HEAVY LOSS OF
SUGAR STOPPED
Chemists Perfect Process of
Protecting Raw Product From
Mold and Bacteria.
PREY ON SWEETENING FACTOR
A t Least $1,500,000 Worth of Sugar
Destroyed Yearly by Tiny, Greedy
Organisms— 70,000,000 Pounds
Is Estimate.
Chicago, 111.— More sugar w ill be
available fo r everybody through the
discovery of u process of keeping It
from being injured by molds and bac
teria.
Fully one per cent o f the Cuban
crop, or about 70,000,000 pounds of
sugur a year and worth ut least $1.50T,-
000, It Is estimated, has been destroyed
by the tiny, greedy organisms which
compete with the sweet tooth of man
kind. As the per capita consumption
o f sugur in the United States is ap
proximately 81.84 pounds annually the
amount hitherto consumed by the
873,000 persons for u twelve month
period. This would keep the sugur
bowls o f a large city full. Counting
each fam ily us live persons, 175,000 of
such groups could be kept sweet tem
pered during this period from the
supply which has been wasted by the
Invisible hordes.
Mr. Nicholas Kopeloff and Mrs. L il
lian KopelofT, bacteriologist and as
sistant bacteriologist at the Louisiana
sugar experiment station in New Or
leans, and members of the American
Chemical society, have just completed
a bulletin on the method o f prevent
ing the molds and bacteria from wrest
ing sweet solace o f the beet and cane
from mortals.
Loses Sweetness.
Sugar loses its sweetness because
molds consume the sucrose, which is
its sweetening factor. Although the
nmount thus lost may be only a frac
tion o f one per cent, and far too slight
to be detected by the senses o f taste
or smell in many cases, it is easily
deterndued by the polariscope, an in
strument
especially
designed
for
measuring the amouut o f sucrose pres
ent.
When sugar deteriorates not
only does the polariscope detect the
differences, but anyone who is suffi
ciently observnnt will note that it will
actually tuke a larger spoonful to give
the same sweetening power. Thus, if
a barrel of raw sugar should be kept
through the summer months and it
is infected with harmful micro-organ
isms, it might be necessary to use an
extra half-spoonful at the end o f »the
summer to get the sume sweetening
power that could be obtained before
deterioration took place. As all sugar
is sold strictly on the polarlscoplc ba
sis, even small losses aggregate huge
sums.
The usual source of these molds is
the air, which contains millions of mi
cro-organisms at rest and in circula
tion. Each individual mold, if it falls
on an object which can supply It with
sufficient food, such as sugar, can re
produce 300,000 more individuals of
the same species in less than a week.
This reproduction, however, can only
tuke place in the presence o f sufficient
moisture, otherwise the organisms lie
dormant. Cane sugar primarily un
dergoes such losses by deterioration
in transportation or storage, mainly
due to the absorption o f moisture by
sugar in damp weather or humid cli
mates.
For example, sugars made In Cuba
are stored in the hold o f a vessel,
often with Insufficient ventilation,
which causes them to “ sweat.” While
coming from a tropical climate into
cooler water the moisture condenses
on the surface o f the sugar.
This
also occurs when sugar is stored for
any length o f time, especially at high
temperature, ns In refineries, where
some is melted up at once and the re
mainder Is held In storage for varying ‘
periods, as dictated by business needs. * 1
Can Be Prevented.
Having identified the injurious mi
cro-organisms, Doctor and Mrs. K o
pelofT developed a method by which
the quality o f u given sugar might be
determined In this res|>eet. By simply
consulting n chart after a preliminary
analysis, one may now find out wheth
er or not a given sugar will deterio
rate or lose its sweetness in storage.
The sugars which are unsafe to keep
may be melted up first, the sounder
sugars being held in storage with
safety.
Doctor and Mrs. Kopeloff, by mak-
lng bacteriological examinations at ev
ery stage o f the sugar-nmklng proc
ess, have found that sugar deteriora
tion can be prevented by substituting
dry or super heated steam for water
In the final process of washing sugar
in the drums in which sugnr is dried.
These centrifugals, as they nre called,
In their whirling suck up air from the
floor which may be contaminated with
germs. Also, it is common practice to
make the color o f the sugar lighter
by washing the crystals with water,
which may be contaminated with
molds and bacteria.
In the new process, it is shown that
dry steam Is successful In killing over
99 per cent of these avid molds and
bacteria.
W hile the practice of steaming su
gars is not a new one, the results nre
shown to have a direct practical value
In eliminating losses which have been
a considerable factor in the American
bill for sweets.
Monster Locomotive in Perilous Plight
He Wouldn’t Stop
Work for Wedding.
i
j
j
I
Detroit.— Devotion
to
duty
prevented Nicholas Alexander,
cook, from taking an hour off to
get married.
His fiancee, Isabelle M. Sahay-
caw, applied at the county
clerk's office for a marriage li
cense and, in response to the
clerk's question as to why the
bridegroom-to-be had not come,
site said Nicholus was too busy.
She said further that they had
agreed to marry a year ago, but
they had a quurrel and Nicho
las tore up the license he had
taken out.
A fter long and mature delib
eration Isabelle came to the con
clusion that she had been wrong
and that if she did not admit it
she ran a good chuuce o f losing
Nicholas forever.
She went to him In a penitent
mood and found him receptive,
but on one point he was ada-
mant. He would not leave his
work for a minute to get mar
ried, and if she wanted to be
come I.ls w ife she had to take
out the murrlnge license, engage
a minister and bring him to the
kitchen where the ceremony was
to be performed.
They were
married.
Rooster Just Like Mother.
Winsted, Conn.— A yearling Rhode
Island Red rooster owned by Elmer
Robbins is brooding a number o f
chickens that weigh from one and a
half to two pounds each. The young
rooster also fills a mother’s role by
calling the chicks when he uncovers
worms. At night the chickens huddle
beneath his wings.
H H »
The collapse of a bridge near Greencastle, lud., from under a battleship type o f locomotive developed an un
usual problem for the wrecking crew. The bridge had Just been built and had been approved by engineers but the
locomotive hud hurdly brought Its full weight on It before It snnk with a roar and a crush, the center fulling 25 feet
to the ground, leaving the locomotive suspended with the trout wheels on the bustlous of one side of the bridge and
the rear wheels on the other.
GET RICH QUICK
IS OLDEST BAIT
So, too. In the latter part of the
last century, when tlie Klondike ties
came a word o f magic. Just as in the
days o f ’49, there was a wild rush for
gold, the prospectors being, In tlie
main, men who were doomed to fail
ure, although hundreds of them won
from the frozen rocks nnd river beds
the fortunes upon which not a few
Story of Romance, Hardship and Vio American families base their ability
to purchase a new seven passenger
lence, of Adventure, Despair and
car every year.
Gullibility, With Sudden Trips
One of tlie oldest and the most per
Abroad Made by Promoters.
sistently attractive lures o f golden
affluence thnt awaits the fortunate Is
Boston.— Ever since the beginning of the mythical buried treasure o f Capt.
things men have been trying In one Kidd, the pirate, fam iliar to every
fashion or another to achieve their schoolboy and to the schoolboys o f
fortunes over night, to recover the Boston In particular.
Midas touch of the fabulist, to “ get
B'or tlie two centuries or more that
rich quick.”
Iinve elapsed since Kidd swung at the
Sometimes they have succeeded. gibbet in Execution Dock, England,
Sometimes they have nurtured tlielr expeditions have been continuously
hopes only to come back to hard re gotten up with the purpose of finding
ality with a hard bump. Sometimes I ills burled booty. All thnt has been
in their haste they have been swindled. I recovered to date has been about
From the days o f the sailing of | $90,000, most o f which was found at
Jason upon his long quest of the one end o f Gardner’s island. The nu
Golden Fleece, from the times of the merous search purtles, according to
alchemists o f the middle ages, who some estimates, hnve spent a total of
puttered out their lives among dusty ubout $700,000 In tlie effort.
tomes, seeking with tired but hopeful
To Pay 96 Per Cent a Year.
eyes fo r the key to the enigma of sud
Along with the popular quests for
den wealth— the touchstone which “ gold In the raw,” or in hidden caches,
should transmute lead to gold— to the there hnve also been scores o f clever
days o f mushroom fortunes In "inter schemes for enriching people through
national reply coupons,” isn’t such a marvelous
“ new”
discoveries
and
fa r cry a fter all, James H. Powers through manipulation. Massachusetts
Writes In tlie Boston Globe.
lias hud Its full share o f such ven
It is a story of romance and hard tures In the last half century, and
ship and violence, of adventure and Boston has been the center of the ac
despair and sometimes absurd gulli tivities o f not a few.
bility and sudden trips abroad made
More than forty years ago, for In
by promoters with gripsacks stuffed stance,
there
was
the
notorious
“ Ladles’ Deposit,” conducted by Mrs.
with cash.
Sarah E. Howe at 2 East Brookline
Mad Rush for Gold.
In America the story really begins street. Mrs. Howe hud a sensational
with the mnd rush across the prairies enreer In giving people "something fo r
and The mountains In '49 to the gold nothing.”
fields o f California. There had been
The “ Lndles’ Deposit” wns nn Insti
other “ gold hunts” before this, but tution based upon her statement that
none o f them developed such a nation she wns the agent o f a legney amount
al fever as resulted from the announce ing to more than $1,500,(KM), which was
ment o f this discovery of nuggets left by a Quaker who wanted to be a
“ weighing as much ns half a pound benefactor o f “ widows and single
nplece,” thnt percolated through the women only.”
With this money she wns supposed
East and started thnt famous uproar.
Enthusiasm rose to unbelievable to establish n foundation In Boston
heights. Families stnrted out from which paid such women, whose in
Massachusetts, New York and other comes were Inadequate to permit them
eastern sencoast states without even to live In comfort, 90 per cent a year
bothering to sell their houses.
By on deposits made at the “ Ladies’ De
horseback, fnrm wagon and by ship posit.” Mrs. Howe was no parsimoni
tlie migration got under way. Parties ous person. She paid interest three
o f prospective millionaires chartered months In ndvnnce.
schooners and sailed all the way
Three Years In Jail.
around the Horn in their excitement.
Mrs. Howe Is described ns being
And upon the retina of the Inner “ short, fat, ugly looking nnd Inde
eye of every one persisted the dream scribably vulgar.” She co#ldn’t write
picture o f "marble halls,” dnd n grammatically and this was one o f the
“ span,” and the imagined luxury of onuses o f her downfall In Boston, for
doing nothing In particular, while her Inek o f culture aroused the sus
obedient luckeys hovered about for picion of the authorities at last and
ever nfter, like the genii o f Aladdin's they began on Investigation which
landed her In Jail.
lamp, awaiting orders.
Then It came out In the court trial
The California gold rush enriched
thousands, though at the price o f vast that Mrs. Howe's "Quaker" was n day
hardship and sacrifice. Thousands of drenm and despite the fnct thnt during
others It ruined, when they became the last days of “ Ladles’ Deposit,”
stranded In a wilderness, 5,000 miles when tlie run started, she paid out
from settled civilization, on their Ill- between $75,000 nnd $100.000 In one
fated claims. Tlie best thing about day, the Investigators found that her
it wasn't tlie wealth it produced at insolvency amounted to $200,o*K), with
all, tint tlie fact that It began the the “ bank” and some cheap furniture
definite expansion o f the United profusely covered with gilt ns assets.
Mrs. Howe Insisted to tlie last thnt
States.
she wns merely a salaried agent, re
Capt. Kidd and the Klondike.
"Something for nothing,”
ninny ceiving $120 a year for her work from
years later, drew thousands more the “ Quaker organization,” hut that
Americans down In tlie Oklahoma ter dl<l not keep her from serving three
ritory
when
tlie government an years In Jail. Boston wns in an up
nounced that It would permit home roar during the whole proceeding and
of
fascinated
hopefuls
steads to he "rushed” on a certain hundreds
dnte.
A ll the man who wanted to thronged the Institution during the
become a property holder had to do week before the crash.
Received Secret in a Vision.
wns to he on hand when the signal
Then there was the masterpiece of
was given.
Government officials lined off the nil strokes o f tlie Imagination, the
start, as If It were a 440 yard dnsh of Rev. I ’. F. Jernegan's scheme for get
today. Fences were built and every ting gold out o f sea water. As a “ get
claimant had to be behind the bulwark rich quick” scheme this Is yet unsur
ready. Then, at n given signal, down passed— both from tlie romantic aspect
went the harriers and tlie swarm of o f the undertaking and In the sheer
fortune hunters piled Into the plains, audacity with which It was worked
pellmell, to stake their claims and be out.
Mr. Jernogan wns a former Baptist
gin their new careers, and be happy
minister, a graduate o f Brown uni-
ever after.
Hope of Getting Something for
Nothing Springs Eternal in
Human Breast.
RADIO GUIDES
MANY
SHIPS IN FOG
Finders of Naval Stations On
Shore Give Angle, Mathe
matics Does Rest.
WAR NECESSITY MOTHERED IT
Navigator Who Wishes to Know His
Latitude and Longitude Sends Out
Wireless Message and Listen,
lng Stations Give Bearings.
New York.— Fogs, clouds and storms
are losing their terrors for naval men.
In the not very distant past n ship
that could navigate when the sun was
hidden became the subject of wild sea
faring tales, but the radio direction
finder has eliminated many o f the per
ils due to the absence o f the sun. To
day a navigator who wishes to know
his latitude and longitude has only to
send the follow ing wireless message:
“ This is the (ship’s name). Where am
I?” And the data supplied by the
various listening stations w ill give him
his bearings. The wireless direction
finder Is not n new device— finders
were patented as long ago ns 1907—
but war developments have empha
sized the value o f the Instrument for
general navigation, says a writer in
the New York Evening Post.
It consists o f a loop of wire at
tached to receiving machines. When
messages nre being received the waves
set up a current in the two sides o f the
loop. I f the waves strike both sides
of the coil equally there L no differ
ence in voltage. But when the waves
strike the coll In such a manner that
there is n difference in voltage be
tween the two sides o f the coil the re
ceiving machines indicate the extent
of this difference. By making mathe
matical calculations based on this d if
ference It is possible 'O determine the
direction o f the ship which Is sending
Heard Wireless Phone Talk in Europe
in relation to the port which is re
ceiving.
In order to locate the ship’s posi
tion exactly the data from at least
two receiving stations must be com
pared and it Is desirable thnt another
station send its dnta to check the ac
curacy o f the finding.
W ar Necessity Mothered It.
Especial attention was paid to the
development o f the radio direction
finder during the war when many fight
ing ships found that fog wus almost
on a par with submarines ns a naval
menace.
Experts thereupon experi
mented to discover a certain method
of giving n ship her “ reckoning” when
the sun was obscured’ The radio di
rection finder In its most modern form
was the result. It is now proving its
great usefulness in time o f peace.
"Merchantmen nre constantly using
our stations to find out where they
nre,” snid a naval officer. “ I should
say that for one warship that calls for
its bearings there are ten privately
owned vessels. Our radio direction-
finding stations nre really becoming
public service Institutions.”
The navy has erected and is operat
ing stations at the entrance o f nlmost
all o f the large commercial ports In
the country. There are several sta
tions near New York harbor, Including
Montauk Point, Fire Island, Sandy
Hook and Far Rockaway. On clear
days the men on duty at these posts
have more or less o f “ sinecures,” but
on a foggy day they are constantly at
work directing ships which have gone
astray.
All (he listening stations
transmit their information to head
quarters and headquarters tells the
skipper where he is.
Some elderly naval men were skep
tical about the radio direction finder
when the nnvy department first Intro
duced tlie device, hut one experience
with the instrument usually suffices
to convince them o f Its worth. Re
cently a new destroyer left Norfolk,
Va., bound for Newport, R. I.— ordi
narily no great feat o f navigation.
However, the compass was new and
untried, and the captain and the navi
gating officer prayed for clear weather.
It Beats an Erratic Compass.
Despite their prayers they ran into
a heavy fog. and from the time they
left Cape Henry until they sighted
the reef lightship at the entrance to
Newport they could see nothing. N ev
ertheless. the run was made without
mishap, owing to the directions sent
out by the finding stations, and on
landing the officers, who had been
skeptical, were converts. It was dis
covered Inter thnt the magnetic com
pass, by which they would have steered
under the old methods might ha\e
brought them to grief, fo r It showed
an error o f more than ten degrees.
“ W e are handicapped In extending
this work,” remarked the naval officer,
"by lack o f personnel. In fact, we’ve
been compelled to close up one or two
stations recently owing to n shortage
o f men. But eventually we hope to
have a station n< prnctlcally every
moderately large port— and that I
think, will cause making port In fogs
to be considered a very ordinary and
not at all dangerous achievement.”
Just Two Feet to Death.
Bowling Green, Ky.— T w o feet sep
arated Robert Fulton, oil well driller,
from death. His employers, a Cincin
nati concern, had given up hopes of
| striking oil and ordered abandonment
o f the “ dry” well. “ We'll go two feet
further,” Fulton said. At the second
This 1» the wireless telephone station on Signal Hill, SL Johns, N. F., I" foot oil was struck, and In the fire
which operators recently heard a wireless phone conversation that was being which followed Fulton was burned to
death.
carried on In Europe.
WILD SCHEMES TRIED
versity and o f tlie Newton Theological
seminary. A fter a few years In the
ministry his health broke down and he
went south to recover. It wns on the
way hack that “ the heavenly vision”
came to P. F. Jernegan, and the
“ Electrolytic Marine Salts company”
took shape In his brnln.
The “ heavenly vision,” according to
the claim o f Jernegan, showed htin a
marvelous way of getting “ something
for nothing” — of getting gold from the
water In the ocean by a secret process.
H e formed a company. He opened
offices In this city at 53 State street
and 235 Washington street. The "M a
rine Suits company” became a slogan
of amazement nnd wonder. Mr. Jerne-
gnn showed to the doubting Thomases
he met several thin metal plates upon
which there had been crystallized
small deposits of gold.
He suggested the wonderful secret
In his possession nnd spoke vaguely
o f the fabulous fortune that awaited
him. Financiers, men and women of
wealth, poor and prosperous— folks
thronged his offices to buy shares of
his stock.
There wus. he affirmed, about four
cents’ wortli o f gold In every ton of
sea water.
Now, Just think of it,
four cents’ worth In every ton I And
the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, A r c t ic -
all the oeenns In the world were to pay
tribute to his scheme, to mnke their
deposits o f gold In the pockets o f his
shareholders.
Mr. Jernegan estimated tlie possible
returns at 72.000.000,000 tons o f gold.
Boston went into a frenzy. All New
England went Into nnother frenzy. Mr.
Jernegan wont to New York, where he
deposited $08,000 with one of the larg
est snvings hanks there. Soon after
he made nnother inrge deposit. The
deposits were checks. A few days af
ter this he drew out $20.000 nnd then
$75,000 In hills. Then the bank told
him thnt they didn’t wnnt tils account.
n e told New Yorkers thnt he In
tended to Issue 2 500.000 slinres of
stock at $1 a shnre. Meanwhile, his
friend, one "Frank W. Thompson,”
took the money withdrawn from the
New York bank nnd between (hem tlie
pair bought $150,000 worth o f govern
ment bonds.
Machinery Never Came.
Meanwhile, ut North Lubec, Me., the
“ Marine Salts company” began opera
tions. A dam wns raised, and when
the tide receded It left water twenty
feet deep behind the dnm. This was
to lie flowed over the “ secret” ma
chine Invented by Mr. Jernegan, and
by a “ secret” process the metal plates,
called accumulators, were to gather the
gold from the sen.
More than CO0 workmen were hired,
nnd the buildings were begun. By this
time 2,400.000 shnres o f the stock had
been sold and the capital wns In the
hands o f the ex-clergyman who had
had the “ vision.”
T o work the plant nt Its proper ca
pacity, machinery, of course, was nec-
essury. Mr. Jernegan nnd Ills partner
hoarded a French liner for LcUavre,
France, to get the machinery. Mr.
Jernegnn took passage ns "Louis Sin
clair o f Chicago,” with "the necessary
funds” — thnt Is, nil o f them.
The dny after his departure gold
censed to crystnlllze on the plates of
thnt marvelous "secret” machine up In
Lubec, Me. Tlie company suspended
business nnd the 000 workmen on the
new buildings were out o f a Job.
The shareholders In “ Electrolytic
Marine Salts company” were without
their money, too. The gold crystals
on the plates had been “ planted.”
Iu spite o f efforts to bring nbout ex
tradition, Jernegan and his pal es
caped in France. T h e y later sent some
of their money back to clear up the
activities o f the company, but they did
not move hnck to Boston.
So the story runs, year after year.
The "Luck Box” is nn affair of only
yesterday. T o niuke one’s fortune
without an effort, to hope desperately
for “ good luck" In “ tnklng a chance.”
to find a silver mine or become heir to
a kingdom, to dig for Kidd's treasure
or to buy n machine which will turn
out crisp new bank notes in a legal
manner; above all, to avoid as much
work as possible in the whole affair,
has been a human trait ever since
Adam fared forth from Eden, where
he wns not bothered with such
dreams.