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t 



this subject with the Senate subcommittee on agricultuire and forestry, 

 indicated that experiments had shown that it was possible to manufacture 

 a rubber substitute from corn and wheat. Both are plentiful — the wheat 

 supply is burdensome. The rubber substitute is made from butadeine, which 

 is produced from grain alcohol derived from starchy cereals including 

 corn and wheat • With an enormous supply of wheat in prospect, there 

 will be no shortage of material for this purpose. The bottleneck would 

 appear in the ability of manufacturers to convert wheat and corn into 

 alcohol* If the entire alcohol industry were converted to this use, 

 about 50 million bushels of wheat or corn v;ould be required to produce 

 200 million gallons of alcohol; this in turn could produce 200,000 tons 

 of butadeine, which would make about 2^0,000 tons of synthetic rubber* 

 As a price raising measure, the removal of 50 million bushels of grain 

 for this purpose would be of minor importance. On the other hand, the 

 addition of 2^0,000 tons of synthetic rubber to our supply would be 

 quite helpful. 



Fats and oils . Present prospects are that total appai-^ent dis- 

 appearance of primary fats and oils in 19^2, if unrestricted, will equal 

 or exceed the record disappearance of nearly 11 billion pounds in 19^1* 

 Disappearajice in the first quarter of 19^2 was slightly greater than in 

 the first quarter of 19^1 and was about equal to the average quarterly 

 disappearance for 19^1 as a whole. 



Production of fats and oils from domestic materials in 19^2 is 

 likely to be about 1 billiicn pounds greater than in 19^1* but imports of 

 fats, oils and oilseeds in terms of oil, which in recant years have 

 varied from 1*5 to 2.5 billion pounds annually, may be much smaller than 

 in 19^1. 



Disappearance of paint and varnish oils set a new high record 

 in 19^1* Requirements for such oils are expected to continue large this 



