Abstract A plan is presented whereby a sufficient quantity of safe combustible liquid fuel could be produced annually to satisfy all of our automotive needs. This would make us at once independent of foreign crude oil sources with obvious political advantages. The annual production of as much as 100 billion gallons of ethyl alcohol could be achieved if the already available arable land were planted for just this purpose. Initially, all of the special plantings would be converted directly into alcohol by the well known fermentation process. However, later, when knowledge gained from research now in progress permits the more economical conversion of raw agricultural products to other possibly more useful liquid fuels, the crops needed would be on hand for immediate use. The cost of the alcohol produced is considered to be competitive with gasoline at today's prices, would eliminate the need for rationing, and should be cheaper in the future as crude oil supplies dwindle. Also, a substantial reduction in aut...