THE CUBA REVIEW 



23 



COMMERCIAL MATTERS 



DENATURED ALCOHOL AS A MOTOR FUEL — SOYA BEAN OIL FOR PAINT 



— Cuba's march trade with the united states 



Alcohol as a Source of Power 

 Alcohol can be used as a motor fuel for 

 all purposes for which gasolene is at pres- 

 ent employed, and exhaustive tests made 

 by the United States Government have 

 demonstrated that any gasolene or kerosene 

 engine of ordinary type can with proper 

 iranipulation operate with alcohol without 

 material change in its construction. The 

 engine will give sb'ghtly more power 

 (about 10 per cent.) when alcohol is used, 

 but this increase is at the expense of great- 

 er consumption of fuel. Experiments of 

 the United States Geological Survey have 

 shown that when denatured alcohol is em- 

 ployed the lowest fuel consumption is ob- 

 tained with the highest practical degree of 

 compression (11.6 to 13.7 kilograms per 

 square centimeter), but since the vaporiza- 

 tion temperature of alcohol is higher than 

 that of gasolene a modified combustion 

 chamber and carburetor is to be preferred. 

 Some gasoline engines are not sufficiently 

 heavy to stand the desired explosion pres- 

 sure when alcohol is used and therefore a 

 machine especially designed for alcohol is 

 preferable to one planned to operate with 

 gasolene or kerosene. 



The effect upon motors, lamps, etc., of 

 using denatured alcohol has been discussed 

 and deterioration has usually been attribut- 

 ed to the denaturant, but this may all be 

 remedied in the future. It was_ found that 

 the interior of an alcohol engine had no 

 tendency to become sooty as is the case 

 with gasolene and kerosene, and there was 

 no undue corrosion due to the use of al- 

 cohol. — From the Philippine Journal of 

 Science. 



Trade with Cuba for March 



De'tails of the trade of the United States 

 with Cuba for the month of March and 

 nine months ending i^Tarch 31st, compiled 

 by the United States Department of Com- 

 merce and Labor, compare as follows : 

 1910 1909 



March Imports from Cuba..$17,317,595 $13,116,264 



]\ine Months' Imports 74,209,154 53,804,730 



March Exports to Cuba 4,714,353 3,960,525 



Nine Months' Exports 39,930,122 32,858,031 



President Gomez proposes to increase 

 the import duties among other products, 

 on shoes, paper, vermicelli, soap, essences, 

 crackers, chocolate, bottles, tiles and laces. 

 - — New York Sun. 



Soya Bean Oil in Paint Making 



The Neiv York Oil, Paint and Drug Re- 

 porter prints an interesting article on the 

 possible uses of soya bean oil which it 

 thinks may prove of value where its use 

 at present seems most unlikely. The oil 

 is similar to, and can be used largely in 

 place of, the more expensive cottonseed 

 oil in soap making and may perhaps re- 

 place linseed oil. In view of the high price 

 of the latter, now and prospective, paint 

 manufacturers and chemists are studying 

 the soya bean with much interest. Recent 

 chemical tests of soya bean oil and pure 

 raw linseed oil showed the following re- 

 sults : 



Iodine number of the linseed oil 189 



Iodine number of average samples of 



soya bean oil ■ • • 130 



Saponification value of the linseed oil.. 194 

 Saponification value of the crude bean 



oil 188 



Temporary Admission of Automobiles 



U. S. Minister John B. Jackson sends an 

 abstract of the Cuban treasury circular, 

 dated April 5, 1910, by virtue of which 

 tourists may enter free of duty (under 

 paragraph 330 of the customs tariff) but 

 subject to deposit, automobiles used by 

 them abroad prior to the date of importa- 

 tion. A deposit equal to double the duty 

 that would apply under paragraph 227 of 

 the tariff (25 per cent, ad valorem when 

 imported from the United States and 31% 

 per cent, from other countries) is required, 

 but is refunded when the car is reexported. 

 Reexportation is required within 30 days 

 unless the period is extended by the Treas- 

 ury Department -loon application. The 

 owner is restrained from using the auto- 

 mobile so entered for purposes of gain. 



It is understood that the railroad line 

 connecting the sugar mill Ofia and Cala- 

 bazar de Sagua was opened May lst_ for 

 the public, due to the efforts of the Diario 

 Espafiol and the Chamber of Commerce 

 of Sagua la Grande. 



The Hormiguero Central Co. of Cuba an- 

 nounced April 28th that coupon No. 39, 

 due May, on its first mortgage 8 per cent, 

 gold bonds would be paid on presentation 

 at the office of the company at 69 Wall 

 Street, New York, 



