The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1918-11-21
Final Preparations Under Way For
Starting New Mill Erected by c.
M. Light Milling Co.
$50 BARRELS OF FLOUR;
so BARRELS MEAL CAPACITY
Giant Structure Devoted to Storage
and Milling of Flour and Feed;
One of the Biggest Enter
prises of Southwest.

Before another issue of the Demo-
crat reaches its readers the new mill
erected by the C. M. Light Milling
Company will be turning out flour at
the rate of $50 barrels per day.
Something like eight months ago
the work of excavating for the mill
began, and the building was finished
in good time. However war condi-
tions made the completion of the
mill hard matter 1t was extremely
difficult to get material, machinery
and supplies, and the work was de-
layed considerably However every
thing is in readiness for starting ex-
cept placing a few pieces of machin-
cry and betting up.
The 50-horse-power motor and
three smaller motors which will drive
the machinery are set and wired up,
and within the next few days the
work will be finished and the product
on the market.
Ever since the writer first came to
Liberal the desire for mill has been
expressed. Right here in one of the
greatest wheat sections of the state it
seemed that good mill property run
would be. a good investment. The
news that Liberal wanted flour mill
spread thruout the country and offer
after offer was made to the people
here, each sounding more like a gold
brick proposition than business af-
fair, and these were quickly turned
down.
Then Charley Light conceived the
idea of building real flour mill here.
With Mr.. Light ideas usually grow
into realities, and he went quietly
about looking up different systems
in operation, approximate cost, and
at the same time taking into consid-
Grafton the fact that in order to ere
ate a market a product must have
some distinctive merit. After making
a complete survey of the situation he
contracted with w. A. Berrian for
the machinery for a mill with ca
pacity of $50 barrels of -four and so
barrels of corn meal.
The institution which will start
milling next week is the result of his
effort.
In company with w. A. Berrian,
Mr.. Light and l. R. Salley, repre-
sentative of the Democrat made a
tour of inspection of the mill this
morning, and we were surprised at
the magnitude of the plant A glance
at the exterior does not give very
clear idea of the room the building
really affords.
The mill proper is 32x6O feet, two
stories and basement. At each end
of the mill building are great ware
rooms, and at the end of each of
these is large elevator. The entire
length of the structure is 250 feet
and the width 32 feet. The elevators
have a storage capacity of $4,000
bushels of grain.
The building is on the Rock Island
track, making it convenient for load
ing purposes.
The machinery of the mill is known
as the Berrian Short Process, being
the invention of Mr.. w. A. Berrian,
who had personal charge of the work
of installation of the equipment.
Mr.. Berrian is a miller of 32 years
experience. He tells how he started
his career as millwright when as a
boy he dressed the stone of the old
stone burr mills, and he has been at
at the milling business ever since. He
is an interesting talker and can eX-
plain the working, not only OF his
mill, but all the others on the market,
so anyone can grasp his meaning.
He calls his mill the "Short Pro-
cess" because, whereas other systems
grind the grain as high as twenty
times he grinds but four times, and
refers to the product as sanitary
flour" for two reasons. In the hrst
place the flour is extracted from the
wheat at the first operation, the bran
an shorts going to their respective
packers, and therefore are not ground
with the flour and taken out later as
in other processes. Mr.. Berrian
claims that this eliminates all danger
from contaminated wheat, as the
shell is cracked off and is taken away
without coming in contact with the
-four product. Another reason for
calling it Sanitary Flour" is that 1t
is electrically sterilized. This is done
by a machine which purifies the air
by means of electricity. The air thus
purified is passed thru the flour, ana
since germs cannot live in pure air ne
says the flour will keep under condi-
tions under which ordinary flour
would soon become weavely and spoil;
We have not the space to dwell
upon all the merits Mr.. Berrlan
claims for his process, for that would
be long story in itself, but he gives
scientific reasons for every idea ne
advances. He claims that bread bak-
ed from this flour will keep longer
than other flours, and that the true
flavor of the wheat is better preserv-
ed.
Mr.. Light carefully Investigated
every claim made by Mr.. Berrian and
the contract, so we have no hesltancy
in saying that the new mill will turn
out a product that is not only equal