The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1943-02-12
RUBBER AND GRAIN ALCOHOL"

some use of the grain alcohol process
by establishing a separate government
agency for that purpose?
SEN. GILLETTE: The bill wa
adopted unanimously by the senat
and received strong support in thu
house. BY the time congress hat
passed it, the rubber situation hat
become so tangled that the Presiden
saw fit to veto the bill, even though
your organization and many othel
farm groups were solidly behind it.
HANDSCHIN: Why did you ant
other senators agree not to try to
pass that bill over the Presidents
veto?
SEN. GILLETTE: When the Presi
dent vetoed the bill, he also appointed
la committee of three outstanding
men, headed by Bernard Baruch. Feel
ing that any fair-minded committee
would come to the same conclusion
as had the congress, it then seemed
best to wait and permit the executive
agencies of the government to prepare
their own findings.
HANDSCHIN: Senator, it is nearly
four months since the Baruch com
mittee made it's report to the Presi-
dent. Perhaps you had better recall
its recommendations for us.
SEN. GILLETTE: The Baruch COM
mittee missed the point of the find
ings which had already been made by
the congress. Instead of proposing
to speed up rubber production by in
creasing the number of plants using
alcohol instead>of crude oil, it "froze"
the program where it then stood. 1t
thus in effect froze the very mistakes
and bungling which congress had crit
icized. The report urged that some
how or other the contracted oil-meth-
cd plants totaling upwards of a bill
lion dollars should be forced through
to completion. This was done even
though it still has not been actually
demonstrated that rubber can be OBJ
tanned on large-scale by the oil
based method without using many
times as much critical materials and
more time than the alcohol method.
HANDSCHIN: But the Baruch COM
mittee did recommend some new
steps, did it not?
SEN. GILLETTE: Yes, they pro-
posed using high test aviation gas
plants to make some of the raw ma
5erial for rubber, so that the rubber
program could be speeded up.
HANDSCHIN: But hadn't your COM
nittee months before pointed out that
such step would Interfere with sup
plying our airplanes with gasoline?
SEN. GILLETTE: Yes, way back in
May we had gone into that question
With Donald Nelson, who assured us
hat it would not interfere. However,
t is conflicting today with the mill
airy gas program.
HANDSCHIN: What did the Baruch
committee have to say about using
rain alcohol?
SEN. GILLETTE: They also recon-
nended as part of the rubber program
he building of new grain alcohol
,lants with a capacity of one hundred
million gallons per year. That would
'e very substantial amount, al
hough still only about one-quarter of
he rubber program needs. The COM
nittee specified these plants should
re built only on navigable waters,
ear the surplus grain areas, which
means the midwest
HANDSCHIN: Why did the Baruch |
ommittee restrict the location of |
hese proposed new plants to naviga-
lie rivers?
SEN. GILLETTE: They seemed to
e under the impression that these
ew alcohol plants would cease to
perate on grain once the war was
nded, and that therefore the plants
lust be located where they could be |