No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 213 



plants whdre saw dust and other waste is often a nuisance (hey can 

 make from a ton of this waste from twenty to thirty gallons of 

 alcohol at from two to two and one-half cents a gallon for raw 

 material and a number of by-products such as turpentine, acetic 

 acid and have sixty per cent, of the saw dust remaining. 



In order to be certain that 1 was not misled, I wrote to the Stand- 

 ard Alcohol Company, 5U5 IJookery Lmilding, Chicago, and asked 

 them a number of (]restions to which 1 received the following reply: 



"Standard Alcohol Company, 



505 Kookery Building, 

 Chicago, 111., May 10, 11)10. 

 Dr. Franklin Menges, York, l*a.: 



Dear Sir: licplying to yours of May Tth, the writer is not pre- 

 pared to answer the chemical questions that you ask. Our chemist 

 is at present at Georgetown, S. C, where we are erecting a large 

 I»lant, but we are sending you to-day copy of the Scientific American 

 supplement, last issue, which contains a two page article by Dr. 

 l\uttan, which may be of service to you. 



Jn answer to your question as to why we do not get more than 

 twenty gallons of alcohol j)er ton, would state that Ave have obtained 

 thirty and thi]-ty-two galhms, but as it is a commercial proposi- 

 tion we do not wisii to overstate or over estimate the yield; so have 

 accepted twenty galbms for the present at least as the oasis of opera- 

 tion. When our plant is in full operation we will undoubtedly 

 learn more about yields. 



We have not ti-iod any of the other cellulose material commer- 

 cially, but have ex])erimented in the laboratory with those you name, 

 as well as peat and cotton, and see no reason why we should not get 

 the same results as we get from the wood cellulose. 



Nothing has been done anywhere in reference to promotion of 

 the business excepting in the United States. Other countries will 

 follow we expect, by this Summei", after we have our plant in George- 

 town, S. C, in oi)eration. We expect this will be started In a 

 couple of weeks. 



We have many in(]uir!cs from abroad from i)eople who wish to 

 become interested linancially but have held them otf pending the 

 operation of our plant, so that they can see exactly what the opera- 

 tion is before they go into it. *♦*«*• 



Yours very trulv, 

 STAXDAKl) ALCOHOL CO.MrANY. 



JOUN M. EWEN, 



President." 



Another source of j)ower, jind (me in which the State of Penn- 

 sylvania has advantages over any State in the Union, is that from 

 producer gas. This gas can be manufactured at the mouth of the 

 coal mine, conducted from there in ])ipe Une^ to the consumer or 

 converted into electric power and furnished in this shape for the 

 use of the manufacturer. Any one desiring anv further information 

 about this source of power development will find a very interesting 

 discussion in Bulletin No. 416, U. S. Geological Survey. It will be 

 noticed that this power is made on the farm or nearby. 



