REPUBLICAN PARTY

from 1897 to 1911 the re- publican party was in control of the federal govt. of the united states. it had settled the “ battle of the standards ”—gold z. silver —by placing the country on a gold basis, and had conducted the spanish-american war to a successful conclusion, though with some scandals in the war department. in dealing with the result- ing question of over-seas imperialism and colonial administration and still more in handling the problem of the tariff, conservation, railways, monopolies and trusts, it had alienated part of its fol- lowing, particularly in the agrarian northwest. since ro11 the history of the party falls into two periods. during the first of these it lost control first of the house of representatives (1911), then two years later of the senate and the presidency, remaining wholly a party of opposition to the dominant demo- cratic administration until 1919. the second period witnessed the restoration of the republican party to power, first in the senate and house (1919) and two years later in the presidency. since rg21 the republicans have controlled without interruption all branches of the federal government. the period of exclusion from power was preceded by a party split caused by the bolt of roosevelt and the formation in 1912 of the progressive party (q.v.). by 1916 the republicans were again united, superficially at least. the democratic administra- tion under president wilson, however, had dealt with domestic problems boldly and on the whole successfully. on the questions raised by the world war both parties were non-committal. former supreme court justice hughes, the republican nominee, lost some support, particularly on the pacific coast, by tactical errors and was defeated by a narrow margin, his vote in the elec- toral college being 254 to 277 for wilson. during the participation of the united states in the world war the activities of the republican minority as an opposition 340 party were, of course, largely subordinated to the common pur- pose of winning the war. nevertheless intense antagonisms were developing. whenin oct. 1918, president wilson appealed to the country for the return of democratic majorities to the senate and house, his action was bitterly denounced by republican leaders as inconsistent, as revealing dictatorial inclinations and as reflecting unworthily upon the motives of the party. in the ensuing congressional elections the republicans gained control of the house by 46 votes and of the senate by a plurality of one. with the senate once more in their hands the republicans, not without the aid of certain progressives and dissenting demo- crats, succeeded in defeating the policies of president wilson, who favoured ratification of the treaty of versailles and the adhesion of the united states to the league of nations. as a result the latter question became the paramount issue in the campaign of 1920. undoubtedly many republicans favoured the league with reservations, while many others were bitter- enders. by an adroitly drawn platform plank the adherence of nearly all these divergent elements was secured. it was now the turn of the democratic party to suffer from the accumulated errors and mischances of a long lease of power. war taxes and burdens, industrial dislocations, high prices and the national feelings of foreign-born voters contributed to swell the republi- can tidal wave. in the nov. election harding and coolidge, the republican nominees, received the enormous popular plural- ity of seven million votes and carried the electoral college by 304 to 127 votes over the democratic candidates james m. cox and franklin d. roosevelt. president harding’s administration made a separate peace with germany and conducted a successful conference for the limitation of armaments, in washington. it was marred, however, by grave administrative misconduct, as a result of which three of his cabinet appointees were forced later to resign. upon his death in 1923, vice-president coolidge succeeded. both harding and coolidge represented the more conservative wing of the republican party and hence were attacked by leaders of the agrarian element. under lafollette the latter element broke away again in 1924, organising a second progressive party movement 12 years after the first. in their platform for 1924 the democrats severely criticised republican ‘‘ dishonesty, dis- crimination, extravagance and inefficiency”’; and proposed a refer- endum on the league of nations. they suffered, however, from internal dissensions between klan and anti-klan factions and from bitter rivalries for leadership, which had caused a long- drawn-out contest for the nomination at their new york con- vention. the republican party nominated calvin coolidge at its cleve- land convention and adopted a platform favouring the adherence of the united states to the permanent court of international justice, but reaffirming the stand taken in 1920 against the league of nations. it pledged further reductions in taxation, reasserted belief in protective tariffs and declared for settle- ments with all debtor countries similar to the debt agreement made with great britain. the election of nov. 1924 gave the republican candidates, coolidge and dawes, 382 votes in the electoral college; the democratic candidates, davis and bryan, 136; and the progressive candidates, lafollette and wheeler, 13. the republican popular vote exceeded the combined vote of the two other parties by more than two millions in a total poll of nearly thirty millions. research, industrial.—the phrase was hardly known at the beginning of the 20th century, and now it is widely used as a panacea for the troubles of a world struggling to renewed life and strength. mr. stanley baldwin, speaking in the house of commons in june 1925, said that one of the essential steps in the endeavour to find a way out ofourpresent difficulties is “‘ to link up science with our industries ”’ and of this chain industrial research forms many links. it aims at applying to industry the truths wrested from nature by workers in science. for research in the world of medicine see medical research. in 1893 sir wm. anderson wrote “ the days are past when an engineer can acquit himself respectably by the aid of mother research, industrial wit alone or of those constructive instincts which in the past led our predecessors to such brilliant results.” each year makes the truth of his words more manifest; industrial research is one important stone in the foundation of our modern civilisation. but appreciation of this truth has been slow of growth, at any rate in england. in germany during the later years of the 19th century the reichsanstalt and the materials priifungs amt were founded, and their work, along with investigations at technical] institutes, had no small effect on german industry. the begin- ning of the 2zoth century saw the establishment of the national physical laboratory in great britain, followed almost immedi- ately by that of the bureau of standards at washington, while in paris there was the laboratoire central d’electricite and much renewed activity at the laboratoire d’essais in the con- servatoire des aris et metiers. the seed had been sown, but it took time to germinate; for years the harvest was scanty and men attached but little value to the crop; it needed, as we shall see, the shock given by the world war before the truth of sir wm. anderson’s words was fully grasped. scientific research has for its object the explana- tion of some natural phenomenon, or the discovery of some natural law. “ how does it go-” was a question continually in the mouth of the future kelvin when a boy, and to discover, for the mere pleasure arising from the discovery, how something works is sufficient reason for the natural philosopher. to apply this knowledge to manufacture or industry is a further step, and when the discovery is sought or the investigation made with such an object in view the research becomes industrial. indus- trial research does not necessarily differ from so-called pure research in its methods; it is the object with which the investi- gation is made that constitutes the difference; and of course much work is necessary—a great part of which may fairly be called industrial research—before the laboratory discovery, or the brilliant intuition of the inventor, verified by striking experi- ments, can be translated into the practice of the farm or the factory. mendcl’s work.—it was the desire for knowledge, research pure and simple, that led the abbe mendel in his monastery at briinn to unravel some of the laws of heredity by crossing various kinds of peas. when, at an agricultural institute, the laws that he discovered and the methods he employed are utilised to im- prove the breed of cattle or to produce new and more valuable forms of wheat, the research has become industrial. the structure of mutter —at present physicists in many coun- tries are investigating the properties of matter by x-ray analysis, determining the forms of lattice in which the atoms which con- stitute the substance are arranged and endeavouring to draw conclusions applicable to all matter; this is a great work of pure research. the metallurgist employed in some works or in an industrial research laboratory seeks to use the results of the physicist and the methods which have been devised as a tool to enable him to learn, for example, why steel is hardened by quenching, what is the cause of the deleterious effect of phos- phorus on copper, or why cast metal which is brittle can be made soft and ductile by heat treatment and mechanical work. this is industrial research. such a worker must carry his investiga- tions further in order that they may be of use to industry. in his works laboratory some method devised for making and treat- ing a new and valuable alloy works perfectly or some instrument designed to register the course of a factory process appears fool- proof and without a fault; in the factory the alloy cannot be worked or the instrument fails under the first real test; it is his business to find out why; to make the advances of science—ad- vances due in part to his own researches—available for indus- trial purposes, to transform his work into the dividends that repay the shareholders and are necessary if the enterprise is to succeed. here a distinction should be drawn between the research laboratory of a works and the works laboratory; where both exist there may well be close co-operation and possibly joint control, but the spheres are distinct. in any modern factory a works laboratory of some sort is essential, to check the purity of research, industrial the materials employed and to ensure that the product is up to standard; an engineering works will have its chemical laboratory for this and similar purposes, its testing laboratory where the strength and character of its manufactures are sampled before they are put upon the market; but such work is not research; though it often may indicate where research is necessary, and lead up to original investigations of high value to the firm. the works manager knows that for success the temperature at some point in a complicated process must be kept within narrow limits, whereas during other operations jarge variations of temperature have little effect. samples which fail come to the works laboratory for examination, and inquiry shows that the temperature limits at this critical stage have been exceeded. such an occurrence naturally leads a competent chemist to inquire what is the nature of the action which takes place at ‘this critical temperature; how does the product produced, when the temperature limits are over-stepped, ditfer from the proper article? this inquiry may lead to a long and intricate investiga- tion with results of the utmost importance to the firm. it may be found, for example, that a slight change in the composition of the material will render the close limits unnecessary and will reduce greatly the care and attention required for the manufac- ture. the problem has become one for industrial research, not merely for routine testing, and the consequences of that research have proved to be simplification of manufacture and cheapening of the product. british problems —in great britain nearly 50,000,000 people must be supplied with food, mostly brought from beyond the seas, and this food must be paid for with the products of indus- try at home, by the goods manufactured in great part from materials purchased from abroad but dependent on the coal and iron of english mines and by the knowledge and skill of english manufacturers. it is of the utmost importance that the high quality of those goods should be maintained, the methods of their manufacture improved and the costs of production reduced. in the words of a recent report: ‘‘ scientific and indus- trial research is an essential factor in the national effort on which the continued maintenance of our present population unques- tionably depends.” and these words, though used here for england, apply to the other nations of the world as well. progress and present position and now, leaving the discussion of the meaning of industrial research and its importance to any national community, we come to the consideration of the means taken to promote it and of its present position and work in various lands. state organisation.—these means are various; the state in a number of instances has organised research laboratories devoted mainly to industrial problems; large private firms have recog- nised its value and have established similar laboratories under their own control, while attempts have been made by the forma- tion of research associations to combine the efforts of a number of firms concerned in the same industry. the universities, too, and technical colleges have aided the endeavour by organising more fully the teaching of science and giving facilities for the training of research workers. german developments.—it needed a catastrophe to produce the results which have been attained. the reichsanstalt in ber- lin was a direct outcome of the war of 1872. established in two divisions, the one devoted to pure science, the other to its appli- cations, its founders realised the close interdependence of the two, and while the first division dealt to a large extent in ques- tions bearing on the fundamental units and standards of measure- ment whether in heat, electricity, light or any other branch of physics, the second division was concerned mostly in the applica- tion of the principles which resulted from these investigations to the advancement of german industry and manufacture. at the same time technical colleges were established in a number of centres; of these, perhaps the colleges at charlotten- burg and darmstadt were the most important, and from their professors and students came a stream of scientific facts and dis- coveries, many of great value to industry, which were eagerly 341 seized upon and assimilated by men at the head of great in- dustrial concerns who had realised that science was the founda- tion of their success and that without its help the place in the sun of which they dream could never be attained. in their own factories these men were no less active and far- secing. charlottenburg and the materials priifungs amt at grosse lichterfelde which developed from it taught the engi- neer and the metallurgist the value of research. its professors de- vised delicate instruments for use in investigating the properties of materials; the martens extensometcr is an example. sorby, of sheffield, in 1864 was the first to investigate the structure of metals and alloys by the aid of the microscope, but his work was not pursued until, at a later date, osmond in france and mar- tens in germany took up the study independently and showed its importance to the industrialist. in electrical science, also, the work of the reichsanstalt had a marked effect and the great electrical firms—the allgemeine electricitits gesellschaft, stemens and halske and others— established research laboratories to develop for their own pur- poses and private benefit the results of scientific investigations. nor should the great chemical firms be forgotten. perkins, in england, was the founder of the modern dye industry, but it was in germany that this teaching first bore practical results. the badische anilin fabric and other similar works were founded and huge sums were spent in developing new methods and in- venting new dyes. artificial indigo took the place of the natural product, with the inevitable result to the indian industry. ger- many had learned the lesson, and industrial research promised, unless other countries woke up, to give her the leading position among the manufacturing nations of the world. the national physical laboratory—in england, until towards the end of the roth century, the danger was hardly appreciated. at meetings of the british assn. and elsewhere, lodge and others had pointed out the value of the reichsanstalt to germany, the need that england should have a similar institution. in 1900 the national physical laboratory began in a small way—the ex- penditure during the first year was £5,479—in the old buildings of the kew observatory at richmond. in to01 the work was transferred to bushy house, teddington, with a staff of eight scientific assistants and six attendants in addition fo the di- rector. the scientific character of its work was secured by plac- ing the ultimate control in the hands of the royal society, while a close connection with industry was maintained by having repre- sentatives of the great engineering societies on its governing body. the laboratory, at the time the only public institution in the country devoted to the application of science to industry—to industrial research—grew slowly and prospered for the next 12 or 14 years, and when the world war came, it was in a position to be of material service to the country. british engineering standurds committee—about the same time, the british engineering standards committee was founded, chiefly at the instance of sir john wolfe barry, who had realised the loss caused by the infinite number of standards used by engineers and the advantages to be gained by a system based on accurate measurement and a careful investigation of the proper- ties of the materials which they employed. in this work the national physical laboratory co-operated very fully. mean- while at an earlier date industrial research of importance had gone on in a few laboratories attached to firms in sheffield and elsewhere. the work of sorby on the micrographic structure of metals has already been referred to and at a jater date roberts austen of the mint utilized this method of inquiry in his investi- gation of a broken rail which had led to a serious accident at abbots ripton on the great northern railway. manganese steel was produced from the laboratory of sir robert hadfield in 1882 as an outcome of a scientific inquiry into the properties of alloys; many results of high value have since come from the same source. developments in france—in france, work of value was being done in various places; the laboratoire d’essais and the labora- toire central d’electricite both contributed. the metallurgical — work of osmond and le chatellier was of marked importance, 342 while the discovery of the special properties of invar—an alloy of nickel steel—by gulleaume has proved of value in many iddustries. international standards —one of the marked consequences of industrial research has been the realisation of the importance of international standards of measurement, and as a result inter- national co-operation between the standardising laboratories in various countries and other bodies concerned with standards has become necessary. f'rom this need arose the bureau international des poids et mesures at sevres and various international associa- tions such as the international electrotechnical assn. or the assn. for testing material. in 1908 the british govt. summoned an international congress in london at which the system of electrical units, now universal throughout the world, was adopted. in america the bureau of standards was founded early in the 20th century and many striking results have followed from the investigations of its staff. america has ever been foremost in promoting international standardisation and most generous in affording opportunities for co-operation in research. there, too, the development of research laboratorics in connection with the great manufacturing firms has reached an extent unknown elsewhere. war problems.—in 1914 came the earthquake, and from the ruins which it left has sprung a wider appreciation of the im- portance of scientific investigations in every phase of national life. this is not the place to give any account of the influence of science on war; experience showed it to be vital and the phrase that science won the war, interpreted to mean that without science the war would have been lost, only expresses the truth. in the allied countries on both sides of the atlantic, men and women were at work solving problems of vital importance. facilities for research were open to them, funds undreamed of in peace time were at their disposal, and the results of their en- deavours contributed to a more general acceptance of the view that in peace time industry would benefit in the same way from scientific inquiries wisely guided and pursued. and so, in great britain as elsewhere, a movement started to organise in some more definite way the connection between science and industry. the establishment of the dept. of scientific and industrial re- search was the outcome of this movement. this was announced by lord crewe, lord president of the council, at the end of 1916 in reply to a deputation from the joint board of scientific societies headed by sir joseph j. thomson. an advisory council of scientific men was established and the sum of {1,000,000 was placed at the disposal of the department to be used in the appli- cation of science to industry. the financial responsibility for the national physical labora- tory, with a staff which before the end of the war had grown to 600, was transferred to the department; boards were set up for fuel research, food investigation, building research and various other subjects, while a number of co-ordinating bodies were es- tablished to deal with researches of importance to government departments, specially those bearing on industry. these re- searches are carried on either in special laboratories or at one or other of the national laboratories; the geological survey and museum became one of the activities of the new department, which thus undertook the task of guiding and supervising the various official agencies for making the advances of science of service to national progress. co-operative research.—but the department has done more than this. in germany and america many of the great indus- trial firms have their own research laboratories; reference has already been made to some of the results on german industry. but research laboratories are costly; in many industries in england the firms concerned are small, a private research lab- oratory is too expensive to be contemplated, besides a number would produce wasteful overlapping. hence the attempt was made to introduce a system of co-operative research. in an effort to lead manufacturers to rely more on scientific results, research associations have been set up. each of these consists of a body of men engaged in the same industry who associate themselves for the purposes of research bearing on their industry. each research, industrial association has its own director of research, or similar official, under whose guidance the work planned by its council is carried on either in their private laboratory or by arrangement at the national physical laboratory or in the laboratories of some university or technical college. the work is financed in part by the associated firms, in part from the million fund, usually on a pound to pound basis guar- anteed under certain conditions for five years and with a limit of £5,000 a year to its amount. [in 1926 there were 21 such associations in existence and the balance in the million fund is £518,200; a substantial part of this is required to complete the payments already promised. in a number of cases the first five years for which the grant was made have elapsed and the de- partment, with a view to determining its future course, has arranged for a report from some independent body on the work and progress in each case. in a recent report to the committce of the privy council responsible for the work of the department, the advisory council writes:— the reports supply much encouraging evidence of the soundness and utility of the scheme for co-operative research and of the ad- vances which have been made under the scheme in the application of scientific research to the technical problems of industry. it is clear, however, from their general tenor that five years is insufficiently long even under the most favourable conditions to set a research association on its feet and make it independent of government assistance. to devise a programme, collect an efficient staff and obtain results all take time. besides there is much educational work to be done; half-hearted supporters need to be converted by results before they will contribute freely; trade rivalries tend to prevent complete co-operation; trade has been bad and returns barely sufficient to keep old ventures going; there has been little to spare towards an expenditure of whose value the manufacturer is only half convinced. and so the department has now under consideration the steps that can be taken to maintain the work for some years to come and, in the case of some important associations, has already settled the terms of future grants. the training of workers —but there are other ways in which official support is being given to industrial research, and among these the schemes for training research workers is most impor- tant. under this scheme young graduates are assisted to carry out researches under the guidance of some competent professor, while, in a number of cases, funds have been granted to prominent workers to enable them to pursue inquiries of importance. the department also aids the work of the acronautical research committee which—at first as the advisory committee for aero- nautics—has contributed in no small degree to the science of aviation. the royal commission for the exhibition of 1851 ad- ministers for the advancement of education and research funds arising from the balance left when the exhibition closed. for many years past its scholarships and studentships have been of great value to stuclents of science. the commission has inaugu- rated a number of industrial bursaries given on the recommenda- tions of the universities and technical schools to men trained in science who were prepared to enter, as apprentices or students, engineering or other works. in this way, a stream of trained workers in science is provided for industry. private research laboratories.—before concluding, reference should be made again to the research laboratories of prominent firms; in england, the laboratory of the general electric co. at wembley occupies a leading place; but it is te germany and america that we turn for striking examples of what a works research laboratory can do. such laboratories are essential to mass production; in this the results no longer depend mainly on the skill and intelligence of the workman, but on his performance of one of a carefully devised series of operations worked out as the result of researches in the laboratory and investigations of highly trained engineers and physicists. thus, to quote from a book in which the laboratory of the general electric co. at schenectady, n. y., is described, we read :— ! particulars will be found in the reports of the department for 1928-4 and 1924-5 published by h. m. stationery office, london. resin—respiratory system, diseases of the this laboratory is not concerned primarily with the solution of works problems or with investigations on the manufacturing prob- lems of the company; it has deliberately sought entirely new dis- coveries, new applications of material and new developments in the art of electricity. from it have come the metallised carbon and the drawn wire tungsten filament lamp, the nitrogen-filled high-efficiency lamp, the magnelite arc lamp and the coolidge tube. the development of each of these has involved investigations of great importance to science, while among the workers at the problem, which of all others is now arousing the interest of the physicist, dr. langmuir, of the g.e.c. laboratory, is a leading figure. much the same might be written of other works research laboratories in america; it is sufficient to mention the pittsburgh laboratories of the westinghouse co., the laboratories of the western electric co. at new york, or of the kodak co. from which has come the work on light filters and other investigations which have been of the utmost value to the photographer. (ry eg) united states.—with the cumulative benefits of the preceding century upon which to draw, natural resources unexcelled in variety and extent, and the demands of the world war as a stimulus, it was to be expected that the period 1910-26 would see in america the deepest interest in and most amazing results from industrial research. in whatever direction one turns these results are apparent, although progress has not been uniform in all industries. a summary of work done naturally, most attention has been given to the fields of imme- diate importance. studies in the cracking of oil have doubled the available supply of gasolene and promise methods for com- pletely converting crude oil into motor fuel with a little by- product coke. motor fuels with anti-knock properties have been developed, and a way devised for winning the bromine required for one of them from the sea. the service life of tires has been greatly increased, thanks to research on accelerators for vulcani- sation, on rubber compounding and on tire fabrics. progress has been made in the preparation and use of industrial gases—hydrocyanic acid as a fumigant, argon for incandescent lamps, carbon dioxide for “ dry ice,’’ and acetylene, hydrogen and oxygen for metal cutting and welding. refrigeration for household units by compression or absorption is a recent research product. chromium as a metal for plating, the perfection of alloys, the anticorrosion studies and research on the fatigue of metals are all important. not only has radio developed from work on vacuum tubes, but the possibilities in other directions using such tubes as power control valves are being studied. unique products in nitrocellulose lacquers, improvements in artificial leather and in rayon, all indicate activity in cellulose chemistry. paper pulp has been made from cotton linters avail- able in quantity since the world war. insecticides and fungicides have been made from war gases, and progress has been made in the use of excess chlorine. america has developed a source of potash, established a fixed nitrogen industry and devised furnace methods for the manufacture of phosphoric acid, all as results of industrial research. attention has been given to power gen- eration, a kilowatt now being obtainable for each pound of coal burned. low temperature carbonisation is an active research subject. research in electrical insulation, on alloys for tele- graphic and telephonic communication, and for power trans- mission has been successful. synthetic resin is a distinct research product. such food staples as bread, meat and milk are now the subject of intensive research. the hydrogenation of oils has been .per- fected and commercial sources of new sugars seem assured. crystalline dextrose is already used by the ton. furfural, an aldehyde used as a solvent and substitute for formaldehyde, results from research upon waste agricultural products. cutting tools of chromium, cobalt and tungsten which hold the cutting edge even when w hite hot afford a further example. perhaps industrial research has been most active in the syn- thetic organic chemical field, where america in the period r910- 26 has accomplished phenomenal results. the list of dyes, medic- 343 inals, perfume bases, flavours, photographic chemicals, etc., of coal-tar origin is now sufficiently extensive for american needs. research has also turned successfully to natural gas and petro- leum as sources of new andimportant compounds. a new group of solvents is now available. resistance glass for commercial installation and developments in glass-blowing and control by machine deserve mention. however, the significant things in industrial research in amer- ica are not the list of accomp)ishments, which could be indefi- nitely extended, but rather the attitude of industry toward research, both pure and applied. it is encouraging to find a growing realisation that in science there lies future security, that the great waste problems cannot be solved without it, and that only through research can the true conservation of natural resources be practised. research facilities have been made avail- able for the small manufacturer who wants only the occasional advice of the consultant, as well as for the great organisation appropriating millions for research and employing 1,500 scien- tists. there are now more than 500 industrial research labora- tories in the united states with annual budgets aggregating more than $35,000,000. in addition many firms support fellow- ships and join in co-operative work. there is a growing number of research professorships, fellowships and studentships, an increase in co-operation between industry, university and gov- ernment laboratories, and more than 4o trade associations sup- port research as one of their major activities. there has come about a general acceptance of the fact that fundamental research must be encouraged and supported if industrial progress is to continue. industrial research in america therefore not only points to its accomplishments in the period 1910-26, but is so ordering its affairs and gathering strength as to indicate even greater things in the immediate future. (h. e. h.) resin: sce coal tar products; synthetic resin,