National Affairs: Industrial Uses

From $6,554,600,000 appropriated for agriculture since 1933, Congress has got precious little pork. This year, however, Secretary Henry Agard Wallace has had some pork to cut—$4,000,000 for four laboratories to study new outlets for U. S. crops. Last week, after weeding through more than 200 applications and bruising susceptible Congressional feelings, Secretary Wallace located the laboratories, one in each major U. S. crop region: Northern (corn, wheat, agricultural wastes) at Peoria, Ill.; Southern (cotton, sweet potatoes, peanuts) at New Orleans; Eastern (tobacco, milk products, apples, potatoes, vegetables) near Philadelphia; Western (wheat, potatoes, alfalfa, vegetables, fruits) near San Francisco.

Each million-dollar laboratory will employ about 200 workers on research projects. The Department has already announced Civil Service examinations for 25 chemists to serve as project leaders. Sites were chosen, the Secretary tactfully explained, near other scientific and industrial experimenters in order to provide a "stimulus to creative thinking." Deadline for starting work on all four projects: end of this fiscal year (June 30 next).