Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-10-06
KING CORN.
Various Uses of a Most Wonderful
Cereal.

great cornStalk, with spreading leaves
and heavy golden ears. During that
period Of quiescence more than one
hundred generations Of men had lived
and toiled and gone to their long rest,
vet the life-spark in that kernel OF
corn survived, as by a miracle. and
burst forth anew after four thousand
years of slumber
Scarcely less wonderful does it ap-
pear that the very paper this article
Is printed on may be imbued with
corn stalk fibers, the new material
that is shortly to take the place OF
wood for paper making.
Are you going to the woods for sport!
Ten to one the smokeless powder OF
YOUR shotgun contains a cellulose
nitrate made from corn. Thus 1t may
happen that the ducks you blaze
away at were fattened from the same
field of corn that yields the power to
drive the shot into them. If you car
ry a camera your films are probably
coated with collodion that was made
from corn pith If you are touring
in an auto your lubricating oil is made
from corn, if you have the kind that
does not gum an if you have the
latest machine that explodes denatur-
ed alcohol instead of gasoline, your
alcohol is practically certain to be
made Of corn.
Corn is the most omnipresent thing
in the universe. Go where. you will
you can not get away from it. AS the
moving picture machine flashes its
hundreds of thousands of films on the
screen little do we think that these
miles Of picture films would not oper-
ate without sensitizing material based
on cellulose, obtained mainly from
the humble corn stalk.
The average man, If asked If he
could get along without corn, would
unhesitatingly answer yes. He would
bethink himself only Of the hot john
nv cake or corn muffin, or corn In
some form as a breakfast food, or
possibly of popcorn. But how his
mouth would have heightened at the
corners If told that he must pay an
extra cent or two for every starched
thing he wears If the laundry may
not use corn starch; that his soap
will rise in price without corn oil
from the glucose factory; that cheap
III .,or ,~o,,.+ la M ,oore hecanSe the
cellulose adulteration is based on corn
pith! Tell him that his mucilage bot
tie will cost him ten cents instead OF
five if gum arabic is used instead of
dextrind, made Of corn. Remind
him that he must go back to molasses
for table syrup, and that candies Will
be both more costly and less palat-
able if deprived of the grape sugar
or glucose contents.
If this average man still thinks he
can get along without corn, point out
to him that the very great navy or
this country would be fatally weak
ened in battle but for the Innings of
corn pith in the vessels hulls. When
a shot penetrates the armor and lets
in the water the corn pith swells and
fills the hole. A navy without corn
pith would be as helpless as an old
fashioned Spanish armada in a mod
ern sea fight. Remind the man also
that the animals of the country rely
principally on corn for food, and that
beef, pork, poultry and dairy products
would double in price but for cheap
corn feed.
Indian corn is as remarkable for
the tremendous quantities in which
it is grown as for its novel and pc
culiar uses. In 1906 there were actual
ly three billion bushels grown in the
United States-enough to feed the
entire human family for three years,
If they were confined to corn diet
Most Of this corn went into pork,
poultry, beef and through the useful
COW, into dairy products. The acre
age planted in the year quoted was
a hundred million, or more than an
acre for each man, woman and child
in the country. The money value OF
the crop was $1,170,000,000, or more
than sufficient to pay the national
debt.
The corn crop of the United States
is worth twelve times as much as the
product of the gold mines; 1t is three
times as large as the production OF all
the gold mines Of the world. The en-
tire capital and surplus Of the six
thousand and odd national banks in
the United States exceeds the value
of one years corn crop by about
twelve per cent The corn crop OF
the country is greater in value than
all other agricultural crops combin-
ed. 1t is one-third greater than that
of metals.
The fact that we grow thirty-fiVe
bushels Of corn per capita and per-
haps one hundred bushels of corn
stalks and shucks indicates an amaZ-
ing demand cor corn and corn pro-
ducts. 1t would not be possible for
us to consume so much corn unless
it were used wastefully. We use ten
pounds of corn to make a pound of
beef, and then one of a one-thousand
beef creature we eat only three hun
dred pounds of meat, thus spending
thirty pounds of corn to get one OF
meat.
If we eat wheat cakes for break
fast we really use twice as much corn
as wheat, for the syrup is now made
almost wholly from glucose, techni-
cally known as grape sugar or corn
syrup.
If we consume preserves or jam
with our wheat bread to make it more
palatable, again we consume corn, Tor
the sweetmeats are based largely on
this same corn syrup. If we eat Ice
cream in summer it is mostly made OF
corn starch, and if we eat imitation
oyster patties in winter we are still
consuming corn. If we eat Boston
beans and brown bread again we get
corn, as this bread is two-thirds corn,
darkened by corn syrup.
The glucose factories buy corn by