美援時期臺灣的化學工業發展
The development of chemical industries in Taiwan during the earlier period of US aid
1957 ✦ ──── 民國 46 年
美援臺灣時期，臺灣的糧食種作必要提高產能，以期不只能夠自給自足，還能加工製作為外銷產品 。狄寶賽先生本人在大學的專攻領域是化學，因此，第一份在海外的工作是在印度幫助規劃建設肥料工廠。受僱於 J.G. White Engineering Corporation（簡稱懷特公司）而來到臺灣之後，在眾多的建設方案之中，對化學工廠之建設也著力頗多，其中對農業生產極為重要的是化學肥料工廠之建設。當時對於肥料工廠之建設規畫，廠址 遍及臺灣的北、中、南、東部。狄寶賽對於提高臺灣農業生產力十分重視，他認為，幫助開發中國家必須優先考慮的是讓人民可以吃飽，而要達成這目標的一大要點就是提升土地的生產力（參看下方影片 1）。在他任職懷特公司企畫經理期間，他曾接受訪問，直接指出唯有讓人民免於饑餓，才能夠防堵共產主義的滲透（參看下方影片 2）。這樣的談話，亦透露了其要捍衛臺灣為自由民主社會的理念。
懷特公司於狄寶賽先生擔任企畫經理的初期的1951年所提出的臺灣四年經濟建設計畫書 《Industrial Development of Taiwan（Formosa）FY1952-FY1955》，是針對臺灣過去與未來的工業之發展方向所作的報告書。此報告書為主要的各種工業與建設工程作了具體的描述與規劃，包括生產力圖表、過去以及未來的投資之價值與重要性、未來的發展計畫等。（This document indicated the past and present direction of industrial plan for the island of Taiwan. The major content of this document include details on the major single industries, their production figures, value of past and present investments, and future plans for each industry.）狄寶賽先生於1957年8月離開臺灣，狄寶賽先生在這一年撰寫《Chemicals in the Industrial Development of Taiwan》一文，陳述臺灣如何從一個未開發國家，因藉助於美援以及發展化學工業，經濟得以有效地快速成長；臺灣之例，使他肯定化學工業對於幫助開發中國家建設發展的潛力。狄寶賽先生的該篇文章，提供我們了解狄寶賽先生幫助規劃美援臺灣建設時的理念，也可以提供對照《Industrial Development of Taiwan（Formosa）FY1952-FY1955》以研究美援落實其最初規畫的化學工業之程度。
狄寶賽先生一生忙於在開發中國家中實際參與建設之規劃與督導，而無暇將自己在幫助發展中國家時的規劃理念撰寫為正式可刊登發表的文章著作；這一篇《Chemicals in the Industrial Development of Taiwan》是狄寶賽先生頗為重要的一篇「著作」。臺大圖書館典藏的「狄寶賽文庫」中，亦保存有狄寶賽先生該篇文章之原始修訂手稿。
During the earlier time Taiwan received US foreign aid, Taiwan needed to increase its foodstuff productivity-- not only to feed its own people but also to process food for export. During his study at university, de Beausset had majored in chemistry which enabled him to get the opportunity to have his first job as a planner for a fertilizer factory in India. After being hired by J.G. White Engineering Corporation and coming to Taiwan, he exerted considerable effort in projects that were related with construction of chemicals plants. Some of the most significant projects among those were the establishment of fertilizer manufacturing plants deeply needed by the agricultural industries. At the time, planning for fertilizer plants was made for Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern Taiwan. De Beausset placed great emphasis on the development of Taiwan’s agricultural productivity. He believed that when assisting developing countries, the first consideration was feeding the people. To achieve this aim, the first thing was to improve agricultural productivity (watch the video 1 below). During an interview, he directly pointed out that when people were free from starvation, there would be no opening for communism to seep into (watch the video 2 below). His comment of such showed his intent to protect Taiwan as a democratic society.
During his initial period as planning manager at J. G. White, in 1951 de Beausset put forward his first 4-year plan for Taiwan’s economic development, “Industrial Development of Taiwan (Formosa) FY1952-FY1955”. It was a report of the past and future direction of development of Taiwan’s industries. This document presented concrete plans for and strategies of various industrial developments and construction works for the island of Taiwan. The major content of this document include details on the major single industries, their production figures, value of past and present investments, and future plans for each industry. De Beausset left Taiwan in Aug. 1957. During that year, de Beausset wrote a paper entitled “Chemicals in the Industrial Development of Taiwan” that described how Taiwan went from being an undeveloped country, to develop its chemicals industry and achieve fast economic growth through the use of US aid. De Beausset’s paper provides us with an understanding of de Beausset’s concepts used in the plans for US aid in Taiwan, and provides a comparison to “Industrial Development of Taiwan (Formosa) FY1952-FY1955” for the study of the initial plan and learning about to what extent have the initial chemical industry plans been implemented.
De Beausset spent his life participating in the planning and guidance of the construction of infrastructure in developing countries but did not take the time to write down and formally publish his concepts regarding his assistance to developing countries. The paper “Chemicals in the Industrial Development of Taiwan” is a very important piece of work from de Beausset. The National Taiwan University Library’s “de Beausset Collections” possesses an original handwritten copy of this work.
