FIBER INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 



experiment can determine. But the fact that at best they can only 

 be regarded as the substitutes for better, already established, com- 

 mercial fibers has prevented serious experiment to ascertain their 

 place. They are continually brought to notice, however, for again 

 and again the thrifty farmer, as he finds their bleached and weather- 

 beaten filaments clinging to the dead stalks in the fields, deludes him- 

 self in believing that he has made a discovery which may lead to 

 untold wealth, and a letter and the specimen are promptly dispatched 

 to the fiber expert for information concerning them. In such cases 

 all that can be done is to give full information, taking care to let 

 the inquirer down as easily as possible. 



The limit of practical work in the direction of new textile indus- 

 tries is so clearly defined that the expert need never be in doubt 

 regarding the economic value of any fiber plant that may be sub- 

 mitted to him for an opinion, and the long catalogue of mere fibrous 

 substances will never demand his serious attention. 



In studying the problem of the establishment of new fiber indus- 

 tries, therefore, we should consider " materials " rather than par- 

 ticular species of plants — utility or adaptation rather than acclimati- 

 zation. We should study the entire range of textile manufacture, 

 and before giving attention to questions of cultivation we should first 

 ascertain how far the plants which we already know can be produced 

 within our own borders may be depended upon to supply the " ma- 

 terial " adapted to present demands in manufacture. If the larger 

 part of our better fabrics — cordage and fine twines, bagging, and 

 similar rough goods — can be made from cotton, flax, common hemp, 

 and Sisal hemp, which we ought to be able to produce in quantity 

 at home, there is no further need of costly experiments with other 

 fibers. Unfortunately, however, it is possible for manufacturers to 

 " discriminate " against a particular fiber when the use of another 

 fiber better subserves their private interests. As an example, common 

 liemp was discriminated against in a certain form of small cordage, 

 in extensive use, because by employing other, imported fibers, it has 

 been possible in the past to control the supply, and in this day of 

 trusts such control is an important factor in regulating the profits. 

 With common hemp grown on a ..thousand American farms in 1890, 

 the price of Sisal and Manila hemp binding twine, of which fifty 

 thousand tons were used, would never have been forced up to sixteen 

 and twenty cents a pound, when common hemp, which is just as good 

 for the purpose, could have been produced in unlimited quantity for 

 three and a half cents. The bagging with which the cotton crop is 

 baled is made of imported jute, but common hemp or even low- 

 grade flax would make better bagging. A change from jute to hemp 

 or flax in the manufacture of bagging (it would only be a return to 



