918 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The rapid growth in the demand for liquid fuels has more than 

 doubled the price of gasoline during the past five years, and the fuel 

 bill for a five-horse power engine, ten hours per day, has increased 

 from $100 to $150 yearly. If this advance is not checked by the intro- 

 duction of a satisfactory substitute, there is every reason to expect that 

 the fuel cost will increase even more rapidly in the future, and in 

 short time reach a point prohibitive to all but rich owners of automo- 

 bile and pleasure boats. 



It has been estimated that making alcohol available as fuel by 

 removing the tax would double the power uses in this country. This 

 would mean an aggregate increase in engines of over ten million horse 

 power, and if these were emploj^ed one-third of the time an addition 

 to the working force of the country of a thousand million horse power 

 hours. At one-tenth of a gallon per horse power this would require the 

 annual consumption of one hundred million gallons of alcohol. 



Probably in no state in the union have gasoline engines for farm uss 

 been introduced more rapidly in the past two years than in Iowa. The 

 average price paid by the Iowa farmer for gasoline in ten gallon lots 

 has been around 15 cents. This quantity entitles him to a better price 

 than that quoted him by the retailer. The very general use to which 

 gasoline engines are employed in the work about the farm has made 

 the item of fuel a most important one, for while a great saver of labor, 

 they can at the same time be made an expensive luxury. 



farmer's interest is twofold. 



The farmer's interest in alcohol and the movement for the removal 

 of the tax is therefore twofold. First, as the producer of raw material 

 from which it is distilled; and, second, through the possibilities of 

 cheaper power fuel and light which would be afforded them through 

 the adoption of the Boutel bill. Corn is the principal raw material 

 in this country from which alcohol is made. It can also be made from 

 other materials, such as potatoes, beets, unmarketable fruits, damaged 

 grain, etc. A large industrial consumption of alcohol would give the 

 farmers a sort of balance wheel, guaranteeing them a sure market for 

 their surplus and otherwise unsalable crops. Furthermore, the nature 

 of the fluid permits of its being kept for years if necessary, hence when 

 a large crop is raised which tended to create a surplus and depress 

 prices, the surplus could be easily converted into alcohol and stored to 

 prevent any marked reduction in prices in case of failure from short 

 crops the following year. 



The question has been raised as to whether extensive changes 

 would be necessary in the gasoline engines now in use on farms in 

 Iowa, in case alcohol should want to be used instead. This question 

 has been given careful consideration by the manufacturers of these 

 engines, and their reply is that the changes would be slight, if any 

 at all; in fact, gasoline engines have been operated experimentally with 

 wood alcohol and the engine made to perform every function intended 

 of it. The introduction, therefore, of a new liquid fuel in the form of 

 denaturized alcohol would not cause any interruption in the workings 



