The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1906-06-06

1t the benefits resulting from the &C.
ton OF congress in passing the free
alcohol bill are half as great as pre-.
dicted by some advocates of the
measure, it will be an immense boon
to farmers aud others who need fuel
for power purposes. 1t will take time
to demonstrate the effect Of this new
legislation, but there is reason to be-
lleve that cheap alcohol will largely
supplant other products with which it
will be brought into competition.
This denatured alcohol bill is one of
the most important things that have
come up for consideration at the
present session of congress. 1t pro.
vides for removal Of the internal
revenue tax upon grain alcohol in
tended for all commercial and indus.
trial purposes except as a beverage.
What this will mean to the country is
almost beyond estimation. Free alec.
hol will mean a liquid fuel that will
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many times more desirable. 1t will
mean that stills will be erected in the
farming communities where waste pro-
ducts of the field will be utilized with
profit to the farmers as well as to the
distillers and the consumers. It will
mean an EN- ancipation from the oil
trust in thousands of cases, and it
will afford small manufacturing es-
Establishments cheap fuel for their gas
and gasoline engines that will enable
them to compete more easily with big
concerns. 1t will give owners of auto.
mobiles a fuel that is cheaper and
better than that upon which they now
depend. Its blessings cannot be
enumerated nor all Of them foretold.
Denatured alcohol is the ordinary
distilled product Of grains, corn
stalks and anything else that has
sugar in it, and after the d%istillation
the alcohol is diluted with a noxious
mixture that prevents its being used
as a beverage. This dilution does
not affect its fuel value. AS there are
many products of the farm and field
that may be handled by the distiller
which now have no market value, it
is seen that the farmers as we'll as
most every body else will be benefited,
with the addition that the farmer will
gain both as a producer and as a con.
sumner,
Estimates as to the probable selling
price OF denatnred alcohol range from
10 to ID cents a gollon. Fifty bushels
OF corn, the production OF one acre of
land, will produce lao gallons of alec.
hol. An acre Of potatoes, if the pro-
duct is 300 bushels, would produce 255
gallons Of alcohol, or, by using q
grade OF potatoes especially for alco.
hol production the output could be in.
creased to 500 gallons of alcohol per
acre.
A large number of agricultural pro.
ducts are capable of being converted
into alcohol and such products as are
unmarketab BILE, either from overabun-
ance OF crops or defective growth,
are available for distillation. Inas.
much as alcohol can be stored for an
indefinite time without change in its
nature, any surplus production can
be taken care Of. A beet sugar manu-.
facturer estimates alcohol can be pro-
duced from the waste of the root beet
sug ar industry for 10 to II cents a
gallon.
Alcohol was used largely for light.
ing. cooking, fuel and industrial pur.
poses in the United States previous to
the imposition of the prohibitive rev.
enue tax. In 1864 Cincinnati alone
utilized $4,000 bushels of corn a day
for distillation. The annual produc.
ton in the country with half the pres
ent population and incomparably less
industrial use for the product, was
80, Oo0, 900 gallons. In other countries
its use in the industries has attained
to large proportions. IL is sold in
CuOa anu IN South American cOun.
tries at 10 cents a gallon.
The French government is Offering
a prize OF $4,000 francs for the iuven.
ton OF a method Of using alcohol for
lighting purposes the same as kero.
e n Is now used. In Germany it has
practically supplanted gasoline in
farm machinery.
To Protect Niagara Falls.