The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-12
DENATURED ALCOHOL
AMENDMENT VITAL
FEATURE OF BILL
Would Permit Farmers, At Nom
inal Expense, To Utilize
Waste Products

(By Congressman Clyde H. Tavenner.)
Washington, Sept. 12.-Literally in
the eleventh hour of the tariff debate
it was 1920 o'clock on the morning
of Tuesday, Sept. 10-the wearted SEN
ators unostentatjously slipped into the
bill an amendment SO important that
it deserves to rank with the income
tax as one Of the two great construc-
tive features of the Underwood bill.
This was the denatured alcohol
amendment. If left unchanged by
! the conference between House and
Senate, the amendment will accom-
plish what the law of June z, 1906,
was designed to do. 1t will make it
possible for every farmer in the Unit
ed States to turn the waste products of
his farm into denatured alcohol.
The people supposed the law of
1906, which followed a long agitation,
would accomplish this result. But
this law was so crafti1y, drawn in a
Senate then under the influences of
the special interests, that the law has
been a sham and a mockery. To com
ply with the provisions of this law and
attendant regulations, would cost the
farmer at the least estimate $12,500
for a denaturing still.
The pending amendment wipes out
all the restrictions. few dollars
will pay for a denaturing still which
will comply with the law. The for
mula for the denaturing fluid will be
fixed by regulation by the Commits
sioner of Internal Revenue, but the
law will permit the return of the dena-
turant to the farmer for use again and
again. And that other hampering
provision in the present Iaw-the
bond of $4,000 which the smallest dis |
tfl1er is required to give-is abrogat- |
ed by the amendment.
The amendment is a triumph of
new Senator from Oregon. have
for several months past been adVocat- |
ing the proposition of DR.. Lanes
amendment being incorporated in the |
Tariff Bill, having written a series of
letters to that end, as readers of this |
newspaper will recall. The adoption |
of this amendment makes me feel
well repaid indeed, because believe it |
will prove of real value to the far |
mers of this country.
If DR.. Lane had been one of those |
unobservant persons who go through |
life with their eyes shut, this story !
might never. have been written. While /
he was campaigning in Oregon last |
fall he saw thousands Of bushels of |
apples rotting on the ground for want |
of a market. He wondered why they
were not made into denatured aIco- |
hol, remembering, as he did, the
great predictions that were made for |
the law Of 1905. He inquired, and |
found the law so full Of Jokers ia
vorab1e to the distf11ing interests and |
the Standard Oil Company as to pre-
clude the manufacture Of alcohol by
farmers.
eff the amendment becomes law it
will offer a wonderful opportunity
to, the American farmer, and one
which he will not be slow to take ad-
vantage off, said DR.. Lane. alcohol
will be the coming fuel Why just
the products which go to waste every
year on American farms have value
greater than the annual production of
OIL Corn stalks that remain in the
field after husking contain sufficient
alcohol to make a very profitable yea1d
to farmers.
The secret of great success in man
ufacture is the utilization of by-pro-
ducts. But that greatest of industries
farming has been unable to utilize
its by-products.
Whenever coal, kerosene or gaso-
line is used, alcohol can be used.
With a slightly changed carburetor it
can be burned in any gasoline engine
It can substitute for coal for heating
for kerosene for lighting and for gaso-
line for power. And the residue left
after dfsti11ation is a finer fertilizer
than if the entire crop had been plow-
ed into the soil.''