594 ISDUSTRIAL A S D ESGISEERISG CHEMISTRY 5’01. 23, Xo. 5

AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES ___-~-_

Harley James Morrison F MOST of the readers of INDUSTRIAL

AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY do not know of H. J. Morrison, i t is neither to

their discredit nor to his. He is one of those technical workers who have allowed their well-timed contributions to add to the prog- ress of an already advancing industry without ever drawing attention to themselves.

Even among those hundreds of men whose method of earning a living has been deter- mined by chemical developments for which Mr. Morrison was primarily respsnsible, very few have any concept of the part which he has indirectly played in their lives. Some of these developments have affected practices

I company’s new Kansas City soap plant, Mr. Morrison returned to Cincinnati in 1907 and undertook the problem of developing a satis- factory formula for white soap for house- hold laundry use. The idea of a white laun- dry soap was by no means new, but its ac- tual manufacture had led to cons iderable grief. I t continued to lead to grief while Mr. Morrison tried in his experimental work to do justice to various ideas carried over from previous experience. Finally he gently suggested that he be given a free hand in the matter, and the granting of this request proved the most successful experiment of all. In a short time imDortant changes in the - manufacturing technic overcame the earlier difficulties. The use of white laundry soap rapidly increased and finally reduced yellow

laundry soap to a position of secondary importance in the Ameri- can trade,

H. J . Morrison in the laundries and kitchens of millions of homes; yet very likely Mr. Morrison’s closest friend outside of business associations has no idea of this far-reaching effect of his work. Being one of the quiet- est and most unpretentious of men, Mr. hlorrison is satisfied to have the recognition of his own achievements blended into the impersonal recognition of the growth and progress of the com- pany which he has served.

Harley James Morrison was born in Cincinnati, February 15, 1866. He was one of five brothers who attended Yale University, where he studied chemistry and graduated with the class of 1887. Following graduation, he entered the employ of Procter & Gamble, then a partnership with only one factory, a t Cincinnati.

Starting work in the Alkali Department, he was subsequently

As soon as the manufacture of white laundry soap was put on a satisfactory basis, Mr. Morrison gave his principal attention to the hydrogenation development which had already been started by E. C. Kayser. There is a tendency in scientific circles not to give any great credit to the Procter & Gamble organization for this development, and Mr. Morrison would be the last to wish to contest the point. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of effective hard work by Kayser, Morrison, Burchenal, and others, and the results were revolutionary. Hydrogenated edible oils

shifted so as to become familiar with the various departments of were produced and sold for the first time and their importance has the factory. Although he was not working as a chemist, he could steadily increased. not escape his chemical background and soon became recognized Meanwhile incidental contacts had made Mr. Morrison’s in- as an intermediary whose unofficial duty was to secure better terests as broad as those of the company itself and he became the team work between laboratory and plant. recognized technical leader. In 1912 he was made chemical

He left Procter & Gamble in 1892 and became vice president superintendent, which position he held until 1919, when he re- of Lytle Safe & Lock Company, where he was chiefly concerned tired from active administrative responsibility to be special and with supervisory sales work. Being still a chemist a t heart he consulting chemist. In 1921 circumstances made it advisable introduced improvements which increased the speed of setting and for him to resume administrative control of the Chemical Divi- decreased the “sweating” of the cement used as a filler between the inner and outer metal walls of the safe.

Subsequently Mr. Morrison, with his brother, W. P. Morrison, organized the Arcanium Process Company for the manufacture of alkalies in Cincinnati, but was induced to rejoin Procter & Gamble early in 1897.

He was given the job of deveIoping a formula and process for manufacturing soap powder. This was successfully done, but news of a new entry into this field brought on a price war by competitors. Procter & Gamble discreetly withdrew for the time being, and sold the improved packaging equipment devel- oped by Mr. Morrison to a competitor.

Next Mr. Morrison assumed supervision of cottonseed-oil refining. Procter & Gamble was then the least important among vegetable-oil refiners. Mr. Morrison promptly laid the founda- tion of a growth which led the company to become finally the most important among vegetable-oil refiners in the country. Within a few years he planned and completed a refinery which is today the most important unit in the company’s chain of re- fineries.

Following about two years’ service as superintendent of the

sion, but he retained the title of special and consulting chemist. Less than two years later he was relieved of active administra- tive responsibility by his own request, and R. K. Brodie was made chemical superintendent. On this occasion he said to the Chemi- cal Division staff: “I do not consider myself a good adminis- trator, but I believe that I have exercised good judgment in choos- ing the man to whom I have already been delegating a large pro- portion of my administrative duties.” Some of us think it a mark of administrative talent to make the proper choice of the man to whom duties are delegated.

Another trait stamped Mr. Morrison as a fine administrator- a simple, direct way of giving instructions, such as to avoid all possibility of misunderstanding.

In preparation for writing this sketch, I have talked with a number of men who have known Mr. Morrison a long time. They comment in different language, but through it all runs a common theme. Above everything, Mr. Morrison is clear and direct in his dealings with other men. No one has ever gone away from a conversation with Mr. Morrison wondering what he said.

A. S. RICHARDSON