The Washington herald., 1914-12-08
HISTORY BUILDERS.
An Italian Method Of Preparing
Olive Oil.
Cwhtten Expressly for The HerAld-l
RY DR.. z. j. EDWARDS.

tWntten EXPRESSLY foT The HerAld-l
BY DIR. Z. J. EDWARDS.
Some years ago l had occasion on ac-
count Of certain business matters to visit
Italy, and the steamship upon which l
took passage was to make port at Ge-
noa-" said Norman B. Ream to me, at
time when he was speaking Of the great
advance which had been made by lead
ers In the business world OF the United
States in utilizing what had been waste
products and so utilizing them that they
often furnished the chief source OF In
come, or at least an income equal to
that derived from the production OF the
main commodity.
IT was much interested IN the manage
ment Of the steamship. and 1 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 consignment
Zone day was shown the manifest Of
the steamship. and among other items
set forth upon It / read one descriptive
of a consignment OF nearly 5000 barrels
OF corn oil to a conslgnee at Genoa. This
struck me as curious. l could not imag-
Inc why Italy was buying corn oil in the
United States. I was especially interest
ing scientific and chemical study of the
Indian corn kernel so that It would be
possible to learn what its constituent
parts were. That was not mere curiosity.
but was due to a desire TO put upon a sci
entihc basis for business purposes the
constituent parts Of corn.
IT asked the steamship officers why
Italy was taking corn oil from the United
States. Italy Is one OF the greatest veg
aKa aFl FrIr % 7
that I had myself witnessed some Of the
early experiments which led to the pro-
cess by which the oil that is In Indian
corn can be extracted was unable to
get any answer 10 my question, for tho
reason that the ships officers were ignor-
ant OF the use to which American corn
oil would be put. I was told that upon
every trip from the United States to
Genoa this steamer carried large con-
signment Of corn oil and that other ves-
sells had such consIgnments in their car
goes.
The more I thought about this the
more puzzled became. and I decided to
make inquiries after I reached Genoa.
I 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 II. II was simply pure
oil and for that reason could be used for
any purpose. lneN were therefore uSlnB
our corn oil IN enormous amounts for the
purpose of manufacturing pure olive oil.
The corn which grew on our prairies was
by reason OF its oil. which we had
learned how to extract, utilized hv the
Italiars in this way, They added Just
the right amount OF pure olive oil to
American corn oil and they produced in
thet way an olive oil which none but the
experts could recognize as part pure
olive oil and part American corn oil. Who
would have dreamed when at last the
chemist had shown US how to extract
the oil that is in kernels OF Indian corn
that Italy would accept this oil in enor-
nous amounts and convert II into So
called pure olive oil7'
(Coryrirht 1914. by z. ]. Edwards. All rights -
ETredD
Tomorrow DR.. Edwards will give "a
Concord Estimate OF Thoreau the Man"