Omaha daily bee., 1906-10-30
FREE ALCOHOL AND POTATOES
Opportunity for Farmers 10 Derive
Practical Beneat from New
Legislation.

The department regulations controlling
the making and using Of denatured alcO-
hol, Just announced by the commissioner
Of internal revenue, marks another stage
IN tho work OF preparation for the practi-
cal application OF the new law lifting tho
tax when Il shall go into effect the first OF
the coming year. The process OF dena-
turing which consists OF the addition OF
ten gallons Of wood alcohol and half gal
lon OF benElne to every hundred gallons Of
the ethyl alcohol, seems 10 follow the Ger
man method quite closely and this is
probably wise, because the Germans have
made larger and more practical use Of
this Industrial force than any other people
This process will be carried out on the dis
tillery premises where alcohol 10 produced
In special bonded warehouses
The departments estimate of the price
Of the completely denatured product at IS
cents a gallon seems rather high to ac-
eompllsh all the ends predicted from the
abolition OF the tax; still, even at that
figure, the uses 70 which Il might be de-
voted would be many times multiplied
This would make It almost 30 per cent
cheaper than wood alcohol has been and is,
and would relive those artisans who have
suffered in bodily health from the use Of
not likely to seriously suffer. however, un-
less It may be IN the reduction OF price. be-
cause the demand for the article for de-
maturing purposes will offset. to a large ex-
4 tent it's displacement in many of the arts
I and industries
q The commissioner qualities his statement
! az TO price by saying that this would vary
according to the cost Of ingredients, both
. basic and denaturing. A new problem now
/ presents itself, which is to extend the
: sources or raw material from which ethyl
alcohol can be made. The new incentive
/ to discovery along this line has already
] brought out the suggestion that green
/ corncobs are cheap AMI prolific yielders Of
! the alcohol That is good as far as IT
! goes, but thee Oh refuse of all the canneries
in the country would furnish but small
fraction OF the supply needed AS a mat
! ter OF fact, the new industrial situation
ought to be a very pronounced stimulus to
the potato crop of the country. The Ger
mans make their product largely from po-
| tatoes, and market can be created for
those varieties OF the tuber that produce
largely, but are not in favor because
! too coarse for domestic purposes
! II has frequently occurred to US that the
farmers, even under present conditions,
were not making as much of the potato
crop aS il deserved. There is none that
responds more generously to care and Gull
| tivatiou. The Aroostook region In Maine,
which Is one Of the finest in the country,
is just now embarrassed by a lack of cars
for shipment, and the possible loss to buy
ers and shippers this season is put as high
as a million dollars. Why should not
Aroostook be vefy favorable spot in
which to plant one Of the alcohol distil.
leries? Reports from Long Island are &c
the efect that one farm this year il
yielding S45 bushels to the acre, another
s47, and others over 500 while the banner
record Of 3T4 to a single acre, OF 1,7Ss TO q
tract OF ave acres. OF course. these fg
ures are exceptional, but only beeaus,
they are the result Of exceptionally care
full cultivation. With the new ineentiv,
there should be many more such records
since they boar so direct a relation to th
assumed new factor IN our prosperity
Boston Transcript.