The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-04-06
industries and manufactures of the

industries and manufactures of the
country this week.
He made a, strong speech and it
should be read by every farmer in the
state of Minnesota who wants to add
to his fixed income.
In the course of his very clear state
ment of the case Representative Vol
stead said: If this bill becomes law
it will mean untold benefits for our
farmers. No less an authority than
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson has
said that in the future the world must
look to agriculture for its heat and
light and power 1t is shown by facts
and figures that one acre of corn would
produce more alcohol than the corn
itself. Without referring to other sour
ces of supply, such as beets, sweet po-
tatoes, vans, and cassavas equally SER
viceablc, it is evident that alcohol can
be produced and sold at a cost so small
that it would readily compete with the
present price of gasoline and Kerosene
in many localities. This is not mat
ter of mere guess. What has been done
in other countries can be done here. In
Germany alcohol has been sold as low
as II cents per gallon, and is being
largely used there for light, heat, and
power. The conditions in Cuba are still
more favorable, and alcohol there serves
the same purposes at a still lower fig
ure. 1t has been urged that the mater
ial for producing alcohol can not be
raised as cheaply here as in Germany
| because of the difference in price OF
labor. This may be true of the produc-
| ton of beets, but it is certainly not
! true of potatoes, which can be planted
cultivated, dug, and placed in the wagon
box for market by machinery. 1t is a
product of the cheapest kind of land
with practically no hand labor. Am
erica beats the world in that kind OF
productions. To get this fuel as cheap
| ly as possible | believe you should al
| low small distilleries on the co-Opera-
ton plan, such as they have in some
| European countries, so that the farm
products can be hauled directly from
farms to the distillery, and the alcohol
| Al bn "a, 10 ha ,f
ter being denatured without the addi-
tion of too much cost for transportation
What Is McCleary Doing.
While Mr. Volstead is thus advocating
practical legislation that will be of i'm.
mense benefit and substantial gain to
the farmers of Minnesota, Congressman
j. T. McCleary is working day and
night on "standpat" tariff speech in
which he will labor to show that it is
| for the best interests of the farmers
and everybody else to stand still, dc
nothing with the tariff, let the bills fol
free industrial alcohol alone and sub
NIT the present unequal and in some
instances unjust rate of revenue and
duty.
| What Il contract.
Why Mr.. McCleary did not join in
the movement that will allow farmers
to make alcohol for heating and light
ing purposes, and thus become greatly
benefited, is left for him to explain. All
the other Minnesota members went on
record early as being in favor of the
Nolstead bill.
| State Senator A. q. Eberhart of Man
kato has been in Washington taking
observations during the past week. The
senator disclaims any thought of be-
coming candidate for congress from
the second district. Moreover he is not
talking politics but says he came down
to Washington to listen to the great
debate now going forward on the rail
| road rate question. Senator Clapp and
Mr. Eberhart are warm personal friends
and they have been together nearly ev-
cry evening during the visit of the lat