As to the Government's charges, Mr. Hait said possible anticompetitive ef­fects in the sale of carbon disulfide and caustic soda "are not present." In an obvious reference to Stauffer, he said one of FMC's competitors oc­cupies virtually a monopolistic posi­tion in carbon disulfide, accounting for some 72% of 1961's total U.S. sales. He also added that under ' its joint venture in carbon disulfide, with Al­lied, at South Charleston, W.Va., Allied has first call on all production. This led to FMC being forced to pur­chase over 5000 tons from its major competitor last year to meet sales com­mitments, he said.

Effects on caustic soda are even more insignificant, according to Mr. Hait. Less than 3.5% of American Viscose total costs are for caustic pur­chase and FMC is a relatively small producer of caustic. It accounts for only a little over 3% of U.S. capacity. Referring to the effect on packaging machinery sales, president Hait said "without explaining how, the Govern­ment appears to suggest" that com­petition in the sale of packaging ma­chinery used by cellophane users may be adversely affected. FMC does not have sufficient control in packaging machinery, nor will it have in flexible films after the acquisition, to dominate this field, he said,

Mr. Hait touched only lightly on reciprocity, saying that the only other possible anticompetitive effects raised by the Government were that somehow FMC will be given additional com­petitive advantages because of its ex­panded operation. This, Mr. Hait said, is no more than "mere specula­tion or conjecture/'

Merck Reports New Surge in Sales Growth Sales of Merck & Co. have set records for seven consecutive years, but a new surge of growth began in 1962, John T. Connor, president, told the New York Society of Security Analysts. Mr. Connor points out that sales for April were the highest in the com­pany's history, and the momentum continued into May.

Merck's sales for the first quarter of this year were $63.9. million and earnings $8.6 million, the highest for any quarter. Sales for 1963, which Mr. Connor says will be a record high, will probably reach $270 million and net income $34 million, compared

to $241 million and $29 million last year. Between 1966 and 1968, sales should average $380 million.

Mr. Connor says that 58% of Merck's 1962 sales came from prod­ucts introduced in the past five years. He also adds that pharmaceutical specialties have come to represent a larger share of the company's sales volume, accounting for 59%? in 1962, compared to 49% in 1953.

This shift reflects the orientation and emphasis of Merck's research pro­gram in the field of human health. The change in the composition of sales also reflects continuing price de­clines in bulk chemicals which have reduced the dollar volume sales by the Merck chemical division, he says. This division accounted for 26%? of the company's 1962 sales.

More Research. Merck will spend $25 million for research and develop­ment this year, Mr. Connor says. A $3 million expansion of the company's research facilities at West Point, Pa., is now under way. An even larger expansion is being considered for re­search facilities at Railway, N.J.

The company expects to spend more than $15 million on new and im­proved facilities in the U.S. and abroad in 1963. Merck Sharp & Dohme International division, which operates 21 plants abroad, accounted for 26% of Merck's sales in 1962. The firm is now in the process of or­ganizing a new subsidiary in West Germany.

U.S. taxes on foreign earnings will influence the company's prospects abroad, Mr. Connor says. Merck estimates that the 1962 Revenue Act will add more than $1 million to its tax bill in 1964 and thereafter. In consequence, the company will have that much less money for reinvestment in its foreign operations, he says.

Mr. Connor stresses that the most serious challenge to the drug industry revolves around patents. A new bill (S. 1297), introduced by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D.-Tenn.), is an example, he says. It would require the holder of a prescription drug patent to license the patent to competitors three years after it is issued. The avowed pur­pose of the bill is to reduce drug prices, but the principal effect would be to reduce the flow of drug in­ventions to a trickle, Mr. Connor warns. Leading products would be duplicated, and far from enhancing competition, it would debase and de­grade it, he adds.

Chemical Industry Unaffected By Equal-Pay Law The new equal-pay law for women will have little effect on the payrolls of the chemical industry.

The bill (S. 1409), signed by Presi­dent Kennedy on June 10, prohibits employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act from discriminating in wage rates on the basis of sex.

Monsanto says the new law in no way effects its hourly wages and salaries. People are classified by jobs and not by sex, and paid by the same scales, the company says. American Cyanamid, Dow, Celanese, and Olin Mathieson also point out that the law will have no effect because they do not discriminate in pay rates between men and women. Another chemical company more specifically says that the new law probably won't increase its payroll more than 0.1%?.

Du Pont and Union Carbide say they don't know how the new equal-pay law will affect them, until it is studied more carefully. Du Pont adds, however, that it doesn't think there will be much of an effect, if any.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of January 1963, about 159,200 women were employed in the chemical and allied products industry, or 19 % of the industry's total employ­ment.

Probably less than 10%? of the women employed in the chemical in­dustry actually compete with men for jobs. The majority are clerical work­ers. Much of the work in chemical plant operations is not suitable for women. Few women have pene­trated areas of the chemical industry such as market research, commercial development, purchasing, and top management. The majority of women that do compete with men work in chemical laboratories as chemists and technicians. According to many chemical companies, women so em­ployed are paid according to their qualifications.

The new equal-pay law will go into effect in one year, on June 11, 1964. However, a temporary exclusion for employers with union contracts in­cluding wage differentials based on sex is provided. The exclusion lasts until the contract expires or two years after enactment of the legislation, whichever comes first. The new law will be administered by the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Di­vision of the Department of Labor.

28 C & E N J U N E 17, 1963