Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-22
France is Looking to Alcohol for the
Future.
FURNISHES CHEAP LIGHT And FUEL
Can Be Made From Matter That
Now Goes to Waste.
IS NOW IN ACTUAL USE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| PARIS April L. 1899
| Alcohol is about to supersede petroleum,
| not only In France, but all Europe 1t is
| not only to supersede petroleum, but it
| promises to take the place of coal itself.
! Houses are to be heated by alcohol, and
| engines are to be driven by alcohol. AS
| for alcohol lighting. it is already an ac-
| ccmplished fact. The Emperor of Germany
| has had the palace at Potsdam and the
| Thiergarten at Berlin supplied with incan-
| descent alcohol lamps, while the new French
! president, Loubet. is lighting up the court
! yard of the Elysee with these same extra
| ordinary novelties of the hour
; Both the agricultural and industrial
worlds are excited over this matter. Cham
bers of commerce and farmers clubs are
| hearing lectures on the new discoveries.
| Never, perhaps has such important fiscal
| Legislation been accomplished In both !
| France and Germany in short a time
| that-almost secured-which is to take off
the last tax and obstruction from the free
| manufacture and sale of industrial alco-
| hols. The distiller is at last to work for
| the good of humanity His friend, the
| farmer, is at last to get share of the
| good things of progress.
| The significance of this movement to
| the world at large is concealed, so to speak,
| in the peculiar legislation which is every
| where applied to alcohol. All the dscov-
| cries and inventions imaginable must lie
helpless until the iron heel of the internal
revenue tax is removed from this peculiar
| product. Alcohol is not dear in itself NJ.
| q. Arachequesne, secretary general of the
new Association pour rEmploi Industriel
de fAlcohol-the great league of diStillers
which in France is engineering the affair
has just been telling me that few years
| ago in Cuba he made alcohol out of refuse
| molasses at an expense of less than 8 francs
| rr,,ot los
| than cents gallon. 1t was only done
| an experiment, partly to find out what to
| do with the waste molasses. The alcohol
| could not be exported in sufficient quanti-
ties to other countries because of the taxes.
Made From Waste.
1T is the same in Louisiana" said M
Arachequesne where the refuse moasses
| is dumped into the sea; and you can i'm
agine something of the condition of France
| and Germany-two countries which have
| no petroleum of their own-by casting a
| glance at the dilemma of the beet sugar
| aSrlcuturiStS of California, Nebraska
! and Utah, forced to burn their waste mo-
| lasses at an actual expense. There is no
| other way to get rid Of superfiuity, which
| cannot be simply thrown away for fear of
| creating nuisance. In all these states"
! continued NJ. Arachequesne. where they
| nave tried beet-sugar raising successfully
| or unsuccessfully. Kansas. Minnesota
California, Nebraska, Utah, Colorado and
| Virginia, it is a hardship to the farmer
| that he is not allowed to distil industrial
alcohol from his waste material. But if this
! Is hardship, how much greater-in view
| OF these new inventions and discoveries
| must be the lot of the American farmer.
| with millions of bushels of Indian corn that
| he often finds impossible to sell? i'
The conclusion of this expert is that
! sooner or later the United States must fall
| in line with the new European legislation.
Agricultural Salvation,
| France, country utterly without petro-
leum and importing coal enormously, sees
! nothing less than her agricultural saliva
| ton in the new use of alcohol. For years
they have been seeking in vain for the
national light and the national fuel"
For years, on the other hand, the farmers
nave been struggling sullenly against the
internal revenue laws. From beetroot from
potatoes and from divers other products
theV nave sought to gain a profit. which
they think ought to be theirs All France
may be compared to a great moonshine
whisky district, watched at immense cx-
Pense where frauds and understandings
take the place of violent resistance of au-
! thorlty. The French farmer knows all
about alcohol. He wants to be his own dis
uller. He wants to make a double profit
on his products, to have winter work for
ms sons, his daughters and his hired help
For long years the result has been a grad
ual letting down of barriers against alc,-
none drinks in France, until TODAY in
Parls, you can have a satisfying slug Of
abSlnthe for two cents.
Naturally, the secretary general of the |
ASSOCIATION pour rEmploi industrial de |
/ Aicool is proud Of his mission. To at one,
Satlsty the farmers and the distll.r RS and
give to France her long-sought national
light and fuel-aI in removing a eraat
stumbling block of morality and hygiene |
is a task to be proud of. Let Frenchmen |
make alcohol as they never made it b. |
fore NJ Arachequesne has cried to the |
breathicssly interested chamber of danu
ties; let France distil a hundred Gters
where she distills one today-but NOT Ia |
drink! Ihe time has come. France will
have alcoholic burn"
New Discovery
One of the chief factors in the new use of |
alcohol, and there are many will I'M
doubtad ly turn out to be .'carburant" a |
new discovery. AS everybody knows aIco- |
hol when burning disengages heat rather |
than light. 1t burns duh blue The car
burant is nothing less than a substance |
which, when mixed with it, induces alcohol |
to give out a light of great intensity and
beauty. At the time it is said that it
has the quality of obviating every danger
of explosion 1t is this latter virtue that
is to make carburated alcohol safe. odor-
less, clean, economical and energetic fuel
and mOtiVe-poWer substance When the
carburant is added to the ordinary indus
trial or methylated alcohol, it changes its
! color, which in France is green, to a dark
| yellow.
| The lamps resemble ordinary petroleum
! lamps, with wcks and chimneys. Were it
not for the softness and brilliancy of the
| light you might ina CINE you were burn
| ing headlight Oil There is sweating no
smoke or odor. either during or after COM
buston and the lighting is instantaneous
The wicks never burn, they need no
trimming.
Alcohol in GERMANY.
The Germans, it is said are far in adj |
vance. They have their own lamps, similar |
to those of the French system. Burning |