264 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



any dealer can sell denatured alcohol. Apparently these permits cost 

 nothing beyond the trouble of getting them, the filling out of forms, 

 a few oaths, etc. Dealers must make monthly reports under oath of 

 purchase, sale and stock on hand. All premises and all books of dena- 

 tures and of all dealers in or users of denatured alcohol must be open 

 at all hours of the day and night to revenue agents and deputy col- 

 lectors. 



There is, of course, an equally elaborate system of safeguards cover- 

 ing the manufacture and use of partially denatured alcohol. If, in 

 the course of a manufacturing process alcohol is used as a solvent and 

 is recovered, it can not be redistilled except in the presence of a rev- 

 enue agent. An almost overwhelming number of application forms, 

 directions and prohibitions apply to this redistilling of recovered alco- 

 hol also. 



It does not seem too much to say that the present rules about ex- 

 plode all hopes that small factories can be established in rural districts 

 to convert an overproduction of potatoes, and the like, into fuel, a 

 source of light, or a readily transported and marketable product. It 

 does not seem too much to say that these rules inevitably throw the 

 new industry into the hands of established distilleries, i. e., into the 

 hands of the whiskey trust. 



A Standard Oil expert is quoted as reporting that denatured alco- 

 hol is not now in a position to rival petroleum products, but that it 

 is a very favorable product to control. It is, indeed, a favorable prod- 

 uct to control. Made by the growth of plants utilizing carbon dioxide 

 and water from the atmosphere, it contains nothing but carbon, hydro- 

 gen and oxygen. All the rest of the plant may be returned to the soil, 

 which thus is not impoverished. It is the best method known to us 

 to-day to store the sun's energy. By its means the rotation of the 

 seasons can be made to give an inexhaustible supply of light, power 

 and heat. Some way should be found to safeguard our precious rev- 

 enue, and at the same time to leave this valuable agent for the progress 

 of civilization as free as the air, sunshine and rain from which it is 

 made. 



