THE SUJiDAY OREOOJVIAJV, rOKTLAAU, mJLKUU. i, ivJ&.
ill Teach Far
TTTT
M
OW 10
M
emu
A
coM
( A v
WW li . 1 WKSK
. V r &
.- - S S - . "V .-.
: Uncle SanTto Erect a Model Still atWashingtbnTand
?. ' Manufacture iTHis New.Fuel and.Dluminant
Three Months' Course in Distillation and Fermentation
JYiU.Be GiventoStudentsFreejDfJClnarge
4
3
rr.
IT
si If i
1
s V !
BY JOHN ELFRETH "W ATKINS.
TO start the new 'denatured alcohol"
ball a-rolllng throughout the land.
Dr. H. W. Wiley, the father of the
pure-food law, is going to do some moon
Hhinlng here In the capital of the Nation,
lie told me yesterday that he will at once
commence the construction of a model
till, of the kind which the farmer should
use on his own premises, and that from
this plant he will diffuse among his fel-low-cltisens
knowledge In the "art of
fermentation and distillation."
The revenue officials have been 'asked
by Secretary Wilson to grant immunity
to the jovial and witty chief of the bu
reau of chemistry. This they did onca
before when Dr. Wiley did a little scien
tific maonshinlng out .West. Were the
formality of axklng lor this" "immunity
Dath" overlooked by the Secretary, Dr.
Wiley would be liable to a raid, with
rnnsiderable gun play on the side and a
Inn term in the penitentiary, during
which he would have abundant opportun
ity of studying the adulteration and nu
tritive value of bean soup and shark
Hew.'
Waste potatoes, green corn that has
souroil or become too hard to sell;
(polled cantaloupes, watermelons and oth
er old fruits which have commenced to
decay will.be purchased by Dr. Wiley in
the Washington markets and converted
Into the new commercial alcohol from
which the government by recent legisla
tion removes the revenue tax, provided
that It be made repulsive to the human
ense organs nt taste and smelL
The still will be a model for the Ameri
can farmer who wishes to learn how to
manufacture this new fuel and llltiminant
from wate products of the field, or
chard aud vineyard. .It will have the ca
j'acity to distill 100 gallons of the new
spirit in eight hours. It will cost Dr.
Wiley $4000, but he estimates that as soon
as the manufacturers see the coming de
ftnand for such small stills they will put
Ithem on the market for S1000 or less. The
cost of the first still of the kind will
(naturally be high, since entirely new pat
terns have to be made.
To Teach Classes From Each State.
Classes of young men will be detailed
to Dr. Wiley's still from the agricultural
colleges and agricultural experiment sta
tions of the states. There will be room
for 50 of these student distillers, one
from each state and territory.
Each will be given about a three
months' course in fermentation and dis
tillation. Dr. Wiley told me. Post-graduate
students at the agricultural colleges
will be preferred. Each having taken the
course at the still, will go back to his
state college or experiment station and b
fully qualified to erect and operate such
a model plant for the education of the.
farmers of the state. Within the next
few years there will thus be distributed
among the states hundreds of young men
educated to Introduce or conduct distil
leries for commercial alcohol.
Dr. Wiley's still will be built as near
to the bureau of chemistry as he can
rent the necessary building or shed. Per
haps it will be erected on the Department
of 'Agriculture's experimental farm over
at Arlington, Va., across the Potomac.
"Why haven't the farmers awakened to
the advantage of denatured alcohol be
fore this?" I asked Dr. Wiley.
"First, because they have no knowledge
whatever of distillation; second, because
no one here manufactures the small
stills, which will be necessary for the suc
cessful manufacture of commercial alco
hol on the farm. When I was abroad 1
saw many of these small stills. In
France there are 27,000 little ones, called
'boilers of the crop. They are used
mostly in wine making there. . Almost
'every little French vineyard has its small
still.
"'Our farmers haven't any idea as to
what fermentation or distillation means.
'We have recently had inquiries from
some of them as to whether they can
make commercial alcohol out of pea
vines and such impossible waste material.
They have to be taught that this new
fuel and illuminant can be profitably
rmade only from materials containing
large proportions of sugar and starch.
They must learn, also, how the starch
can best be converted into sugar and
the sugar Into alcohol. But this knowl
edge cannot be diffused except through
Corps of instructors, technically trained.
Take 500 American farmers and put them
down In the vineyards of Bordeaux and
tell them to go ahead and make wine.
What kind of stuff do you think they
would turn out?"
"Have the big distillers commenced yet
to make denatured alcohol?"
"A great deal of it is now being distilled
at Peoria and Terre Haute. -K sells for
40 cents a gallon. The farmer with his
small still cannot manufacture it to sell
cheaper than this if he uses, marketable
corn, potatoes or beets. But to him the
product of his little distillery will be a
pure gain If he can learn to use materials
that would otherwise go to waste, and If
he utilizes the farm labor which he would
have to pay anyhow for other purposes.
Can I'se Cornstalks and Spoiled
Grain.
"Grain freezes by the hundreds of thou
sands of bushels each year in Montana
and North Dakota alone. It doesn't pay
to transport it to the big distilleries. All
of this spoiled grain can be converted,
into commercial alcohol on the spot and
the waste, or what the distillers sell as
brewers' grains, will still be left as a cat-
builder as the whole grain was itself, al
though not so efficient as a fatte'ner."
. That cornstalks as a source of alcohol
supply should be started by our agricul
tural experiment stations was pointed out
by Dr. Wiley. Untold tons of sugar an
nually, go to waste on the cornstalks of
our farms the stalks of sweet corn, . field
corn and sorghum. Everywhere cornstalks
are cured for fodder the sugars ferment
and are lost before the cattle are fed
with this waste material of the fields.
Inventors who can overcome the techni
cal difficulties of cheaply extracting this
sugar from the stalk will, Dr. Wiley said,
give the country's future commercial al
cohol stills an almost inexhaustible source
of raw material. Stalks of sweet corn,
field com and sorghum contain in addi
tion to sugar, notable quantities of starch
and gum which would be converted Into
sugar at the distilleries. No other source
of raw materials for free alcohol Is so
abundant as these stalks, the doctor esti
mated. The only question is how can this
material be cheaply extracted.
Our farmers' small stills, built after Dr.
Wiley's model plant, will come under a
new- class of industrial distilleries pro
vided for in an amendment which Con
gress last year made to the original "free
alcohol law." In these stills only Indus
trial alcohol may be produced, and the
daily output must not be over 100 proof
gallons the capacity of Dr. Wiley's pro
jected plant. The bureau of Internal rev
enue has made regulations which will re
lieve this class of small Industrial stills of
the many restrictions placed on the large
distilleries. Any material may be used,
and the still may be of any size, provided
not over 100 "proof gallons" are produced
per day. But, of course, the smallest still
that can manufacture this maximum out
put will be the cheapest for the farmer.
Each such still must be registered, plans
of the premises must be filed with the
revenue bureau, a bond must be given
and the distillery must then be "sur
veyed" by a Government official. After
this Is done the farmeidistlller may con
trol - his own operations almost entirely,
merely notifying the revenue collector of
his district as to when work is to begin.
How Farmers Will Denature Alcohol
The farmer can have the "denaturing"
of his alcohol done. In any quantity, on
his own premises, or It can be sent to a
central denaturing bonded warehouse, and
there sold for denaturing purposes. If
denatured on the farmer's premises . it
must be so treated under the supervision
of the district storekeeper gauger. If
tie ood as good as a muscle and bone i shipped to the central warehouse that of-
ficial must draw it into the barrels in
which it ia to be shipped, and these roust
be stamped by him.
The chief difficulty to the farmer who
wishes to establish such a still will be
the restriction that his alcohol must be
distilled "180 proof. This will require
a certain kind of still and some special
knowledge of its operation-. Were there
not such restrictions the process' would
be as easy as moonshiningv in which the
most ignorant mountaineer easily be
comes proficient. A wooden or "pot still
will not answer the purpose, but a "col
umn still," preferably of the "continuous
type," will be necessary. It Is this lat
ter class of still whose description is too
technical for this article that Dr. Wiley
will erect for his demonstrations.
Alcohol Lamps and Stoves.
The bureau of chemistry has one of the
new alcohol lamps which will be seen in
many an American home in the not very
distant future. It looks like an ordinary
kerosene lamp with a Welsbach gas man
tel over the wick. What appears to be
the knob for turning the wick up and
down is the handle of a little pump which
is pressed down two or three times with
the thumb just before the lamp Is light
ed. This action brings a little of the al
cohol around the wick holder where it is
ignited by holding a match through an
opening at the side. The lamp burns
with a colorless flame for the first min
ute or half minute. ' Another match is
then applied to the top of the chimney,
Just as when a gas mantel is lighted. The
alcohol vapor ignites In the same man
ner as does the gas In the latter and soon
heats the mantel to a white heat. The
lamp then burns regularly, and with all
of the brilliance of a gas mantel, without
any further attention as long as any alco
hol remains In the bowl.
Alcohol stoves, such as are in gen
eral use in Germany, convert the alcohol
into a gas which Is ignited in burners.
They burn with-a pale blue flame which
is intensely hot and without smoke. If
there is any odor about them at all, Dr.
Wiley says. It Is an agreeable one. Al
cohol stoves- have been Invented also
for heating flatirons, soldering irons,
crimping irons and for roasting coffee.
It is quite certain that the use of al
cohol motors on the farm will become
quite common as soon as the technique
of construction is practically complete
and the price of alcohol is sufficiently
low," said Dr. Wiley. "Alcohol can be
used for all purposes for which gaso
line is employed the driving of
wagons, carriages, stationary motors,
water pumps, mowing machines, plow?,
etc. Very little change need be made
In the engine of a motor car, designed
to use gasoline, to fit it for the use of
alcohol. Gasoline becomes volatile
(evaporates rapidly) at a temperature
of blood heat (98 degrees F.), while
a much greater degree of heat (158 to
176 degrees F.) is necessary to vola
tilize alcohol rapidly enough for motor
purposes. This fact makes necessary
a change in the explosion chamber of
the engine when alcohol Is to be used.
This adjustment is especially impor
tant in the starting of the machine, as
after it is in action the temperature of
combustion is quite sufficient to easily
produce the necessary gasification. The
vapor of alcohol can be more highly
compressed at any given temperature
without exploding than can the vapor
of gasoline." '
Alcohol Wagon Trains.
The Germans use small alcohol mo
tors for driving plows, mowing, reap
ing and binding machines; also for
chopping and grinding cattle food ana
pumping water. They have developea
also many kinds of alcohol automo
biles, motor boats and traction en
gines. The German army uses alcohol trac
tion engines to draw artillery and
trains of heavy military wagons for
transporting all sorts of supplies.
These alcohol wagon trains pull over
the mountain roads and even ford
streams. Some of them are drawn by
detached traction engines, such as
those run by steam on the farms of this
country. Others are heavy automo
biles with truck bodies on their own
frames, and yet with trains of trans
port wagons hitched on the rear.
Washington. D. C, February 24.
KB
"i
JT YOU wanter sneeze, w'y don't
you sneeie?" .said the house detec
tive of the Hotel St. Reckless to
the hotol clerk, "you make m nervous
standjji' there with your face all puckered
tip."
"I know," said the hotel clerk. "You
see me as I am now. with my nose look
ing as If she was about to jibe and cAnie
about, and you dope it out that I've
got one bf those double -seated, self-feeding,
runabout colds-ln-the-head that have
bren so juetly popular the past Winter.
But not so, ljarry; not so. If I was to
sneeze at this writing. It would lack
practically all .of the scenic effects which
are required to make a success of a
sncese. It wouldn't be one of those
realistic sneezes such as you'd find in a
Hflasco production. The trouble with me
is. Larry, I've got the scent of punk
sticks up my notriLs."
"I'm plenty wise to that punk stick
thing,' said the house detective. "A
punk stick is somethin' that bums lxe
a way-statiou cigar, and smells like a
dt fpctive flue in a Chinese laundry, ain't
n?"
"The late Noah Webster couldn't have
expressed U more neatly, and Noah was
the unabridged Kid," said the hotel clerk.
"A punk stick is all that you have
called it. and then same. My nose thinks
somebody's been burning rags back of
my tonsils."
tiuichln' off punk slicks?" inquired the
house detective. "I thought noboby but
strangers in town ever went to them
Bjjiony Joss-housea down In Chlnytown:"
"I've been to a studio tea," explained
the hotel clerk.
"A studio which?" akcd the house de
tective. v
"A studio tea," repeated the hotel clerk.
"I've been circulating, larry, among the
real Byhcujiuruj IU kind that coqie from
away up on the head waters of Bohemia
Creek. Yessir, I've been to an intellectual
orgy of those devilish artistic souls, our
care-free literary giants who think so
much of local color that they wear it in
their collars. It's a great game."
"How'd you butt in?" said the house
detective.
"I was Invited," said the Hotel Clerk.
"This hotel is the home of so many
bookmakers and others who follow a
literary life that I suppose they
thought that I belonged. So I got an
Invitation written out in red chalk on
a piece of plank. Everybody at the tea
said it was one of the most artistic and
Bohemian idea that was ever thought
up.
"It certainly was a lovely affair. It
was up seven flights of stairs in a real
studio. A real studio, Larry, is an at
tic that has a skylight in it. instead of
windows. No true Bohemian will live
In an attic that has. common debasing
windows in it. It would lower him in
the estimation of the whole Bohemian
profession.
"At the door I was ushered in by a
real Kast Indian, belonging to one of "the
most prominent Afro-American families
In Taxoo City, Miss. This quaint East
ern figure was all dressed up like a sore
thumb In a turban about the size of a
washtub and somebody's nightshirt, with
a crimson sash about the waist. I had
a cup of genuine Russian tea that tasted
like a throat gargle, and a slice of rye
bread that appeared to be suffering from
a mild outbreak of blackheads on the
Inner side. That's what I thought was
the matter with it at first, but latr I
found out It was a caviar sandwich.
There was also a most fascinating Ori
ental coiy corner a crippled sofa, a
Chinese back-scratcher and two paper
fans tacked to the wall and a set of those
spaghetti Italian portieres. Over all was
the haunting odor of many punk-sticks.
all burning at once. They had the smell
of camphor-ball beaten to a fringe. I'll
bet you there's not a live moth left in
that studio, Larry.''
vt'ho wuz there?" asked the House
Detective. "Anybody I know?"
"No, I guess not," said the Hotel Clerk.
"But there was a large attendance of
leaders of the inner literary set. The
punchbowl was presided over by a tall,
willowy young enu who's going to break
into emotional drama some day when she
can catch "emotional drama with its
guard down. There - was a playwright
who wrote a play that Charley Frohman
almost accepted, and several novelists
who haven't been able to find a suitable
publisher yet, and just any number of
artists who patnt for art's sake alone. 4
"I met one dashing debonair Bohemian
who really gets his stuff into print. He
sends an article for the store where he
works every month to a cloak and ladies'
suiting journal. Tet for all that h6 was
not unduly proud, but mingled freely
with the other guests, - dropping, here an
epigram, there a flake, of dandruff, and
here again an original saying that I
hadn't heard for years, and all right out
of his own head. .
"Oh, yes, and there was a talented
vocalist who stood up alongside the piano
and gave off a -large volume of sound.
Sometimes it seemed to me he was imi
tating a coon dog on a warm trail, and
sometimes he sounded like a trained seal
that's been cheated out of Its share of the
fish. But one oT the regular Bohemians
told me that he was singing a folk-song
In his native tongue. The regular Bo
hemian said It was great, but as for me,
the next time I'm going to have any of
that brand of tongue, I'd like for it to
be potted."
"I'll bet New York is the only town
in the country where they pull off fool
stunts like the one you've just been to,"
said the House Detective.
"By no .means," said the Hotel Clerk.
"It's a bum community indeed these
times that hasn't got a group of free,
un trammeled souls that love to assemble
at the house of some kindred spirit and
drink bottled beer and ask each other if
they've read 'Three Weeks' yet. All you
need for a starter is a queen-mother of
the local ostrich hrd who Is reliably re
ported to have smoked a cigarette nearly
all the way down and a rollicking young
assistant organist who wears long hair
and 4 an Elbert Hubbard npektie, and
you've got the start for a little Bohemian
circle right there.
'But in New York more people work
at the trade, and It pays better here than
anywhere else. It's a funny thing. Larry,
if a man works in a drugstore or a pie
foundry or any other mere sordid com
mercial establishment and acquires a
breath like a cellarette at night and a
subway entrance in the morning, and if
he begins to look as if he dressed up
while lying down, and if he forgets to
wash his neck, and if he neglects his
dandruff cure until his coat collar looks
like a Christmas card, we diagnose it as
a case of clandestine pickles and give
him the disciplinary hook. But if he once
almost had a poem printed In a magazine,
or if he's one of those coming play
wrights that missed his train, we know
he does these tilings because he's a genu
ine Bohemian, and we have him up to
dinner at the flat, and buy drinks for .
him, point him out to our friends as one
of those eccentric geniuses who refuses
to be bored by the sordid conversations
of society, when all the time he really
needs a bath.'
"Well, you can put down a small bet
that you won't never ketch me askin'
none of 'em up to my flat to dinner, or
nothin' else, and the money's as good as
won, said the House Detective.
"Don't be too severe, Larry," said the
Hotel Clerk. "The time may be near at
hand when we'll be owing a National
dpbt of gratitude to the Bohemians . of
our country.
"You've got to show me," said the
House Detective.
"I will." said the Hotel Clerk.' "I
don't know whether you've heard about
it or not. but there's going to be some
international boat races over in England
this year. In bygone years it has been
the custom to get together an American
crew of longshoremen and paper-hangers
and sardine fishermen and they'd go over
to England and they'd got in a rowing
shell and spit on their hands and start
in to rowing with the same abandon
which they'd employ in eating pie with
their knives, and there'd be nothing to it.
"So this year the representatives of
Perfidious Albumen, as the poet has so
graphically put it. promulgated a rule
that nobody could row in the Henley
races that ever worked for a living or
engaged in a vulgar trade or kept a
shop.
"So. I'm thinking. Larry, that we
might get together a crew of true Bo
hemians and enter 'em. They're eligible
under the new rules if anybody is. and
they ought to win from the Britishers
easy enough if"
When the German Emperor attends a
muMcal comedy he oftn compose two or
three original jokes, which are handfd from
the royal box to the leading comedian for
InterDolation.
4