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tion has been quite the reverse. The supply of corn is not within our control. We 

 have accomplished uniformity in our feeds so far as protein, fat, and the other ingre- 

 dients are concerned, and so far as the physical condition of the feed is involved, but 

 we can not reach the same degree of uniformity as regards color so long as the selection 

 of the corn is not within -our power. Gluten feed obtained exclusively from yellow 

 corn has a beautiful yellow color, whereas feed made from white corn has an unin- 

 viting grayish color, so that, depending upon the amount of yellow and white corn 

 going through, the process, the color of the resultant feed may vary from a golden 

 yellow through all the hues down to a grayish white. You will recognize the diffi- 

 culties connected with the marketing of a product which to-day may run yellow and 

 a week from now white. Speaking from my own experience, this point was brought 

 home to me very forcibly in 1904, when the white variety of corn predominated in 

 our corn supply. The feed produced from such corn was uninviting in appearance. 

 In a very short time dealers, particularly in the Eastern States, began to complain, 

 stating that they were not receiving the old standard gluten feed which they had 

 been familiar with for a long period of years. Our assurance that the feed was the same, 

 that the amount of proteid matter was the same, that the feed value was the same, 

 and that the feed was up to standard in every particular, except color, did not avail, 

 and we were not only threatened with, but actually suffered, a considerable loss of 

 business. We advised the trade fully of the existing conditions, emphasis being laid 

 upon the fact that the color should not be the determining factor in fixing the intrinsic 

 or commercial value of the feed. Feeders, however, refused to accept such expla- 

 nations. It seemed impossible to convince them that a brand of feed, yellow one 

 day and white the next, could have been made by the same methods and be the 

 same feed in fact. 



As a solution of this difficulty, it was suggested that wherever the feed ran "short," 

 so far as color was concerned, that the feed be standardized by the addition of the 

 requisite amount of artificial color, preference being given to naphthol yellow-S. 

 The feeder readily accepted this changed condition. Although informed that the 

 feed is artificially colored, he prefers to buy it that way. It is plain from the above 

 that the manufacturer is not acting from choice when adding color to his feed, but 

 he is forced to do so by a popular demand. The practice of standardizing the color 

 of gluten feed is no different than that practiced by the farmer in coloring butter. 

 June butter is his standard, and in adding color to the butter he aims at matching the 

 natural color of June butter, because the consumer likes that particular color best. 

 Thus the feed obtained exclusively from yellow corn is the standard for color, and 

 when a factory receives only two-thirds or less of its supply in the form of yellow 

 corn, sufficient coloring matter is added to match the feed obtained exclusively from 

 yellow corn. It thus happens that at one of our factories, located in southern Illinois, 

 we do not add at this time a grain of color to the feed, whereas in another factory, 

 located in Iowa, color is added in approximately the same proportions as in the 

 case of colored confectionery. In other words, the practice of standardizing the color 

 of the feed is not a regular practice, but depends from day to day entirely upon the 

 character of the corn supply. 



As a matter of chemical interest I would like to call attention to the rapidity with 

 which the gluten of the corn combines with azo colors, such as naphthol yellow-S, 

 forming an insoluble lake. This combination is effected without the use of any mor- 

 dant, acids, or similar agents and tends to prove the acid character of some of the pro- 

 teid compounds. 



