Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-15

announced It's opinion that the
price of cotton was too low anC
- 1t offered to make loans to en-
able growers to hold their crops
fr higher prices. But within few
weeks the price had further declined
"a cents a pound and Gov. Moody OF
Texas was complaining that farmers
had lost from SIS to $3.50 bale on all
cotton held in expectation of the implied
upturn.
Meanwhile, and simultaneously, down
IN Alabama a group of scientists were
discovering new wealth in a prolific
waste of the cotton fields. The details
only few weeks ago at the meeting of
the American Chemical Society.
In brief, what has been discovered is
this: That every ton of cotton seed
hulls, by-product heretofore regarded
as of no value, will yield 500 pounds of
a sugar known to chemists as xylose-a
rare sweet so scarce that it has been
selling for 500 a pound.
1t will sell for less hereafter for the
cotton plantations of the South an
nually produce a million tons of cotton
seed hulls. You can figure for yourself
how many tons of hidden sugar the
unknowing growers have been throwing
away-sugar which can be extracted at
few cents a pound, put to industrial
use and made to yield a new profit.
I cite in parallel these two stimuli
taneous incidents because they illustrate
two methods of farm relief. The first
Is an attempt to create higher value
Cor price, for a known product by a
system of limiting its production or
controlling its distributions system
which involves loans by the Govern
ment to finance the holding scheme
and which involves also an elaborate
organization of agreements among the
millions Of farmers to hold or to sell
only according to a cooperative plan.
The other method is to find new values
BY developing new products from the
farm or by discovering new uses for
old products.
Government Backs Research.
Swtft's appraisal Of the man who can
make two blades of grass grow where
only one grew before applies as well to
the proponents of this second method.
For, as you will see, their plan is to
make two land more) products grow
where only one was known before; to
turn troublesome waste into profitable
\. wealth; to increase the farmers outlets
and sales by increasing the variety of
his useful output.
The Government is back of this re-
search method of farm relief quite as
definitely as it Is back of the crop
holding method. Through both the
Department Of Agriculture and the De-
partment of Commerce Congress has
supported Efforts to ind profitable uses
Tor agricultural wastes. Many of the
State governments likewise have fos-
tered and are providing laboratory
explorations of the farms by-productS
IT was in 1927 that Congress asked
tnr department Of Commerce then
under Secretary Herbert Hoover. to con-
sloer what might be done to turn some
OF the wastes Of the farms into real
money. The appropriation bills author
1zeo $4,000 year for this purpose
secretary Hoover assigned the research
job TO the Bureau of Standards anC
there 1t was put in charge of a chemical
engineer, w. z. EmleY, chief of the
division OF organic and fbrous ma
terials. ---''
The field was big one. Agriculture
Is our largest industry, and it was rea-
sonable to assume that its wastes
would aggregate more than those OF
any other. Where to begin?
A quick survey showed that the
greatest agricultural waste is in wood
The fallen, neglected, rottine trees
total an enormous loss, and the wastes
incident to logging and numbering ADD
TO the total But this particular prod
igality has been reserved for the at
tention OF the Department of Agricul-
ture, so the Investigators passed or
TO the next greatest-cornstalks
Much has been published RECENTLY
SDout the wealth hidden in cornstalks
Dut three years ago this whole poSsi-
plilty was still in the laboratories. n
was known that the principal product
OF american farms, by bulk and weight
,eornstalks-more than a hundred
mhnon tons Of them produced annually
on the 100000, 900 acres of cortland
surely, hundred million tons of care.
1uIly cultivated stalks must contain
something useful-Surely they could be
turned TO some better end than to re-.
plen1sh trash heap.
Tnere was a pioneering professor al
Ames. Iowa-Dr. o. R. Sweeney-whc
had been asking this question for IL
years; and In the laboratory of this
Iowa State College he had been try.
ing to find the answer He had pu,
cornstalks under the microscope: he
had torn them apart, stripped them
chopped them, soaked them, dissolved
them In various solvents, analyzed
them into their chemical elements. nv
GRATED them, destructively distilled
them, tried them out as raw material
Tor hundred uses.
Valuable Results Obtained.
The Government scientists had nc
desire to duplicate work already well
zone. The only purpose was to find
now 70 make the most profitable use
OF this farm waste and 1t was recop-
nized at once that Prof. Sweeney had
accumulated valuable results in his 10
year research The bureau chemists
ana engineers Joined forces with him
ana there was erected at Anes a spe-
cial laboratory where the researchers
could test out on a commercial scale
the manufacture Of some of the
products which Prof. Sweeney had de.
veloped experimentally.
There are hundreds Of possibilities, ;
explained Mr.. Emley, but our task ir
exploring each waste Is to find the
possibility that has the surest chance
of commercial success
FOR example, cornStalIs yield abolI
80 per cent cellulose, and cellulose Il
the raw material of artificial silk, mo.
ton picture films, paper, explosives anc
many other products. AL Of these
products can be made of cornstalks
but can they be made economically;
Can they be made of a grade and a
q cost which enable them to com.
pete with similar products already or
the market? That is our problem IL
developing a use for each of thes,
wastes-to work out not only tn,
chemistry OF production, but also it;
cost economies"
What finally emerged from the Anne
experiment is an artificial lumber.
wall board, which has proved to be $,
practicable as a salable commodity il
competition with other types of wal
board that a million dollar corpora
ton was organized last year to engag
in its manufacture. The presence O
such men as ex-Gov. Lowden, Bernar,
NJ. Baruch, Herbert F. Perkins AMI
Eugene v. Thayer on its board Of direc
tors Is evidence of the business sound