Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1919. 
Modem  Paint  Vehicles. 
289 
the  men  who  understood  the  subject  and  supplying  them  with  the 
necessary  funds  for  educational  work  among  the  flax  growers." 
Incidentally,  it  is  just  such  intelligent  cooperation  as  this  that 
has  placed  the  United  States  far  ahead  of  all  other  nations  in  the 
scientific  and  modern  development  of  its  painting  and  decorating 
industries.  The  presence  of  some  of  us  here  today  is  another  evi- 
dence of  that  close  and  friendly  cooperation,  which  like  intelligent 
competition,  is  the  "  life  of  trade.'' 
Before  the  Flax  Development  Committee  began  its  work,  the 
belief  was  prevalent  among  the  farmers  of  the  Northwest  that  soil 
on  which  flax  had  once  been  grown  could  not  again  be  used  for  this 
purpose.  There  was  some  cause  for  this  belief  because  the  disease 
known  as  "  flax  wilt "  was  very  destructive  and  the  crop  did  im- 
poverish the  soil.  The  committee  chairman,  however,  through  the 
agricultural  experiment  stations,  showed  the  farmers  that  flax  could 
be  grown  on  the  same  soil  every  fourth  year  in  proper  rotation  with 
certain  other  suitable  crops.  This  was  a  most  valuable  work  and 
has  and  will  recover  a  large  acreage  for  flax. 
The  greatest  difficulty  lies  in  the  price  of  wheat,  averaging  31 
bushels  for  each  acre,  fixed  by  the  government  at  $2.26;  so  that 
the  farmers  do  not  see  much  in  flax  averaging  10  bushels  per  acre, 
at  $3.00  or  even  S4.00  per  bushel. 
The  second  means  of  relief  was,  as  we  have  seen,  practically  cut 
ofT  by  the  shortage  of  ships. 
The  third,  the  line  of  least  resistance,  was  taken  by  the  largest 
purchaser  of  paints,  the  United  States  Government. 
It  is  then  with  a  discussion  of  the  possible  substitutes  for  linseed 
oil,  that  the  War  Service  Committee  of  the  Paint  Manufacturers' 
Association  and  the  government  experts  were  most  highly  concerned. 
After  many  meetings  and  much  discussion,  the  several  depart- 
ments of  the  government  issued,  during  the  last  year  or  two,  a  num- 
ber of  specifications  permitting  the  use  of  relatively  large  percentages 
of  soya  bean  oil  or  refined  fish  oil  at  the  option  of  the  manufacturer. 
Certain  other  well  known  oils  would  have  been  equally  acceptable  if 
they  could  have  been  obtained  in  quantity.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  lumbang  ("Kukui"  or  candlenut  oil),  perilla  and  hemp- 
seed  oils. 
If  the  "life  of  a  paint  is  good  oil,"  so  much  more  is  the  life  of 
the  liquid  or  vehicle  portion  of  that  paint  "good  oil."    The  question 
