pulp and paper laboratory in Savannah, Georgia, to r i prove that cheap, fast-growing southern pine could replace Canadian spruce in the manufacture of newsprint and white paper. As a direct result of Herty's research and his missionary-like zeal, construction of the south's first news­ print plant was begun near Lufkin, Texas, in 1938. "A thorough account of an important man who left his mark on American chemistry and the chemical industry." Technology and Culture "Reed's book, most significant as a contribution to the history of science, is THE PROFESSIONAL, also valuable for shedding light on the process by which scientists inserted themselves into debates over public policy." Business History Review CAREER OF' "Reed has written a first-rate historical study that does much to characterize not only one 'big' man but also his professional community. It is a fine exam­ ple of contemporary interdisciplinary scholarship." American Historical Review r Charles1 "Reed's thoroughly researched biography ... is carefully crafted to analyze not only Herty's work but also his impact on the chemical profession and Ameri­ can Industry. Reed's success with the latter objective adds enormously to the value of this volume." Journal of Southern History Germaine M. Reed is an associate professor of history at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the author of David Boyd, Founder ofL.S.U., and coauthor of Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech, 1885-1985 (Georgia). The University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 www naanre^ nra ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3552-0 www.ugapress.org ISBN-10:0-8203-3552-5 90000 Crusading for Chemistry f Crusading Chemistry \As \L^ \L^ \L/ /|v /|x ^N /|N The Professional Career of Charles Holmes Herty GERMAINE M. REED FOREST HISTORY SOCIETY, INC. DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS ATHENS AND LONDON Paperback edition, 2010 © 1995 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 www. ugapress.org The Forest History Society is a nonprofit, educational institution dedicated to the advancement of historical understanding of human interaction with the forest environment. The Society was established in 1946. All rights reserved Designed by Erin Kirk New- Set in 1C) on 14 Electra by Tseng Information Systems Inc. Printed digitally in the United States of America The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this book as follows: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LCCN Permalink: http://lccn.loc.gov/94025816 Reed, Germaine M., 1929- Crusading for chemistry : the professional career of Charles Holmes Herty / Germaine M. Reed, xiii, 474 p., [6] p. of plates: ill. ; 25 cm. ISBN 0-8203-1671-7 (alk. paper) Includes bibliographical references (p. 447-455) and index. 1. Herty, Charles H. (Charles Holmes), 1867-1938. 2. Chemists United States Biography. QD22.H43 R44 1995 540'.92B20 94-25816 Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3552-0 ISBN-10: 0-8203-3552-5 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available To Merl Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii 1 The Formative Years i 2 Saving the Naval Stores Industry 12 3 The Chapel Hill Years, 1905-1916 48 4 Herty and the American Chemical Society 70 5 The Mouthpiece of Chemistry 119 6 Fighting for an American Dyes Industry 156 7 Herty and the Synthetic Organic Chemicals Manufacturers' Association: Stabilizing an Industry 192 8 Herty and the Chemical Foundation 219 9 Promoting Southern Industry Through Chemistry 257 10 The Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory 297 11 Realization of a Dream: The South's First Newsprint Mill 334 Notes 371 Selected Bibliography 447 Index 457 Preface everal years ago, having just published a biographical study, I was casting about for a new project when a colleague suggested that I look into the S Charles Holmes Herty Papers at Emory University. The more I looked, the more convinced I became that Herty deserved a full-scale biography. His­ torians of the South know something about the Georgia-born chemist's work to save the naval stores industry from extinction and his efforts to prove that south­ ern pine could replace Canadian spruce in the manufacture of newsprint and white paper. But the full story of Herty's contributions and significance to Ameri­ can chemistry, the American chemical industry, and the economic future of his nation and his native region appears nowhere in the brief published accounts of his life and work. Trained at Johns Hopkins University under Ira Remsen, Herty shifted early in his career from "pure" to "applied" or industrial chemistry. He also moved easily from the classroom to government service and the private sector, reflecting trends in the science professions that were increasingly common at the beginning of this century. But on campus or off, Herty always stressed the importance of and the need for fundamental research; without it, he warned, there could be no real industrial progress. Herty served two terms as president of the American Chemical Society (1915- 16) and five years as editor of its Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (1917-21), using both positions as a "bully pulpit" to "preach" chemistry and to promote his conviction that cooperation by business, government, and academe was essential to the nation's health, security, and material welfare. He also en­ rolled chemistry in the forefront of the preparedness campaign and the war effort ix x Preface by offering President Woodrow Wilson the full cooperation of organized chem­ istry, by naming prominent members of the profession to the Naval Consulting Board, by representing the ACS in the organization of the National Research Council, by serving as an adviser to the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the govern­ ment's Nitrate Supply Committee, and by chairing the advisory committee of the National Exposition of Chemical Industries. The chance to enhance the public image of his profession while serving his country was not something the super- patriotic and press-conscious Herty was likely to overlook. As editor of the /IEC and founder and director of the ACS News Service, he had plenty of opportunity to exercise his talent for what friendly critics in the ACS referred to as propaganda but he called education. The role Herty played in the establishment of a domestic coal-tar chemical industry constituted one of his most important contributions to American chem­ istry. Concerned by the nation's chemical dependence on foreign (particularly German) sources of materials vital to the manufacture of textiles, pharmaceuti- cals, and munitions, Herty joined a group of prominent chemists and industrial­ ists dedicated to the achievement of "national self-containedness." Beginning in 1915 and continuing throughout his service as president of the Synthetic Organic Chemicals Manufacturers' Association, he lobbied tirelessly for the enactment of steeply protective tariff legislation which would guarantee a fully developed chemical industry in the United States. Herty had few peers in the ability to lobby Congress, the executive branch, and the public. He played a major role in mobilizing support for the continua­ tion of the Chemical Warfare Service after World War I, and he spent much of his time in the later 19205 working for the enactment of the law that created the National Institutes of Health in 1930. Evolved from a simpler idea Herty con­ ceived in 1918, the NIH had the strong financial support of Francis Garvan and the Chemical Foundation, which Herty joined as an adviser in 1928. Late in his career Herty resumed an effort begun as a young man to work toward the material improvement of his native region. Convinced that chemistry was the key that could unlock progress in a region suffering from the one-two punches of the boll weevil and the Great Depression, Herty set about proving that his first love, the southern pine, could bring new industry, new wealth, and new hope to a people bereft of all three. Against the advice of experts, the active opposition of northern industrial leaders, and the apathy of many he was trying to help, Herty proved that young southern pine could be substituted for northern Preface xi spruce in the manufacture of newsprint and white paper, thus freeing the country from dependence on Canada and Scandinavia, providing impoverished farmers with a market for a "waste" crop, and achieving at last what so many had prom­ ised but so few had delivered: a new industry that could help to establish at last a "New South." .q\ /|\ /|v V|\ j^» Acknowledgments Of the many people and institutions who deserve my thanks for their help and encouragement during the research and writing of this book, I will mention only a few. Robert McMath, my friend and colleague at Georgia Tech, first made me aware of Charles Holmes Herty and the existence of the Herty Papers. He read an early draft of the manuscript and gave me some sound advice. Linda Matthews, Director of Special Collections at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of Emory Uni­ versity, together with her excellent staff, provided me with invaluable assistance during the extended period I spent working through the huge Herty collection and provided the photographs that appear in this book.