Morris tribune., 1907-03-30
FINDS ALCOHOL LAW
MOST LIBERAL ACT
HANSBROUGH PRAISES LEGISLA-
TON AS BOON To FARrlERS.
Great Possibilities of Cheap Ale OhoI
Taking the Place of Gas oline-
New Industry will Provide a
Settled Price for Corn and Pota-
toes.

Washington, March Ex-senator
Hansbrough of North Dakota, who
managed the bill amending the free
alcohol law in the Senate toward the
close of the recent session of congress
and who received commendatory
letter from President Roosevelt for his
success in getting it thru that body,
has been making an investigation of
the effect of the new law, with refer
ence to it's use by farmers and it's cost.
Discussing the question in special to
Tuesdays Minneapolis Journal, Sen
ator Hansbrough said:
"The enactment of the amendments
perfects our laws relating to this sub
ject, SO it is believed they are now the
most liberal of those of any country in
the world The effect of the amend
ment permitting the manufacture of
industrial alcohol by plants with lock-
ed tanks on small scale without con-
slant government supervision will be
to make possible the establishment of
manufactures producing not to ex-
coed 100 gallons day wherever their
operation may be economically profit
able, so that the product may be de-
natured on the premises. There would
seem to be no reason why the sections
of the country where petroleum dis
tillates are sold at the highest price,
should not produce large quantities of
denatured alcohol, as the prices of the
raw material are cheapest in those To-
calities.
Advantages for Farmers.
"Farmers are specially interested
also in the question of an abundant
supply of liquid motor fuel for the in
ternal- combustion engines which are
coming into general use on farms in all
sections of the country as the increase
in the number of these engines has
had the effect of increasing the price
of gasoline. In testimony submitted to
the committee on ways and means it
was shown that extended experiments
had established the fact that when us
ed in properly constructed engine,
alcohol is a highly satisfactory motor
fuel. That the substitution of alcohol
for gasoline in these engines is not a
theory but fact, is shown by the sta
tistics from Germany. In that country
of total of 921 engines, 544 we're used
for agricultural purposes.
~ "Another great advantage to the ag-
ricultural interests is that the price of
those farm products from which alco-
hol must be most cheaply produced
can never fall below point which
would give the farmers satisfactory
profit. In other words, this legislation
practically gives the farmer policy
of insurance against loss in growing
corn and potatoes. Corn at 80 cents
per bushel would Danish kerosene as a
source of light and heat and gasolene
as source of power, at present prices
of these articles.
cat the present time gasoline of a
poor quality costs the farmers in the
northwestern and far western states
% to so cents per gallon and allindica-
tons point to an increase in these
prices. With the greater safety of al
cohol at equal, or nearly equal, prices
it would be preferred to gasolene and
the demand for it as motor fuel for
farm engines would create market
for all surplus corn at price not less
than 80 cents and probably 30 cents
per bushel. With the assurance of an
unlimited demand for corn at price