OTHER USES OF THE MAIZE CROP 787 



stated that alcohol, when burned in a suitable lamp, gives chap. 

 about twice as much light, with a consumption of only half XVIL 

 the quantity of liquid, as compared with paraffin. The 

 various forms in which alcohol is applied to industrial purposes 

 in Germany include : motor-cars, motor-boats, motors for 

 threshing, grinding, wood-cutting, ploughing, pumping, churn- 

 ing, and other agricultural purposes ; for house, shop, and 

 street lamps ; heating-stoves, cooking-stoves, heating laundry 

 irons, etc. In the United States the use of small engines and 

 motors on the farm, to replace expensive manual labour, is 

 rapidly increasing. In England, too, there has been a notice- 

 able increase within the last few years in the application of 

 these engines to agriculture. 



The principal drawback to the more extended use of this 

 fuel for mechanical purposes has been the fact that alcohol is 

 an important source of Government revenue in most civilized 

 countries, and Governments have been reluctant to run the 

 risk of losing any of this revenue. The excise duties were for 

 a long time so high as to practically prohibit the use of alcohol 

 for domestic purposes. The difficulty which faced the Govern- 

 ment was to provide that, if the prohibitive duty were removed 

 in the case of alcohol used for industrial purposes, the latter 

 should not be used as a beverage without paying full duty. 

 Germany and the United States overcame the difficulty by 

 enacting legislation which provided that alcohol which had 

 been de-natured, i.e. mixed with a certain proportion of de- 

 naturing materials sufficient to prevent its use as a beverage, 

 should not be taxed. The passage of the United States Act 



"was alcohol's new day, and is destined to have a wide 

 influence upon the agricultural pursuits of the country. In 

 the matter of small engines and motors alone, one estimate 

 places the farm use of these at three hundred thousand, with 

 an annual increase of one hundred thousand. This means an 

 economical displacing of horse and muscular work almost 

 beyond comprehension. If now the farmer can make from 

 surplus or cheaply grown crops the very alcohol which is to 

 furnish the cheaper fuel for his motors, he is placed in a still 

 more independent and commanding position in the industrial 

 race. . The wisdom of the German system, established by 



the law of 1887, has long ceased to be a question of debate. 



Si* 



