Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-28
The Department Of Agriculture
War Bread and Dyes
BIZ Frederic j. Haskin


ing among our experts and we have great many
more raw materials to draw on for wheat substi-
tutes. Experts of the bureau Of chemistry in the
Department OF Agriculture have baked no less
than forty different kinds Of bread using as many
substitutes for Is per cent of the wheat -four
needed. All OF these breads are entirely nour-
ishing and palatable and some are considered by
those who have tasted them to be superior to
ordinary bread. The wheat substitutes, besides
such ordinary ones as buckwheat and oats and
rye, include the more unexpected names OF ba-
nanas and chestnuts and rice and kafr corn and
co.tonseed meal and peanuts. ~ The peanut in par
ticular furnishes fine tasty bread rich and nour-
shing and of beautiful light texture. But all
these substitute breads are tasty, noursifing and
adequate for food.
'.A Now there is no danger that the United States
is going to be badly tpinched for lack OF bread.
There are no grounds whatever for panic. But
there is every ground for economy, for the use
OF substitutes and for the taking Of all practicable
measures to conserve the wheat supply. Master
bakers already speak of the necessity for higher
prices. The bread situation can be clearly summed
up in few figures and since they touch every
Americans three meals day these figures may
not seem dry.
First II should be noted that the bread situa-
ton includes both.a necessity and an obligation.
There is the domestic need, amounting to ss0,-
100000 bushels year from which about 10000
of -four is little over barrel a year per person.
Then there is the element Of foreign demand.
The United States is a wheat-exporting nation
and our European allies are looking to US for
food. 1t is national obligation to export as
much wheat as possible and here is where the
shortage pinches The crop prospects show that
the winter wheat harvest Is going to fall below
even last years short crop. The spring. wheat
crop in the United States is normally only one
third Of the total. no Even though acreage is
greatly increased the deficit can hardly be bal
anced with spring wheat In order to do our
share in the war we must keep our food exports
up and in order to keep them up we must piece
out our wheat supply. :. e., s.4.., .,.,4
~, The men in the bureau Of chemistry who have
worked out the new breads are confident it can
be done. In their list of wheat substitutes they
show where the nation can draw on enough raw
materials to substitute for quarter Of the en-
tire wheat consumption. The list includes raw
materials to be found in every secton-corn, pota-
toes, rice, peanuts oats, peas and beans bran cot
tonseed meal and dozens OF others And 1t should
be remembered that the breads baked from -four
that is three-fourths wheat flour and one-fourth
substitute are no unpalatable makeshifts. They
are all breads whose excellence is vouched for
by the palate and whose nourishng qualities are
proven by chemical analysis. .. ..
In order to increase the available wheat sup
ply by l25,000,000 bushels it is only necessary
for an emergency measure to provide that some
substitutes for wheat -four shall be used by bak-
ers in the proportion of one part to three parts
of wheat -four Such an emergency measure may
never be needed, but the work in developing the
new kinds of bread, which has covered about
four years OF research, has already been done.
Such measure would be a war measure, but it
would inhict no hardship on anybody
Another way to increase the wheat supply,
according to the bureau, would be to increase
the amount of -four obtained from bushel Of
wheat in the milling process. The present proc
ess makes seventy-two pounds Of -four from 100
pounds OF wheat. 1t is possible, say the experts,
to make ninety pounds of -four from 100 pounds
Of wheat without in any way. inluring the value
Of the -four as food material. This means that
there would be less bran made and more -four.
1t means a saving of Is per cent This saving
on the 550,000,000 bushels Of our domestic con-
sumption would amount to about 100000 600 bush-
els. Thus by the use of substitutes and by a mill
ing process that uses more Of the wheat we can
increase our available wheat supply by 225,000,-
600 bushels This would be enough to take care
of the shortage and our bread would be as tasty
and nourishng as ever. In order to bring about
the 90 per cent -four production it would only be
necessary to pass an emergency requiring all
millers to grind their wheat accordingly.
DR.. lie C1erc, who is in charge of the bread
Investigations for the bureau, has in his Office
little hand mill that cost IS. The other day
he looked into the local -four situation. He found
that -four was selling at $3.50 barrel and whole
wheat -four at SIS barrel On his little mill he
can grind barrel Of -four from three bushels
and sixteen pounds Of wheat, AT the current
high prices this wheat would cost about S. Thus,
BY hand grinding, you can produce Just as good a
-four at saving Of from $sto So barrel. DR..
lie Clerc estimates that the ordinary family of
FIVE could save about $35 year this way, All
the -four necessary for the home baking could
be ground on the home mill by the man of the
| house if he were willing to turn the handle for
| ten minutes of an evening once or twice week.
| Another important line of work in the bureau
| of chemistry is the progress made i'll dyestuff
manufacture The dependence Of this country on
| Germany for dyes three years ago and the high
| prices and the dye famine caused by the stop
| page of supplies are already matters OF history
1t is less known, however that this condition is
rapidly becoming thing Of the past. Processes
for dye manufacture are being worked out in this
| country; the prices of dyes are steadily going
| down. Just now they are still so high that any
man who can make dye can make profit. But
4 even after the war we are going to hold some oil
this business. The work along this line is still
| young and the experts are reluctant to prophesy
but they go so far as to say that Germany has
4 lost some OF its American dye market forever
We can make the same dyes here and make them
| cheaper. We are even exporting some of them
| A dyestuff factory is now being built by the bu
'reau at Arlington, Va, where further problems
will be worked out on factory scale. A year
or two more may see American dye manufactur,
ers competing in foreign<markets for the bust
| ness Of the world.
Il