1 "Ford Predicts Fuel from Vegetation," New York Times, Sept. 20, 1925, p. 24.
2 Reynold Millard Wik, "Henry Ford's Science and Technology for Rural America," Technology and Culture, Summer 1963; also see "Ford Predicts Fuel from Vegetation," New York Times, Sept. 20, 1925, p. 24
3 Augustus W. Giebelhaus, "Resistance to Long-Term Energy Transition: The Case of Power Alcohol in the 1930s," paper to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jan. 4, 1979.
4 Hal Bernton, Bill Kovarik, Scott Sklar, The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century (New York: Griffin, 1982).
5 Bill Kovarik, Fuel Alcohol: Energy and Environment in a Hungry World, (London: International Institute for Environment and Development, 1982). Also, "Charles F. Kettering and the Development of Tetraethyl Lead in the Context of Technological Alternatives," Society of Automotive Engineers, Fuels & Lubricants Division, Historical Colloquium, Baltimore, Md. Oct. 17, 1994.
6 Francis P. Garvan, "Scientific Method of Thought in Our National Problems," Proceedings of the Second Dearborn Conference on Agriculture, Industry and Science (New York: The Chemical Foundation, 1936), p.86.
7 John Staudenmier, Technology's Storytellers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 175.
8 Congress des Applications de L'Alcool Denature, 16 au 23 Dec., 1902, Automobile-Club de France, National Agricultural Library collection, Beltsville, Md. Ironically, it was in this same Paris exhibition hall in 1900 that American writer Henry Adams found dark inspiration for his book "the Virgin and the Dynamo," in which he described the end of religious faith.and the dawn of powerful yet somehow profane technology. Adams dark vision might have been lightened had he attended the 1902 Paris exposition. Not only was the scale of machinery far less imposing, being made up of small horseless carriage engines and household items like alcohol-powered irons and stoves, but the symbolism of the exposition had a far different flavor.
9 National Geographic, Vol. 31, Feb. 1917, p. 131.
10 Christy Borth, Chemists and Their Work (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938).
11 Thomas Midgely, "Our Liquid Fuel Reserves," Soceity of Automotive Engineers, Oct. 13, 1921; CF Kettering, "The Fuel Problem," draft address, unprocessed papers, Thomas Midgely drawer, GMI Alumni Foundation Collection of Industrial History, Flint, Mich (cited as GMI).
12 George Basalla, The Evolution of Technology, (Cambridge University Press, 1988) p. 197.
13 Some 152 popular and scholarly articles under the heading "Alcohol as a Fuel" can be found the the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature between 1900 and 1921; about 20 references to papers and books written before 1925 are found in the Library of Congress database catalog; a 1933 Chemical Foundation report lists 52 references before 1925 on alcohol fuels; a 1944 Senate report lists 24 USDA publications on alcohol fuels before 1920; and several technical books from the period document hundreds of references from the 1900 - 1925 period.
14 Daniel Yergin, The Prize, (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 14, also p. 51.
15 Henry R. Luce exhibit on American Journalism, Smithsonian Museum of American History, Washington DC. 1970 - 1990.
16 Sam H. Schurr and Bruce C. Netschert, Energy in the American Economy 1850 - 1975; An Economic Study of its History and Prospects (Baltimore, Resources for the Future, Johns Hopkins Press: 1960).
17 Anon., "Gasoline to Burn," Ethyl News, March, 1943, p. 20.
18 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol (Dublin, Ireland: Plunkett House, 1917).
19 Index of patents issued from 1790 to 1873, Inclusive, (Washington, D.C.: US Patent Office). Listed as "patent for alcohol for burning fluid, carbureted," March 17, 1834.
20 Lyle Cummins, Internal Fire (Warrenton, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1989), p. 81. Also, Horst Hardenberg, Samuel Morey and his Atmospheric Engine (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, Feb. 1992), SP922; also Katharine Goodwin and Charles E. Duryea, Captain Samuel Morey: The Edison of His Day (White River Junction, Vermont: The Vermonter Press, 1931); also Gabriel Farell Jr., Capt. Samuel Morey who built a Steamboat Fourteen Years Before Fulton, (Manchester, NH: Standard Book Co., 1915). Ray Zirblis, "Was Samuel Morey Robbed?" Vermont Life, Autumn, 1994, p. 53.
21 History of Light, pamphlet by the Welsbach Gas Co., Philadelphia Penn, 1909; on file in the Smithsonian collection of Advertising, Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.
22 Free Alcohol Law, Senate Finance Committee Hearings on HR 24816, Feb. 1907, Doc. No. 362, page 320. The authority cited is the Civil War era Special Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, David A. Wells, and the apparent reference is to the New York regional market. It is possible that ovar a hundred million gallons per year of camphene were sold by the late 1850s. The city of Cincinattie alone reportedly used 10 million gallons in 1860. Note that kerosine sales in 1870 reached 200 million gallons.
23 Harold F. Williamson & Arnold R. Daum, The American Petroleum Industry, 1859-1899, The Age of Illumination (Evanston Ill NW U Press, 1959).
24 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 16.
25 Free alcohol hearings, U.S. Senate 1907, p. 320. Also, Free Alcohol Hearings, House Ways & Means Committee, 59th Congress, Feb.-Mar. 1906. It is interesting that Wells' contemporary account places the discovery of petroleum after the cessation of alcohol fuel use. Note also that most turpentine came from the U.S. South at this time.
26 John K. Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol: Its Manufacture and Use, (New York: Munn & Co., 1907) p. 13.
27 "How Long the Oil Will Last," Scientific American, May 3, 1919, p. 459.
28 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol .
29 Author's search of records at the U.S. Patent Office, Crystal City, Virginia.
30 Lyle Cummins, Internal Fire (Warrendale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1989).
31 Ibid., p. 81. See above for additional references.
32 Ibid., p. 135. The patent was not granted "because of cited prior art." Apparently the idea was a commonplace. American burning fluid lamp manufacturers described the carburetion process in brochures in the 1850s.
33 Ibid., p. 281.
34 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol, p. 353; also G.W. Monier-Williams, Power Alcohol:Its Production and Utilization (London: Oxford Technical Publications, 1922, p. 275.
35 "Alcohol Automobiles at the Paris Alcohol Exhibition," Scientific American, Dec. 28, 1901. Note that gasoline powered automotive races had begun five years earlier with the Paris-Rouen race of 1894.
36 "Alcohol as a fuel for motor carriages," Scientific American, June 1, 1901, p. 344.
37 Robert N. Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol .
38 Congress des Applications de L'Alcool Denature, 16 au 23 Dec., 1902, Automobile-Club de France, National Agricultural Library collection, Beltsville, Md.
39 C.E. Lucke, Columbia University, and S.M. Woodward, USDA, "The Use of Alcohol and Gasoline in Farm Engines," USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 277, (Washington: GPO, 1907).
40 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 9. Also see Brachvogel p. 405.
41 "Paris Exhibition of Alcohol Consuming Devices," Scientific American, Nov. 16, 1901
42 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 307.
43 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol, p. 13.
44 "Launching of a Great Industry: The Making of Cheap Alcohol," New York Times, Nov. 25, 1906, Section III p. 3.
45 Statement of Leonard B. Goebbels, Otto Gas Engine Works, Senate Finance Committee hearings on HR 24816, Feb. 1907.
46 Brachvogel, Industrial Alcohol.
47 "Free Alcohol Distilleries," New York Times, Sept. 13, 1906. The source of the statistic is U.S. Consul General Thackara in Berlin.
48 Col. Sir Frederic Nathan, "Alcohol for Power Purposes," The Transactions of the World Power Congress, London, Sept. 24 - Oct. 6, 1928.
49 Robert Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol.
50 Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol. Tweedy did not directly quote Roosevelt but the phrasing is suggestive of Roosevelt's tone.
51 "Auto Club Aroused over Alcohol Bill," New York Times, April 26, 1906.
52 Free Alcohol Hearings, House Ways & Means Committee, p. 113.
53 "Tax Free Alcohol," New York Times, May 22, 1906.
54 Capen testimony to Senate Finance Committee.
55"The New Cheap Illuminant," New York Times, May 25, 1906.
56 "Future of Alcohol in the Industries," New York Times Aug. 5, 1906.
57 "Farmers Neglect Making of Alcohol,"New York Times, Dec. 23, 1907; note that the USDA's 1907 report said alcohol prices were 15 cents per gallon in Germany, while benzene was 16 cents per gallon and gasoline 32 cents per gallon).
58 Tweedy, Industrial Alcohol.
59 Ibid.
60 "Utilization of Farm Crops," Hearings of a Subcommittee of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, S. Res. 224, (1942), Part I, p. 286.
61 Gasoline and alcohol do not readily mix unless the alcohol is nearly free of water ("anhydrous" or 99.4% pure), or unless a blending agent or "binder" is used, such as benzene or a higher alcohol (butanol, propanol, etc.). Otherwise, alcohol tends to separate from gasoline at lower temperatures, a problem known as "phase separation." Ordinary distillation only achieves 95 percent purity because of a final chemical bond between the remaining water and alcohol known as the azeotrope. The final azeotropic processing tends to be somewhat complex and expensive.
62 "Future of Alcohol in the Industries," New York Times Aug. 5, 1906. Note that in publications as recent as 1990, fuel tanks of double the volume are supposed to be needed for pure alcohol vehicles because of this smaller BTU value.
63 C.E. Lucke, Columbia University, and S.M. Woodward, USDA, "The Use of Alcohol and Gasoline in Farm Engines," USDA Farmers Bulletin No. 277, (Washington: GPO, 1907).
64 Robert M. Strong, "Commercial Deductions from Comparisons of Gasoline and Alcohol Tests on Internal Combustion Engines," Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 392, (Washington: GPO, 1909).
65 R.M. Strong and Lauson Stone, "Comparative Fuel Values of Gasoline and Denatured Alcohol in Internal Combustion Engines," Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 43, (Washington: GPO, 1918). Strangely, some 75 to 80 years later, many technical editors still believed that a crticial problem with alcohol fuel was that lower BTU necessitated double-sized fuel tanks.
66 A. E. Davidson, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 98, cited in G.W. Monier-Williams, Power Alcohol: Its Production and Utilization, Oxford Technical publications, 1922, cited hereafter as Monier-Williams.
67 W.R. Ormandy, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 49, cited in Monier-Williams.
68 W. Watson, Proc. Inst. Automobile Engineers, 1913-14, p. 73, cited in Monier-Williams.
69 Scientific American, April 13, 1918, p. 339; also July 6, 1918.
70 Scientific American, Dec. 11, 1920 p. 593.
71 W.R. Ormandy, "The Motor Fuel Problem," Journal of the Institute of Petroleum Technologists, Vol. 5, 1919, p. 33-66.
72 Redwood, Boverton, et al, "The Production of Alcohol for Power," Chemical Age, 1919, cited in Chemical Abstracts, 13:2271
73 H.B. Dixon, "Researches on Alcohol as an Engine Fuel," SAE Journal, Dec. 1920, p. 521.
74 B.R. Tunnison, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1921, p. 370.
75 G.J. Shave, Imperial Motor Transport Conference, Oct. 18-21, 1920, cited in Monier Williams.
76 U.S. Public Health Service, Proceedings of a Conference to Determine Whether or Not There is a Public Health Question in the Manufacture, Distribution or use of Tetraethyl Lead Gasoline, PHS Bulletin No. 158, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Treasury Dept., August 1925).
77 G.J. Shave, "Fuel Mixtures on London Omnibuses," SAE Journal, Dec. 1920, p. 556.
78 Donath and Groger, Die Treibmittel der Kraftfahrzeuge, Berlin 1917, cited in Monier-Williams.
79H.R. Ricardo, "The Influence of Various Fuels on Engine Performance," Automobile Engineer, Feb., 1921.
80 E.C. Freeland and W.G. Harry, "Alcohol Motor Fuel from Molasses," Part II, Industrial and Chemical Engineering News, July 1925, p. 717; also see Part I in the June issue. Its interesting to note that General Motors considered cold starting to be a serious problem in a 1979 technical paper which did not consider additives as a solution.
81 E. Hubendick, "Use of Alcohol Motor Fuels in Sweden," Petroleum Zeitschr. 26, No. 12, 3-9, 1930, cited in Hixon, "R.M. Hixon, L.M. Christensen, W.F. Coover in "The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report Number VI," May 1, 1933, unpublished manuscript, Iowa State University archives, Ames, Iowa.
82 M.C. Whitaker, "Alcohol for Power," Chemists Club, New York, Sept. 30, 1925. Cited in Hixon, "Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report No. 6," Iowa State College, May 1, 1933.
83 Victor H. Scales, Publicity Director, American Petroleum Industries Committee, "Economic Aspects of Alcohol-Gasoline Bleds," API, May 1, 1933; Also "A Reply to The Deserted Village, No. 6 of the Chemical Foundation," American Petroleum Industries Committee, 1935; "Who would Pay for Corn Alcohol?, " Iowa Petroleum Industries Committee, Des Moines, Iowa, 1933.
84 Conger Reynolds, "The Alcohol Gasoline Proposal," American Petroleum Institute Proceedings, 20th Annual meeting, Nov. 9, 1939.
85 S.J.W. Pleeth, Alcohol: A Fuel for Internal Combustion Engines (London: Chapman & Hall, 1949) .
86 Rufus Frost Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1907), p. 299.
87 A.W. Scarratt, "The Carburetion of Alcohol," SAE Journal, April 1921.
88 Joseph C. Robert, Ethyl: A History of the Corporation and the People Who Made It (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1983); Also Stuart Leslie, Boss Kettering (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983);T.A. Boyd, Professional Amateur (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1957); Rosamond Young, Boss Ket (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1961); Graham Edgar, "Tetraethyl Lead," paper to the American Chemical Society, New York, Sept. 3-7, 1951, reproduced by the Ethyl Corp.; T.A. Boyd, "Pathfinding in Fuels and Engines," Society of Automotive Engineers Transactions, (April 1950), pp. 182-183; and Stanton P. Nickerson, "Tetraethyl Lead: A Product of American Research," Journal of Chemical Education 31, (November 1954), p. 567.
89 "A Report of Fuel Research by the Research Division of the Dayton Metal Products Co. and the U.S. Bureau of Mines," July 27,1918, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
90 "Alcogas as Aviation Fuel Compared with Export Grade Gasoline," SAE Journal, June 1920, p.397.
91 Charles F. Kettering, "Studying the Knocks,: How a Closer Knowledge of What Goes on In the Cylinder Might Solve the Problems of Fuel Supply," Scientific American, Oct. 11, 1919, p. 364.
92 Leslie, Boss Kettering , p. 155. Ethyl alcohol was "income" rather than "capital" because it could be produced from renewable resources.
93 Boyd, Early History p. 54.
94 Large-scale production of benzene was questionable. Even if all the coal mined in the U.S. in 1920 were used to supply benzene, only about 900 million gallons, or one-fifth of the U.S. gasoline supply would be replaced, he said.
95 T.A. Boyd, "Motor Fuel From Vegetation," Journal of Industrial and Chemical Engineering 13, No. 9 (Sept. 1921), pp. 836 - 841.
96 C.F. Kettering, "The Fuel Problem," undated, probably 1921, Kettering collection unprocessed, GMI.
97 This is probably a good point to note that a good many original documents are missing from public General Motors archives. These include: "The Lead Diary," a collection of several thousand original documents from which T.A. Boyd and Charles Kettering refreshed their memories as their memoirs were written in the 1940s; Test diaries and day-to-day records of experiments conducted during 1920 - 22 period when tetraethyl lead was discovered by G.M. researchers in Dayton, Ohio.; Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Ethyl Corp 1924 to 1940; Minutes of the "Medical Committee" of du Pont, G.M. and Standard, 1924 to 1925. Reports of the Standard Oil Co.of New Jersey experiment with alcohol fuel blends in Baltimore, Md. in 1923 and (possibly) correspondence with G.M. researchers about the experiment; Reports on the use of the century plant in Mexico to produce alcohol at 7 cents per gallon, cited in 1922 memo from Midgley to Kettering; and records or memos relating to "Synthol" experiments, Dayton G.M. labs, summer 1925.
98 Leslie, Boss Kettering, p. 156.
99 Zimmerschied to Kettering, Feb. 27, 1920; Kettering to Zimmerschied, March 3, 1920, Kettering collection, GMI. Note that carburetors had been built with lacquered cork floats before this time, which was not a problem with gasoline. However, alcohol was a solvent for the lacquer. Therefore, GM switched to metal carburetor floats to accommodate the new international fuel blends.
100 Application Serial No. 362,139, Patent No. 1578201, issued Mar. 23, 1926. The patent covers blending alcohol and unsaturated hydrocarbons, particularly olefins formed during the cracking process.
101 Harold Hibbert, "The Role of the Chemist in Relation to the Future Supply of Liquid Fuel," Journal of Industrial and Chemical Engineering 13, No. 9 (Sept. 1921) p. 841.
102 Boyd to Midgley, July 8, 1920, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
103 This is an important point in technical discussions. Many who object to alcohol fuel, ostensibly on technical grounds, will omit any mention of the possibility of a "binder," which is a small amount of a higher alcohol or other compound that prevents "phase separation" of gasoline from alcohol in the presence of water. The American Petroleum Institute's discussions concerning the technical problems of alcohol blends in the early 1930s, for example, did not mention such binders. .
104 "The Discussion" transcript of SAE meeting discussion, Indianapolis, Oct. 1921. Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
105 Thomas Midgley, "Discussion of papers at semi-annual meeting," SAE Journal, Oct. 1921, p. 269.
106 Midgley to Kettering, May 23, 1922, Factory Correspondence, Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
107 Thomas A. Midgley and T.A. Boyd, "Detonation Characteristics of Some Blended Motor Fuels," SAE Journal, June 1922, page 451. Note: italics indicate a section used at the oral presentation at a June 1922 SAE meeting but not published in the SAE paper; oral presentation from Midgley unprocessed files, GMI.
108 Thomas Midgley and Thomas Boyd, "The Application of Chemistry to the Conservation of Motor Fuels," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Sept. 1922, p. 850.
109 N. P. Wescott, Origins and Early History of the Tetraethyl Lead Business, June 9, 1936, Du Pont Corp. Report No. D-1013, Longwood ms group 10, Series A, 418-426, GM Anti-Trust Suit, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, Del., p. 4.
110 "Radium Derivative $5,000,000 an ounce / Ethyl Gasoline Defended," New York Times, April 7, 1925, p. 23; Also, Thomas Midgley, Jr., "Tetraethyl Lead Poison Hazards," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 17, No. 8 August, 1925, p. 827.
111 U.S. Public Health Service, Proceedings of a Conference to Determine Whether or Not There is a Public Health Question in the Manufacture, Distribution or use of Tetraethyl Lead Gasoline, PHS Bulletin No. 158, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Treasury Dept., August 1925), p. 6. (Hereafter cited as PHS Conference). Of course, Kettering originally planned to get alcohols fom outside the paraffin series through grain and cellulose.
112 "U.S. Board Asks Scientists to Find New 'Doped Gas,'" New York World, May 22, 1925, p. 1.
113 "Work on New Type of Auto and Fuel," New York Times, Aug. 7, 1925; also "New Auto, Fuel to Save Costs are Announced," United Press, Aug. 6, 1925.
114 Federal Trade Commission Docket No. 2825, Cushing Refining & Gasoline Co., June 19, 1936, Dept. of Justice files, 60-57-107, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
115 Homer S. Fox, "Alcohol Motor Fuels," Supplementary Report to World Trade in Gasoline, Minerals Division, Bureau of Domestic & Foreign Commerce, Trade Promotion Series Monograph No. 20 (Washington, D.C.: Dept. of Commerce, May 15, 1925). The report provided detailed statistics on trade volume, duties, tax incentives and laws surrounding the use of alcohol blended fuels, including ethanol and methanol, in France, Germany, England, Italy and 15 other countries were it was routinely used.
116 R.B. Gray, "On the Use of Alcohol-Gasoline Mixtures as Motor Fuels," unpublished, USDA, April 1933, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Md.
117 World Trade in Gasoline, Bureau of Domestic & Foreign Commerce, US Dept. of Commerce monograph, Trade Promotion Series No. 20, May 15, 1925.
118 "Seaweed as a Source of Alcohol," Scientific American, Nov. 9, 1918, p. 371. A simple acid hydrolysis technique yielded only about 10 gallons per ton.
119 "What French Motorists Say about Alcohol-Gasoline Motor Fuel Blends," Washington, D.C.: American Motorists Association, Dec. 15, 1933. The association reprinted letters to the magazine of the French National Federation of Automobile, Bicycle, Aeronautical and Related Trades. In a decidedly non-random poll, the majority of 40 letter writers disapproved of the inconveniences of alcohol blends, primarily citing problems with cork floats in carburetors and hesitation and stalling with high volume alcohol blends used in unadapted engines. Note that GM changed cork floats to metal floats in the early 1920s to deal with this problem.
120 Charles Schweitzer, "L'Etat Actuel De La Question De L'Alcool Carburant," Chimie & Industrie Vol. 28, No. 1, 1932; Translated and abstracted by E.I. Fulmer, R.M. Hixon, L.M. Christensen, W.F. Coover in "The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels: Progress Report Number I, A Survey of the Use of Alcohol as Motor Fuel in Various Foreign Countries," May 1, 1933, unpublished manuscript, Iowa State University archives.
121 "Anti-detonants: leur emploi dans les carburants et leur danger," Ind. Chimique, 1931, No. 208, p. 332, cited in Fulmer, "The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels."
122 New York Times, Nov. 28, 1915.
123 "Power Alcohol from Tubers and Roots, SAE Journal, May, 1925, p. 546. Also, Nathan, "Alcohol for Power Purposes."
124 Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, April 1925, p 334 .
125 E.I. Fulmer, "The Use of Alcohol in Motor Fuels."
126 Ibid.
127 Gustav Egloff, Motor Fuel Economy of Europe (Washington, D.C.: American Petroleum Institute, Dec. 1940).
128 "Italian Congress of Industrial Chemistry," Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, July 10,1924, p. 6.
129 Egloff, Motor Fuel Economy of Europe.
130 Personal communication, Fred R. Robinson to columnist Jack Anderson, April 24, 1978. See footnote No. 91. Cuba continued using alcohol fuels throughout the 20th century, especially after the communist revolution of 1960, in order to stretch petroleum supplies from the former Soviet Union.
131 Bernton, The Forbidden Fuel, p. 140, p. 226.
132 Personal communication, Maurine Lorenzetti, editor, Oxy-Fuel News, Information Resources Inc., Washington DC, March, 1991.
133 "Alcogas as Aviation Fuel Compared with Export Gasoline," SAE Journal, June 1920, p. 397.
134 Personal communication, Col. Ralph Curtis, April 17, 1979. Curtis' letter to columnist Jack Anderson was prompted by Anderson staffer Hal Bernton's articles about gasohol.
135 "Analysis of Technical Aspects of Alcohol Gasoline Blends," Prepared by American Petroleum Institute Special Technical Committee, No. 216 in an unspecified series, undated, with memo dated April 10, 1933. Series 4, Box 52, Pew collection, Hagley Library, Wilmington, Del.
136 Augustus W. Giebelhaus, "Resistance to Long-Term Energy Transition: The Case of Power Alcohol in the 1930s," American Association for the Advancement of Science, Jan. 4, 1979.
137 Hal Bernton, Bill Kovarik, Scott Sklar, The Forbidden Fuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century (New York: Griffin, 1982).
138 Joyce Manchester, "Gasohol born in Ames, sold at service station," Ames Daily Tribune, March 11, 1978.
139 Donald Despain, The One and Only Solution to the Farm Problem (New York: Vantage Press, 1956), p. 113. Critics of alcohol fuel might describe this book as one of the world's longest crank letters because Despain is so obviously emotional about his subject. Factual information should be seen in this light as potentially biased.
140 Everett M. Dirksen, "The Congressional Front," March, 1933, Dirksen Congressional Center archives, Peoria, Ill. Also, "Why the Proposal to Blend Alcohol with Gasoline for Automotive Fuel is Simple and Practical..." Keystone Steel & Wire CO, Peoria, Ill.
141 Donald Despain, The One and Only Solution to the Farm Problem (New York: Vantage Press, 1956), p. 113.
142 See, for example, Proceedings of the Third Dearborn Conference, Farm Chemurgic Journal, National Farm Chemurgic Council, Dearborn, Mich., various volumes. Numerous references to the Farm Chemurgy movement are found in the literature.
143 Statement of L.M. Christensen, "Use of Alcohol from Farm Products in Motor Fuel," Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate Hearings on SB 522, May 1939 (Washington: GPO, 1939); Also see "Alky-Gas Flops in Sioux City, Business Week, July 30, 1938, p. 20; "Farm Crop Alcohol Blended into Auto Fuel," Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1937; "Alky-Gas Gets Going," Business Week, Dec. 25, 1937; "Blackstrap Alky-Gas," Business Week, Sept. 9, 1939.
144 "Power Alcohol: Not yet feasible or necessary in U.S.," Scientific American, April, 1942.
145 U.S. Tariff Commission, Industrial Alcohol, War Changes in Industry Series, Report No. 2, (Washington, GPO: Jan. 1944).
146 It certainly would have been delayed had not chemists familiar with details of the synthetic rubber process been smuggled by British spy groups out of Poland and Russia to the US just as war broke out. The British were well aware that Standard Oil of N.J. had a deal with Farben to block synthetic rubber, and considered Standard a "hostile and dangerous element of the enemy" according to William Stephenson's A Man Called Intrepid (New York: Ballentine, 1976), p. 284.
147 For example, see Al Frisbie, "The Old Alcohol Plant: Is there a Lesson There?" World-Herald Magazine, May 28, 1978, Omaha, Nebraska. Similar articles by other enterprising reporters turned up information about American energy history which had been completely overlooked.
148 US Tariff Commission, Industrial Alcohol.
149 Harry Benge Crozier, Director of Public Relations to members of the public relations advisory committee, American Petroleum Institute, April 24, 1933, Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
150 Hundreds of memos on the organization of the anti-alcohol campaign originating from API's various committees, including the industries, public relations and refinery committees, are found in Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del. Memos prepared by the "Special Technical Committee" and the "Special Economics Committee" show an intense level of activity. Every major American oil company and most minor ones were involved in the campaign against alcohol fuel through these committees, either directly or indirectly. It is interesting to note that the position papers presented by these committees contained not a whiff of dissenting data, nor were any of the conclusions footnoted or referenced in any way whatsoever.
151 Gustav Egloff, "Alcohol Gasoline Motor Fuels," National Petroleum Association paper, April 21, 1933, Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
152 These docuemtns are found in Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
153 "I have told you what we could find out about the Keystone officials ..." E.W. Teagle, Chicago office of Sun, to J.N. Pew, April 27, 1933. Series 4 Box 52, J. Howard Pew papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del.
154 Everett M. Dirksen, "The Congressional Front," May 5, 1933, Dirksen Congressional Center archives, Peoria, Ill.
155 L.L.Stephens to Webb, Jan. 24, 1933, transcribed by FBI agents, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Parentheses as transcribed.
156 Webb to Stephens, Feb. 9, 1933. US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
157 William B. Plummer to Graham Edgar, Ethyl, April 12, 1933, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C. It should be noted that while the FBI found this telegram, other documentary sources about Ethyl's activities at this time that should have been reviewed are missing from GMI, Justice Dept. archives and other areas.
158 FBI Interview with L.L. Coryell, Jr., Jan. 18, 1935, US Dept. of Justice Central Files, RG 60-57-107, Box 386-387, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
159 Ethyl Gasoline Corp. et al, v United States, 309 US 436, March 25, 1940.
160 For example, Giebelhaus reaches this conclusion.
161 Michelle Heath, Towards a Commercial Future: Ethanol & Methanol as Alternative Transportation Fuels, Canadian Energy Research Institute, Study no. 29, Jan. 1989.
162 "The ABCs of Alky-Gas," Iowa Petroleum Public Relations Committee, 1936, library, American Petroleum Instutute, Washington, D.C.
163 Joseph Pew to H. Smith Richardson, Dec. 23, 1938, Hagley Museum & Library, Wilmington, Del.
164 C.S. Mott, Kettering Oral History Project, Interviewed by T.A. Boyd,
October 19, 1960, GMI, Flynt, Mich.