The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsEIN, Director.
Washington, d. c.
A BUREAU OF APPLIED SCIENCE.

1
Washington, D. c., Nov. 1o.-The
government has at last started in a
small way a much needed enterprise.
One bureau in the department of agri-
culture-the bureau of chemistry-is
going to turn some of its discoveries to
practical use by finding out their COM
merciaI possibilities and giving the
public the benefit of its research.
This means that if the chemists of
the sugar experiments laboratory, for
instance. find an improved method of
making cane syrup the bureau may
not, as heretofore, announce the big
discovery to the country and then
start something else.
| Instead, if it seems likely that the
new process could be developed prof
itably by syrup manufacturers, and if
there is a special need for it, chemi-
cal engineers of the bureau will take
up the matter. Data will be obtained
to show the condition of the market,
whether a high price can be obtained
for the better product, whether new
machinery is needed for the new
| process, and the cost, whether the
| project is practicable on a small scale.
| Equipped with ia cts, figures, and per-
| haps a small working plant where
syrup has been successfully made by
| the government process, the bureau is
| In q position 10 IurnISn nelp TO any
one who is interested.
! The branch OF the bureau of chem
istry which is to form this liaison be-
tween science and the public is called
| the office of deve .opment work. 1t
was planned by DR.. Carl Alsberg, chief
of the bureau of chemistry, who felt
j that the discoveries of his bureau were
not often enough understood by the
| people who could have made use OF
them. The trouble was that the bu-
reau had no way of helping people
who were always writing to it to know
| if each new process would be good
| commercial venture and if so how to
go about starting work. To help these
| business men and manufacturers, ana
also private citizens who might be In
terested in the use of a discovery MADE
| by the bureau, the office of develop
ment work has been opened.
| Many of the processes worked out
by the government chemists are prac-
ticable only on a large scale, IN an
| deliberately equipped plant. But in
some cases the farmer or housewife
profits by the chemical experiments.
Gas Out of Straw.
1t is hoped that this may be true in
the case of the straw gas experiments
now being conducted at the govern
ment experimental farm at Arlington.
| Va. Gas was several years ago OBJ
| tanned from straw. During the war
England eked out her gasoline supply
| by attaching bags containing the straw
gas to the top of automobile buses.
The difficulty with straw gas can pc
seen right there. 1t has never been
satisfactorily reduced to compressed
liquid. When that is achieved, ana
the qualities of gas obtained from OH
| ferent kinds of straw nave peen
studied and compared, the bureau OF
chemistry hopes to be able to show the
farmer how to make his own gas Tor
light. heat and power for stationary
engines and tractors. The government
| chemical engineers could not, Oh
course, go to every farm and give act
nal assistance in establishing gas
production plant, but it could furnish
al necessary information regarding
costs. equipment, and the product.
| The office that is to furnish this
service is so new that 1t mas scaTcely
mapped out its campaign. 1t cannot
work out the development of all Of its
discoveries nor even of all that looks
promising as comm ercial propositions.
It has a limited staff, and works
under the special appropriations that
are made from time to time by con-
| gress for experiments with syrups,
9ves or dehydration. Thus, if the
bureau decided to develop its expert
ments OF the uses of corncobs. the
! funds for development must come
from the appropriation under when
the corncob experiments were mace.
The Valuable Corncob.
Corncobs, which are now usually
burned up, furnish a good example OF
wasted material. Government re-
search has shown that number or
products can be made from corncoos,
among them adhesive for fiber board
sizing, paper, and high grade brown
dye which sells for $40 a pound and
! can be made from cobs for about 10
| cents Some day the farmer may be
able to sell his corncobs for very
| good price, but it is not likely that he
would ever be able to extract dye or
| glue from them himself, because that
is a proposition which demands de-
velopment on a fairly large scale to
return sufficient profits. 1t would be
obviously ridiculous for a farmer to
collect a few baskets of cobs into a
1 corner of the barn and try to produce
corncob dye to compete with the prod
uct of a big, efficiently-run dye fac
tory.
The Bureau of Chemistry is at pres
ent working on a. number of expert
ments which, if later developed by its
engineers, would be of great service
to the country. For example, there
are the tanning experiments Farm
| less than those put out by big tan
neries, because a lot is either not so
well-skinned and preserved, or else
i there are apt to be some carelessly
tanned hides possibly with cuts in
i them, in an otherwise good assort-
ment- Improper tanning partly ex-
plains why some shoes wear out so
quickly. The Bureau of Chemistry is
making a study of improved methods
of tanning and as a result of its work
has got out a bulletin telling how to
tan hides. Formerly this was as far
as the bureau could go. But now, if
the Office of Development Work
should turn its attention to the
bureaus leather work, there would
be far better chance for the govern
ments findings to be of practical use
to the tanners and to the public
Another line of chemical research
which has already shown its results is
the utilization of inferior grades of
citrous fruits California ships east
only the best oranges and lemons, be-
cause prices for Gull fruit do not war