Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-06-28

A mass convention OF the inlliefs VI
the United States will convene tomor-
row in Minneapolis. the call for the
convention having been sent out by
the Millers National Federation of the
United States. 1t is expected that this
convention will be the largest body OF
millers ever assembled. There will be
many serious questions considered,
among them that of the bleaching OF
-four, and that of ways and means OF
increasing the production of wheat in the
United States. The convention will be
addressed by such notables as James j.
Hill, the empire builder of the north
west; Prof. A. S. Woods. and Prof. NJ.
A. Carlton.
The millers of the country regard the
problem of increasing the production of
wheat in the United States as one of
the most pressing questions of the day.
They agree entirely with James ]. Hill
that unless something is done to build
up the acre-yield of wheat, the day is
not far distant when the United States,
for so many years one of the leading
wheat exporters of the world, will be-
come one of the wheat importing ma
tons. The rapid growth of the popula-
ton of the country has prevented the
farmer from maintaining the same ratio
between production and consumption
that hitherto existed, and unless some
what revolutionary methods are pur-
sued the entire surplus for export will
be wiped out.
MiIlers are inclined to look upon a
botanical discovery recently made in
Palestine as having a very important
bearing on the wheat situation In the
United States. A German scientist has
discovered a plant in Palestine which he
believes to be the ancestor of the mod
ern American wheat plant. Under pres
ent-day conditions of agriculture, the
wheat plant has lost it's quality of self
propagation, and but for the preparation
Of it's seed bed by man, 1t might be-
come extinct The Palestine plant is
so hardy that it can hold it's own in
any combat with weeds, and it is hop
ed that by cross-breeding with the
American wheats, a new variety may be
built up which will possess all of the
productive qualities of existing varie-
ties, together with the qualities of har-
diness possessed by the newly-discover-
ed Asiatic plant
Next in Importance to the question of
increased wheat yield is that OF the
right of millers to bleach their fiours
Under the pure food law, this question
has been a serious issue, and between
the action of the various pure food COM
missions and boards of the country and
the decisions of the courts, the bleached
-four millers have had a strenuous time
in defending their product. On their
behalf. it is claimed that the bleaching
of flour is nothing but a process of rap
Id aging. This is accomplished, it is
asserted. through the action of oxygen
and electricity in the air. The bleach
ers claim that they do nothing but cre-
ate this action under artificial condi-
lions.
On the other hand the opponents of
bleached -four contend that the secret
Of white flour lies mainly in having the
wheat cleaned. They assert that If il is
properly washed, the resulting -four will
be perfectly white. They contend that no
-four can be whittier than the Wilderness of
the inside of a grain of wheat; and that
any attempt at bleaching is simply an
effort to cover up the presence of in
sufficiently washed grain. Moreover, the
pure food experts assert that the bleach
ing of flour interferes with the proper
ties of the gluten it contains. and adds
certain n.trites which are deleterious to
tho health of those who use bleached
flour.
Last year this question was thoroughly
threshed out in the courts of North Da-
kota- under the pure food regulations of
that state. In the course of the hear
ings on the subject, the defendants of
bleached flour brought into the court
room a bleaching machine, and in the
presence of the judge proceeded to DEM
onstrate the process of bleaching flour.
After repeated operations. the bleached
flour was subjected to laboratory expert
ments and was used in tests on rabbits
brought into court. 1t was claimed by
the defense, and by the expert witnesses
they had on the stand, that no delete
rious effect on the rabbits could be OBJ
served.
Flour first was artificially bleached in
1898, by being treated with ''ozonized air."
Later the process was changed by the
employment of electric discharges con-
tanning h.nuxide of nitrogen in very
small quantities A constant stream of
-four is kept RAISING through the bleaching
chamber while the electric discharges
take place. 1t is claim6d by the milers
that the only change which takes place
through this process is that the oils con-
tanned in the flour are made winter than
they were when it was unbleached.
The millers of the country feel that
they are an ili-used lot so far as their
treatment in the periodical literature of
the United States is concerned. They as
cart that a vast daaI of Y11iafu formation