Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1914-12-08
New News Of Yesterday
An Italian Method of Pre-
pairing Olive Oil
BY HOll.uL

Some years ago l had occasion on |
account of certain business matters |
to visit Italy. and the steamship upon
which l took passage was to make
port at Genoa said Norman b.
Ream to me. at time when he was
speaking Of the great advance which
has been made by leaders in the bust
ness world OF the United States in
utilizing what had been waste
products and so utilizing them
that they often furnished the
chief source OF income, or
at least an income equal to that de-
rived from the production of the main
commodity.
Il was much interested in the man
agement of the steamship, and made
many inquiries about various features
of the vessel and OF her cargo.
was pleased to find that the officers
were glad to tell me all they knew
about the cargo and what was the
ultimate destination OF each consign-
ment
fest of the steamship. and among
other Items set forth upon IL | read
on descriptive Of a consignment Of
nearly 5000 barrels of corn oil 10 a
consignee at Genoa. This struck me
as curious. l could not imagine why
Italy was buying corn oil in the
United States. | was especially in
terested because / had had some part
in securing scientific and chemical
study Of the Indian corn kernel 80
that IT would be possible to learn
what its constituent parts were. That
was not mere curiosity. but was due
TO a desire 10 put upon a scientific
basis for business purposes the con-
stituent parts Of corn.
II asked the steamship officers why
Italy was taking corn oil from the
United States. Italy is one of the
greatest vegetable oil countries Of
the world / said that I had myself
| witnessed some OF the early expert
ments which led to the process by
which the oil that is in Indian corn
can be extracted / was unable
TO get any answer to my question.
for the reason that the ships officers
we're ignorant OF the use TO which
/ American corn oil would be put
was told that upon every trip from
! the United States TO Genoa this
! steamer carried a large consignment
= Of corn oil and that other vessels had
/ such consignmcnts in their cargoes.
"The more I studied about this the
more puzzled I became, and I de-
cided to make inquiries after reach
ed Genoa. | did so, and what do
you suppose I learned? The Italians
had found out that American corn
oil was what was called a neutral
oil-that a. II was simply pIre oil
and for that reason could be used
for any purpose. They were therefore
using our corn oil in enormous
amounts for the purpose OF manu-
featuring pure olive oil. The corr
which grew on our prairies was b!
reason OF its oil. which we had learn
ed how to extract. utilized by tn
Italians in this wayi They adde
just the right amount OF pure div
oil TO American corn oil and the
? produced in that way an olive o.
: which none but the experts coul
recognize as part pure olive oil an
: part American corn oil. Who woul
have dreamed when at last the chem
list had shown us how to extract Tn
oil that is in kernel of Indian corr
! that Italy would accept this oil II
enormous amounts and convert IL int
so-called pure olive oil?"
Copyright. 1914, by f. j. Edwards
All rights reserved)