1
CHEMICAL AMD ENGINEERING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2 3 , 1 9 5 7 VOL. 35, NO. 38 APPLIED JOURNALS, ACS Director of Publications: C. B. La rra bee Editorial Director: W. J. Murphy Executive Editor: James M. Crowe Production Manager: Joseph H. Kuney CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS Editor: Richard L. Kenyon Managing Editor: Robert F. Gould EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON 6, D. C. 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Phone Republic 7-5300 Teletype WA 23 News Editors Gordon H. Bixler Associate Editors: David IWI. Kiefer, George B. Krantz, Ruth Comette Assistant Editors: Kathryn Oampbell, Helen H. Blunt, Betty V. Kieffer, Whilden W. Johnson, David E. Gushee, Arthur Poulos, Robert J. Riley, Robert J. Kelley, James H. Krieger, Ha tins L. Sperr Editorial Assistants: Ruth L. Connor, Barbara R. Christie Staff Artist: Melvin D. Buckner BRANCH EDITORIAL OFFICES CHICAGO 3, ILL. Room 926 36 South Wabash Ave. Phone State 2-7686 Teletype CG 725 Associate Editors: Kenneth IWI. Reese, Chester Placek Assistant Editor: Laurence J . White HOUSTON 2, TEX. 718 Melrose Bldg. Phone Fairfax 3-7107 Associate Editor: Teletype HO 72 Bruce F. Greek NEW YORK 16f N. Y. 2 Park Ave. Phone Oregon 9-1646 Teletype NY 1-4726 Associate Editors: William Q- Hull, Harry Stenerson, How- ard J. Sanders, -D. Gray Weaver, Walter S. Fedor, IWIorton Sal kind SAN FRANOiSCO 4, CALIF. 703 Mechanics' Institute Bldg. 57 Post St. Phone Exbrook 2-2895 Teletype SF 549 Associate Editor: Richard G. Newhall -4- EASTON, PA. 20th and Northampton Sts. Phone Easton 9111 Teletype ESTN Pa 48 Associate Editor: Charlotte C. Sayre Editorial Assistants: Joyce A. Richards, Elizabeth R. Rufe, June A. Barron -4- EUROPEAN OFFICE Bush House, Aldwych, London Phono Temple Bar 3605 Cable JI EC HEM Associate Editor: Albert S. Hester + Adviser/ Board: Haxel Bishop, Maurice F. Crass, Jr., R. L. Ericsson, C. C. Furnas, Lloyd A. Hall, Theodore S. Hod gins, J. R. Hoover, J . Warren Kinsman, R. W. McNamee, Lloyd H. Reyerson* E. G . Rochow, Glenn T. Sea- borg, Carl Setterstrom, Frank J. Soday, Thomas H. Vaughn Advertising Management: REINHOLD PUBLISHING CORP. 430 Parle Ave., New York 22, N. Y. (For Bronch Offices see page 143) The American Chemical Society assumes no responsi- bility for the statements and opinions advanced by con- tributors to its publications, views expressed in the edi- torials are those o f the editors and do not necessarily repre- sent cfac official position o f the American Chemical Society. A NEW HEADQUARTERS BU!LD*IN& ACS Board Chairman Connor Announces Fund Drive for $3 Million JL HE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in its 81st year once again has growing pains. Time affects institutions differently from the way it does human beings. The former, if the^ successfully serve a real and continuing need, can almost be said -fro be ageless. The latter as octogenarians suffer the pains of inevitable decay, not growth. Today the Society's headquarters building is inadequate because membership has nearly tripled in the past 15 years. In the same period the applied journals have had phenomenal growth. Yet at the time the building was acquired some duabbed it "Parson's Folly/* The years have proved that the critics had little imagination. The land alone (in one of the most rigidly zoned areas in Washington, with National Geographic Society and National Education Association for neighbors) is today worth several times the price paid in 1941. An interesting historical sidelight on the purchase: To clinch the deal in a hurry and to eliminate one and possible other would-be buyers, Charles L. Parsons requested Elisha Hanson, senior attorney for the Society, to use his personal chec-k for the deposit. Many members recall vividly the crowded rented quarters in the Mills Building, home of the Society foir years before the 16th and M Streets era. But that was not the first time ACS employees worked under rather unsatisfactory housing conditions. Milton C. Whitaker, editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1911—16, in a final report to the Board of Directors, pointed out that "four or five people squeezed into a bottle-storage room with a single window are strug- gling with innumerable editorial duties under conditions of congestion which would not be permitted in many- factories/' The condition described by Whitakeir was for years matched by the terribly crowded quarters of the Chemiczal Abstracts staff at Ohio State. This, happily, was corrected a year or s o ago by construction of a new building, with the university and the A^ CS sharing the cost. The present Washington building was bought just before World War II. During the war, it was impossible to add personnel, though membership had gone up by more tham 15,000. By 1951, the Society- occupied the entire building. Two yeairs ago outside space was rented. This did not ease the congestion for lomg, and, of course, several pro- posed projects have been held in abeyance for lack of space. The Board and many administrative officials have studied the prob- lem. Ralph Connor, Chairman, descrilbed the results of this labor at the recent national meeting. Those wlio missed it are urged to read his detailed report, published Sept. 16 in C&EN, page 121. The planners have tried to determine space needs for many years to come. This, of course, is difficult, Who can predict the size of the membership 20, 30, or 40 years hence? One of America's great chemists, H. W. Wiley, in an address olimaxing the 25th anniversary of the ACS, prophesied it would haveLO.OOQ members at its centenary in 1976. That figure was passed in 1917" (16 years after it was named). Today the ACS has 81,000 members a^nd 19 years to go before it is 100 years old. The new building, to be erected on *hesite of the present one plus some additional land the Society owns, will cost about $3 million. Members and industry are asked to prrovide this sum. The chemical profession and the chemical process industries should, and will, we believe, look on contributions not so miach as a gift, but as a first-class investment. One needs only to revie^w the Society's past history to appreciate what its further growth will mean to chemists, chemical engineers, and to those industries whose continued prosperity depends upon the chemical profession. &/ai&*'i ?*"Y<r

A NEW HEADQUARTERS BUILDING

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: A NEW HEADQUARTERS BUILDING

CHEMICAL AMD ENGINEERING

NEWS SEPTEMBER 2 3 , 1957 VOL. 3 5 , NO. 38

APPLIED JOURNALS, ACS Director of Publications: C. B. La rr a bee

Editorial Director: W . J. Murphy Executive Editor: James M . Crowe

Production Manager: Joseph H . Kuney

CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS Editor: Richard L. Kenyon Managing Editor: Robert F. Gould

EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS W A S H I N G T O N 6, D. C . 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Phone Republic 7-5300 Teletype WA 23

News Editors Gordon H . Bixler Associate Editors: David IWI. Kiefer, George B. Krantz, Ruth Comette Assistant Editors: Kathryn Oampbell, Helen H. Blunt, Betty V. Kieffer, Whilden W . Johnson, David E. Gushee, Arthur Poulos, Robert J. Riley, Robert J. Kelley, James H. Krieger, H a tins L. Sperr

Editorial Assistants: R u t h L. Connor, Barbara R. Christie Staff Artist: Melvin D . Buckner

BRANCH EDITORIAL OFFICES CHICAGO 3, ILL. Room 926 36 South Wabash Ave. Phone State 2-7686 Teletype CG 725

Associate Editors: Kenneth IWI. Reese, Chester Placek Assistant Editor: Laurence J . White

HOUSTON 2 , TEX. 718 Melrose Bldg. Phone Fairfax 3-7107

Associate Editor: Teletype HO 72

Bruce F. Greek

NEW YORK 16f N . Y . 2 Park Ave. Phone Oregon 9-1646 Teletype NY 1-4726

Associate Editors: Wil l iam Q- Hull, Harry Stenerson, How­ard J. Sanders, -D . Gray Weaver, Walter S. Fedor, IWIorton Sal kind

SAN FRANOiSCO 4, CALIF. 703 Mechanics' Inst i tute Bldg. 57 Post St. Phone Exbrook 2-2895 Teletype SF 549

Associate Editor: Richard G . Newhall -4-

EASTON, P A . 20th and Northampton Sts. Phone Easton 9111 Teletype ESTN Pa 48

Associate Editor: Charlotte C . Sayre Editorial Assistants: Joyce A. Richards, Elizabeth R. Rufe, June A. Barron

-4-EUROPEAN OFFICE Bush House, Aldwych, London Phono Temple Bar 3605 Cable JI EC HEM

Associate Editor: Albert S. Hester +

Adviser/ Board: Haxel Bishop, Maurice F. Crass, Jr., R. L. Ericsson, C. C. Furnas, Lloyd A. Hall, Theodore S . Hod gins, J . R. Hoover, J . Warren Kinsman, R. W . McNamee, Lloyd H. Reyerson* E. G . Rochow, Glenn T . Sea-borg, Carl Setterstrom, Frank J . Soday, Thomas H. Vaughn

Advertising Management: REINHOLD PUBLISH ING CORP. 430 Parle Ave., New York 22, N. Y . (For Bronch Offices see page 143)

The American Chemical Society assumes no responsi­bility for the statements and opinions advanced by con­tributors to its publications, views expressed in the edi­torials are those o f the editors and do not necessarily repre­sent cfac official position o f the American Chemical Society.

A NEW HEADQUARTERS BU!LD*IN& ACS Board Chairman Connor Announces Fund Drive for $3 Million

JL HE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in its 81st year once again has growing pains. Time affects institutions differently from the way it does human beings. The former, if the^ successfully serve a real and continuing need, can almost be said -fro be ageless. The latter as octogenarians suffer the pains of inevitable decay, not growth.

Today the Society's headquarters building is inadequate because membership has nearly tripled in the past 15 years. In the same period the applied journals have had phenomenal growth. Yet at the time the building was acquired some duabbed it "Parson's Folly/* The years have proved tha t the critics had little imagination. The land alone (in one of the most rigidly zoned areas in Washington, with National Geographic Society and National Education Association for neighbors) is today worth several times the price paid in 1941.

An interesting historical sidelight on the purchase: To clinch the deal in a hurry and to eliminate one and possible other would-be buyers, Charles L. Parsons requested Elisha Hanson, senior attorney for the Society, to use his personal chec-k for t h e deposit.

Many members recall vividly the crowded rented quarters in the Mills Building, home of the Society foir years before t h e 16th and M Streets era. But that was not the first time ACS employees worked under rather unsatisfactory housing conditions. Milton C. Whitaker, editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1911—16, in a final report to the Board of Directors, pointed out that "four or five people squeezed into a bottle-storage room wi th a single window are strug­gling with innumerable editorial duties under conditions of congestion which would not be permit ted in many- factories/'

The condition described by Whitakeir was for years matched by the terribly crowded quarters of the Chemiczal Abstracts staff at Ohio State. This, happily, was corrected a year or s o ago by construction of a new building, with the university and the A CS sharing the cost.

The present Washington building w a s bought just before World War II. During the war, it was impossible t o add personnel, though membership had gone up by more tham 15,000. By 1951, the Society-occupied the entire building. Two yeairs ago outside space was rented. This did not ease the congestion for lomg, and, of course, several pro­posed projects have been held in abeyance for lack of space.

The Board and many administrative officials have studied the prob­lem. Ralph Connor, Chairman, descrilbed t h e results of this labor at the recent national meeting. Those wlio missed i t are urged to read his detailed report, published Sept. 16 in C&EN, page 121.

The planners have tried to determine space needs for many years to come. This, of course, is difficult, Who can predict t he size of the membership 20, 30, or 40 years hence? One of America's great chemists, H . W. Wiley, in an address olimaxing t h e 25th anniversary of the ACS, prophesied it would haveLO.OOQ members a t its centenary in 1976. That figure was passed in 1917" (16 years after it was named) . Today the ACS has 81,000 members a^nd 19 years to go before it is 100 years old.

The new building, to be erected on *hes i t e of the present one plus some additional land the Society owns, will cost about $3 million. Members and industry are asked to prrovide this sum. The chemical profession and the chemical process industries should, and will, we believe, look on contributions not so miach as a gift, b u t as a first-class investment. One needs only to revie^w the Society's past history to appreciate what its further growth wil l mean to chemists, chemical engineers, and to those industries whose continued prosperity depends upon the chemical profession.

&/ai&*'i ?*"Y<r