Evening star., 1932-01-10
Can Factory Save the Farm?

An enormous amount OF research
has been focused on rubber. Some o.
the new laboratory applications
achieved and In prospect, are: Rail
way shock absorbers Of rubber, railway
car wheels of rubber, steel tank-cars
lined with rubber for the transporta-
ton of acids, acid-resistant rubber
paint, rubber bearings for moving
parts. Today, thanks to a recent
laboratory discovery, rubber may be
plated on Steel copper and other met
ais, just as gold or silver is.
Undoubtedly the makers of synthetic
rubber will pursue a further program
Of research to develop outlets for their
productS-just as the makers OF bake
lite developed the scores OF uses to
which that synthetic resin Is put. And
therein. too" added DR.. Little. "is a
suggestion for those who fear the COM
petition OF outside industries. The only
way to compete with research Is by
more research"
Promise Of Synthetic Food.
Promises Of synthetic food, of syn
thetic milk, for example, are perennial.
A while back Mr.. Roger w Babson,
speaking in Boston. predicted that In
| SO years milk will be made from kero-
| sene and the delivery of cows milk in
Boston will be prohibited by law.
We'll" laughed Dr. Little, "chemis-
! try has performed wonders. 1t will
accomplish many me, but it will
never change kerosene to milk. We
can make artificial rubber, knowing
that our synthetic product is not
chemically rubber, but simply a ma
| terial which has certain Of the physical
qualities Of rubber. But to make arti-
! fetal milk we must achieve a product
| which when taken into the stomach
will behave as milk does-and this
means that 1t must duplicate in its
chemical constituents the nutritious
| ingredients of milk.
Specifically it means" he continued,
'the synthesis of such extraordinarily
complex compounds as albumen, casein
and vitaminS: the combination with
glycerin of or 10 complicated organic
acids to make butter fat; the CONVEX
sion of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
into milk sugar. The COW is already
performing these chemisms on q salts
! factory scale. I see no reason for the
dairy farm to fear competition from
the factory.
ON the contrary, 1t Is possible that
the dairy farm may be aided by the
factory's utilization of some Of its
wastes. Artificial ivory is being made
OF the less nutritious residue Of
skinned milk. Research could un-
doubtedly discover other commercial
possibilities.
Field L4es in Yeast.
AS to the future of synthetic food,
| I ari, Iizat of
the oft-predicted reduction of food TO
concentrated tablets-with one lozenge
providing the nutrition of beefsteak and
single pellet carrying the essence Of
glass of milk.
The most likely new food develop
ment," he told me, lies probably in the
utilization of yeastS. Biochemists have
recently developed new strains that are
exceptionally rich in proteins and fats.
Yeast is a single celled plant which
grows in sugar solutions by process
of budding. 1t multiplies so rapidly
and packs its food values in such con-
centrated form, the experts calculate
that city block devoted to a yeast
! farm might yield as much food as
many acres Of wheat or corn. Such a
! development would merely substitute
one kind Of farm for another-but the
! and corn farmers may continue to ex-
! pect the orders of bakers for a great
many decades to come"
Agricultural research in the past has
focused on problms of production. THE
main objective should now be to apply
science to the utilization of farm
! products" said DR.. Little 1T may be,
| as Henry Ford and others suggest, that
the factory of the future will be built
adjacent to or in the center of a large
farm, from which it will get its raw
materials. II that comes to pass it
will be because Of new discoveries of
possibilities OF utilization. 1t will come
most quickly II a consistent-rather
/ than piece-meal-program of research
into these possibilities is entered upon. "
Might Use s75,e0e, zoe for Research.
The Federal Farm Board recently
made report. Its operations during
its two years have been focused largely
on efforts to stabilize the price of
wheat and cotton. OF the $500 900 900
which Congress placed in its hands for
farm relief, $75,0oo,0oo remained in
| November
Would you think it wise policy
Tor the Farm Board to try to develop
new outlets for the sale Of cotton and
wheat by exploring the chemical pos
sibllities Of new uses for these prod
ucts?" I asked Or. Little. Might not
| that remaining S75, 1000 600, or a share
OF it, be used in research toward this
| end?"
Yes" he answered 1T is still DOS
slbie for the Farm Board to Justify its
existence. 1t can bring relief to the
farmers by devoting to wisely directed
research only per cent Of the amount
placed in its hands by Congress. The
| objective OF that research should be not
! greater productivity, as in the past
but the development of new industrial
uses for farm products and farm wastes.
'Kirchhoff's discovery that a simple
treatment with acid converted starch
to glucose has done incomparably more
Tor American farmers than the total
! expenditure Of the Farm Board has
accomplished, for it created a market
! Tor hundreds OF millions Of bushels of
corn.
The possibilities OF well organized
| research program backed by SOS. 600 =
/ OOO are staggering to anv chemist at
| all familiar with the problems involved
in our present agricultural situation
IL could not fail to develop some at
least, Of the potential values now lost
! in our immense tonnages of cereal
straws, cotton stalks, cornstalks and
max straw. It would find new uses
for corn and wheat, for cottonseed
meal, soys beans. tung oil and for
rice bulls, oat hulls and peanut shells.
All this would be but a beginning The
chemists are ready and they would
very much like to meet the Federal
| Farm Board"
History of Cotton is Example.
An example of what a new or re-
newed demand may do for an agricul-
tural product is given in the recent
history Of the cotton market. In Sep
! tember cotton fell to its lowest price
in 30 years. The prospect OF bumper
crop. coupled with the certainty OF
an enormous surplus left over from
las, year, discouraged purchasers.