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[[cut-off]] York, Saturday, September 10, 1898.

[[cut-off]] War Department and our New Foreign Policy.

[[cut-off]] require the test of the late war to prove [[cut-off]] of the American solder, or the skill and [[cut-off]] of the officers that led him into battle; but it [[cut-off]] just such a test to open the eyes of the [[cut-off]] public to the woeful incapacity and confu- [[cut-off]] reigns in certain branches of the War Department [[cut-off]] all the accumulated experience of the great [[cut-off]] to go upon, our quartermaster, subsistence, [[cut-off]] departments should have been among the [[cut-off]] in the world. They were popularly sup- [[cut-off]] so, and the public never doubted, when war [[cut-off]] that in the transportation of troops, the [[cut-off]] of supplies, and the care of the sick and [[cut-off]] we should show something of that character- [[cut-off]] and method which has contributed so largely [[cut-off]] industrial supremacy.
[[cut-off]] was doomed, however, to a bitter and [[cut-off]] disappointment. The confusion that [[cut-off]] the first in the Southern camps was merely [[cut-off]] to the scenes of inexcusable suffering and [[cut-off]] which marked the progress of the campaign [[cut-off]] melancholy home-coming of the troops at its [[cut-off]].

[[cut-off]] the department be absolved of all blame [[cut-off]] results were actually achieved in the [[cut-off]] of the war. The same results could have [[cut-off]] and should have been, without the ter- [[cut-off]] of neglect and starvation that [[cut-off]] a thrill of anguish and indignation to pass [[cut-off]] of the country to the other. The per- [[cut-off]] of one duty does not atone for the total ne- [[cut-off]] and the demand of the public for a [[cut-off]] and impartial investigation is both reason- [[cut-off]] just.
[[cut-off]] its moral aspects, however, there is another [[cut-off]] of a very practical nature which makes [[cut-off]] that the investigation should be set on [[cut-off]]. We refer to the portentous change [[cut-off]] taken place in the foreign relations of this [[cut-off]] the widespread and complicated field of [[cut-off]] military operations upon which the nation [[cut-off]].
[[cut-off]] its diverse and bitterly opposed race to [[cut-off]] and garrisoned; Porto Rico to be held as [[cut-off]] Jamaica; Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific, and [[cut-off]], 8,000 miles away in the Southern Seas, [[cut-off]] to become the outposts of military activi- [[cut-off]] have hitherto been confined to our own [[cut-off]] represented by a mere handful of 25,000 [[cut-off]] the wish of a considerable section of the [[cut-off]] people is fulfilled, we shall find ourselves [[cut-off]] upon a colonial policy which will demand [[cut-off]] highest efficiency in those very branches of [[cut-off]] Department that have broken down so com- [[cut-off]] the present war.
[[cut-off]] form and maintain a camp within our [[cut-off]] without starting so preventable an epi- [[cut-off]] typhoid fever, how, in Heaven's name, are we [[cut-off]] permanent camps in the fever-laden towns [[cut-off]] and Porto Rico? If the transportation and [[cut-off]] our sick troops on a short trop [[cut-off]] West Indies is such that they die, soon [[cut-off]] "of starvation, because they do not [[cut-off]] that is suitable to a convalescent," how, [[cut-off]] the convalescents to be brought over [[cut-off]] miles of ocean that separate Manila from the [[cut-off]]? Yet the work of transporting troops and [[cut-off]] them in garrison duty in some of the dead- [[cut-off]]in the world, of bringing home the sick, [[cut-off]] garrisons from one island to another, [[cut-off]] be carried on continuously as part of our [[cut-off]] administration of the newly acquired [[cut-off]]. Does anyone doubt that, if our present [[cut-off]] followed, the mortality among the troops [[cut-off]] repetition of that which is now carrying off [[cut-off]] by the hundred?
[[cut-off]] Department stands in need of immediate [[cut-off]] reform. This reform is necessary for [[cut-off]] purpose of visiting condign punishment [[cut-off]] parties who are answerable for the present [[cut-off]] among our troops and of placing the depart- [[cut-off]].

The success that has recently attended American competition in those markets of the world which have been hitherto exclusively controlled by the English manufacturers has awakened a reasonable expectation that we would in the course of time obtain a foothold in Great Britain itself.
It now appears on the statement of no less an authority than The Engineer, of London, that the invasion of British markets has not only commenced, but is in very active and aggressive operation. Under the title "American Progress in English Industries" our contemporary gives a very candid review of the situation, which opens with the significant admission that British industry is pressed harder by this country than by Germany - a fact which will be surprising to those who are aware of the inroads which German competition has been making on the British industries.
The article carries special weight appearing in the columns of a conservative journal which has all along professed to make light of the "bugaboo" of foreign competition, and has endeavored to allay the fears of the manufacturers, which, as it now appears, were only too well founded. We publish the article in full in the current issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, and must be content to mention here a few of the leading facts adduced in proof of the reality and threatening character of out competition.
A Sheffield manufacturer is quoted as saying that it is best for Englishmen to realize that America is sending over in the regular way of business heavy consignments of steel. American steel is being sent to London and in large quantities to Birmingham. It is preferred for anything that can be made in large quantities by automatic machinery. The manufacturer finds it lower in price, and the workman likes it because its uniform temper renders it easy to be worked smoothly right through and with less wear on the tools.
The writer of the article was shown, in Sheffield, a consignment of American files, just received by a local manufacturer, which cost considerably less delivered in Sheffield (the home, by the way, of the British file industry) than those of the domestic make. Moreover, many of the workmen prefer the American files for certain classes of work, and the quantity received in London and Birmingham is stated to be much greater than is generally supposed.
In Birmingham the British manufacturer is using American made brass, "because it is drawn so much truer than the English that it can be worked in automatic machinery with less trouble and greater economy." To these advantages is added that of cost, the American product being from 15 to 20 per cent cheaper. Steam India rubber hose piping, according to another manufacturer, is laid down on his premises from 20 to 25 per cent cheaper than it can be bought in the English markets.
It seems, moreover, that in the smaller sizes of malleable castings we are in a fair way to capture the trade, for not only can they be laid down in Sheffield at fully 30 per cent below the local prices, but (more significant than their cheapness) the workmen themselves openly confess their preference for the American production on account of its truer and more uniform quality. The large industrial establishments, moreover, unable to obtain what they want in England, are adopting American labor-saving machines in large quantities, and admit that they would not be without them.
Our contemporary is correct in the assumption that the business of supplying these American inventions to British industries is only just beginning. It frankly admits that "there is no denying the advance of the American, both in his methods of production, his application of those methods in the use of the machinery by which they are applied and the men by whom they are worked." This remarkable article concludes with the suggestion that a healthy discussion of the subject would be seasonable.
We think that the first act of self-preservation on the part of British manufacturers should be to teach the average British workman that labor-saving machinery is worthless without a labor-saving workman to run it. The great struggle of last year, known as the engineers' strike, was fought out over this question, and the principle was established by the collapse of the trade unions in their attempt to limit the output of machinery. It will be interesting to see whether the British workman has yet grasped one of the chief, if not the chief, secrets of our industrial re-eminence.

Artificial Foods.

The announcement that Prof. Lilienfeld had read a paper before the International Congress for Applied Chemistry, at Vienna, on the artificial production of albumen has made a profound impression on both scientific and lay readers. It has proved a boon to the papers, which have begun to settle down into midsummer dullness, after the stirring days of the war. It has given them an opportunity to reel off column after column, with such captions as "We Will Get Along [[cut-off]]

[[cut-off]] -ments which have been made, and to see what has actually been done.
Dr. Lilienfeld in his paper describes the artificial synthesis of albuminous substances which form an essential element of nitrogenous foods. He found it possible to prepare pepton hydrochloride by the condensation of phenol and glycocoll with phosphoric oxychloride The substance thus obtained gives all the reactions of albuminoids. The lecturer demonstrated the preparation and properties of the new compound. By previous conversion into the sulphate and decomposition of the latter, free pepton was obtained which resembled both in its chemical and physiological behavior the natural pepton from albumen. The analytical data corresponds with those given by natural pepton. From what has been said it will be seen that Dr. Lilienfeld does not claim to have made albumen by synthesis, but to have made pepton a digestion product of albumen. Chemists will not be readily convinced that pepton has been really synthesized, as a proteid molecule is so complex, mobile, and of such high instability that a change in its constitution may readily be brought about, so that until mot definite tests have been made, and until Dr. Lilienfeld pleases to give more of the details of his processes, which he holds secret at present, pending the issuance of a patent, chemists will be apt to suspend judgment.
Even if artificial albumen may be produced at a moderate price, it does not necessarily follow that it will in any way tend to solve the problem of food supply, and we are not sure as yet that the new product is physiologically identical with that produced in Nature's laboratory. Pure albumen has been made on a large scale and it is not at all dear, but we are not aware it has ever occupied an important position, in dietetics or that it has been proposed as a substitute for ordinary articles of food; so that it is really absurd to think the time will come when we shall carry about a complete meal in a pill box, and, like the artificial diamond, Prof. Lilienfeld's discovery may not be valuable from a commercial point of view, certainly not while glycocoll is selling for some $75 a kilogramme.
The subject of chemical synthesis is an important one, and in Germany alone in scores of laboratories chemists are actively experimenting along this line, which has in the past yielded discoveries which have netted large fortunes. Substances which were formerly produced only by the slow processes of Nature are now "built up" in laboratories and the products successfully meet every test.
The peculiar thing about these synthetic products is that they are far less costly than those which are made from the organic substance, usually a plant. If the substance to be produced is an extract, instead of crushing and distilling the plant or bean, the chemist proceeds to make up his product working backward, as it were. It is only necessary to cite one example of such a process. Take articial flavoring extracts, for instance. Raspberry essence may be made by taking 4 parts of glycerine, 1 part nitric ether, 1 part aldehyde, 5 parts ethyl acetate, 1 part ethyl formate, 1 part ethyl butyrate, 1 part ethyl benzoate, 1 part ehtyl oenanthate, 1 part ehtyl sebacate, 1 part methyl salicylate, 1 part amyl acetate, 1 part amyl butyrate, 5 parts tartaric acid, 1 part succinic acid. These various chemicals are added to 100 parts of alcohol. This gives an excellent imitation of the flavor of the raspberry, and it is largely by such formulas as this that our artificial fruit essences which are sold to such a large extent are made. Those who have refined taste in the matters of fruit flavors are not deceived by such imitations, however. "Vanillin," the substitute for vanilla, is another example of a synthetic compound.
Discoveries along these lines have enormous commercial possibilites, and no one outside of the active field of chemistry knows what great strides have been made in chemical snythesis. There has been rather less success in foods than in other lines, possibly from the fact that there is no such chance for profitable manufacture as in technology. It is along coal tar lines that most of the important work has been done. Now we have drugs and colors which a few years ago could only be obtained from natural products at enormous expense. Modern chemists find laboratories freely open to them, especially in Germany, where every facility is offered to them in the hope that finally they will make an important discovery. One German professor of chemistry is said to have made over $40,000 in a single year on one coal tar product. Indigo is successfully produced artificially, and alizarine has replaced madder root for a red color, and is now used as a base and can be combined chemically to get any color. Chemists have also succeeded in making artificial caffeine, the essential principle of coffee.
The new coal tar drugs have taken a most important and aggressive position in modern medicine. The alkaloids which were formerly extracted from various plants are now made in the laboratory. Oil of 

Transcription Notes:
I used [[cut-off]] where the page was cut-off and illegible (mostly on the left side). The alt code for the pound symbol is Alt 0163 (In "Terms to Subscribers"). I assumed under "The Scientific American Publications" that "merican" was just "American" cut-off. I generally did not transcribe partial words on the left side of the far left column, except for a couple that seemed to fit with the context.