The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-09-23
SOLUTION FOR Low PRICES

- juniper poldlo CIop III ooutu Ia
kota and low prices is a calamity
which might be averted by manufac-
turing industrial alcohol at a profit,
thereby maintaining price, according
to A~gronomist A. N. Hume, at the
State College. He says:
"A recent report concerning crop
conditions makes the predictions that
the potato crop for the year 1915 will
exceed any crop ever harvested. Very
likely the same statement will hold
when applied to the state of South
Dakota alone. In this same connec-
ton a statement was noted concerning
the condition of the potato market at
Des Moines recently when wholesale
buyers were urging that they could
not pay prices to farmers which would
really exceed the cost of production.
ut would be within range of posi-
bility for the state of South Dakota
next year to produce all the potatoes
needed in the United States. If, say
in 1914, South Dakota had seer fit to
produce one-fourth as large an area of
potatoes as she did Of cereals, and had
produced as many potatoes per acre
as Maine, she would have produced as
many potatoes as the whole United
States. But there is certainly no ad-
vantage in the production Of potatoes
at a loss. If we had all the potatoes
in the United States in South Dakota,
we would have to keep most Of them
because we could not sell them at a
profit. But if we were free to haul the
surplus to the nearest distillery and
make alcohol to burn and use chemi-
cally we could probably market the
remainder at a reasonable price for
the producer.
predictions are made from time to
time by responsible people that condi-
tions will develop in due time within
the United States so that industrial
alcohol will be proftably manufacture
ed from potatoes. The writer is in
terested in such a prediction largely
from the standpoint of the crop pro-
Queer. If for instance, it were posi-
BILE in South Dakota to develop the in
dustrial alcohol industry for the pur-
pose Of utilizing potatoes, our state
might not only find that it could in
crease the potato area at a profit. but
it could reduce the risk of Cutting the
market.
with the help of Mr.. Howard
Loomis, analyst of the agronomy de-
partment, the writer has taken &C.
casiOn to look over some of the litera-
ture concerning potatoes as a source
Of industrial alcohol. This is no at
tempt to assert that potatoes ought to
be made up into alcohol, but rather
some statements of facts so far as
they can be ~ascertained.
ut is a known fact that under nor
NAL conditions in parts of Europe, al
cohol is largely utilized as a fuel;
when so utilized 1t is employed mainly
for the purpose of cooking with small
alcohol burners. In Germany, for in
stance, such alcohol for cooking pur-
poses must be as cheap or cheaper
than gasoline. 1t must be remember
ed that gasoline costs more in Ger
many than in the United States. so 1t
is easy to see how alcohol may be
used as a fuel in that country rather
than gasoline, when gasoline is pre-
ferred in our own country where 1t Is
produced.
alcohol is produced by the fermen-
tation of sugar. When 1t is produced
from substances containing starch 1t
Is first necessary to change the starch
into sugar by the action Of malt or
acids, thus the reason why potatoes
are good raw material for manufac-
turing industrial alcohol is that they
contain high percentages of starch
! which may in turn be changed to