The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1940-01-18

the uufOntS. III were TO Tell the
full story OF what the duPonts
have done to utilize the products of
the American farm my readers
would probably be skeptical. Oils
and substitutes. paints, driers, var
nishes, chemicals, tooth and hair
bruhes, wool, knife handles, beads,
heels for women's shoes, combs,
and scores of other items that I
cannot now recall. The duPonts
are spending 30 of their gross in
come on laboratory experiments
ton in the hope of finding yet more
uses for the products of American
farms.
1t is less than twenty years ago
that soy beans began to figure in
cur farm economy. Yet today, 1t
is the biggest single crop in Am
erica and gives employment to over
two million people, who are occu-
pied in raising Or processing the
crop. The caster bean promises to
become an important crop in the
cotton belt.
1t require the production of Ii
acres of land to make an autcmo-
bile. Last year we made 3h million
cars, which required 40 million &C
res OF cultivated, timber and graz
ing land.
We import 21a billion pounds of
vegetable oils annually but we were
assured that every pound. or a sub
stitute therefor, could be produced
in this country and that farm chem
istry can find an outlet for so mil
lion acres. Chemists are trained
to accuracy. There is little or no
guesswork with them.
Food consumption in this country
has steadily declined since the war.
Last year it dropped so so it fol-
lows that we must employ every
means at our command to find new
uses for our farm SURPRISES if ag-
riculture is to be restored to parity.
1t was testified to us by several
chemists that it is going to take
a long time to develop the field of
farm chemistry. AS a matter of
fact, the surface has as yet hardly
been scratched.
The aim of the committee is to
find what will give immediate re-
lief to agriculture. This is the Sc
luton offered by the chemists:
Blend gasoline with industrial al
cohol made from American farm
products. A so blend will require
Is million acres of corn or it's equi-
valent; a 1919 blend would require
30 million acres (Which is the acre
age declared surplus by the Agri-
cultural Department., and al 20%
blend, which can be used without
changing the carburetor of the en-
CINE Of any of the cars now made,
would require 60 million acres. 60
million acres devoted to the pro-
duction CT alcohol would probably
compel us to an importing basis
for our foodstuffs. The chemist
witnesses were rather frank in say
ing that we have been bungling
with the farm problem long enough
and that the solution lies in raising
plenty rather than in killing pigs,
and paying the farmer not to pro-
duce. That is the gospel that Hen
ry Ford has been preaching for
years. All wealth comes from ere
ative labor.
My readers will recall that I
have urged that gasoline be blended
with commercial alcohol. AS a
matter of fact, have had a bill in
the past two congresses that would
do that very thing but have not
been able to get hearings on il.
There is strong opposition tc the
proposal from some of the big oil
companies but our witnesses assur-
ed us that a 1919 blend would in
crease rather than lower the con-
sumption of gasoline. I agree with
that contention.
When Secretary Wallace appear
ed before the Ways and Means
Committee on Friday I asked him
what he thought Of the proposition.
/ was glad to hear him say that the
Bureau Of Chemistry, Department
of Agriculture, is now working on
it.
There is hardly product grown
on the farms in any part of the
country that cannot be utilized in
the manufacture of industrial alec
hol. A 1919 blend would require
the establishment of five thousand
distilleries, scattered all over the
country, which would take up a
considerable part of our unemploy-
met slack. Why dent We do it?
/ hope that both political parties
come out for this proposition in
their platforms. There can be no
recovery in this cuntry until the
farmer has been put back en- his
feet. All he needs, and all that is
necessary to accomplish that is to
give him a market with good prices.
Alcohol can now be manufactured
from SOC corn for about PC per gal
Ion. The chemists testified that as
production increases production
costs will come down and that five
or seven cent alcohol is within the
range Of possibility. Practically
every country in Europe uses an
alcohol blend. We were told that
Poland had made greater strides
in production of industrial alcohol
than any other country. When
Germany marched into that unhap-