ABACA (MANILA HEMP) — EDWARDS 349 



There was scarcity of labor in Central America due to other competing war 

 projects. There was scarcity of machinery, materials, and supplies which were 

 required in substantial quantities for these large-scale enterprises. The demands 

 upon the limited quantities available in the United States were practically 

 unlimited. 



There was scarcity of shipping and submarines were taking a large toll. There 

 was congestion on our railroads and docks holding up deliveries. These diffi- 

 culties and the fact that it takes approximately 2 years to grow abaca from 

 the time of planting made the problems of producing this essential fiber before 

 our stockpile ran out almost insuperable. 



The Central American countries were scraped clean for materials and labor. 

 Unable to receive machinery and equipment from the United States, there was 

 much ingenious improvisation. Machetes were made out of steel rails, fan 

 belts were made out of rope, second-hand irrigation pipe was used to drill wells 

 for water supply. 



In establishing these plantations it was necessary to make elaborate soil sur- 

 veys to select the proper sites. Hundreds of miles of land were surveyed by 

 engineers to take topography necessary for drainage systems and to lay out plan- 

 tations and railroads. It was necessary to fell and underbrush the dense jungle 

 vegetation. 



Approximately 7,000,000 heads of seed (rhizomes), approximately 27,000 tons, 

 had to be dug from the experimental plantation in Panama, transported to ports, 

 shipped to the various countries where plantations were established, and hauled 

 from ports of these countries inland to the plantations. This had to be done 

 with as little delay as possible in order to preserve the seed, a difficult problem 

 with scarcity and irregularity of shipping and inadequate inland transportation. 



Because of the rapid growth of vegetation in the tropics, much labor had to 

 be used to clear competing vegetation during the early growth of the plants. 

 Hundreds of miles of drainage had to be dug and cleaned to carry off excess water, 

 destructive to abaca roots. 



Roads and bridges had to be constructed through the jungle growth to provide 

 passage for mules carrying seed to the plantations and later the stalks to the 

 railroads. 



Elaborate railway and tram systems were established to transport the stalks 

 to the factories and the fiber from factories to the railways. 



Large factories to extract the fiber from the stalks had to be constructed and 

 machinery designed and manufactured to carry out large-scale production, con- 

 sisting of decorticators, crushers, driers, balers, and auxiliary machinery. 



By April 30, 1945, approximately 29,000 acres of abaca had been 

 planted and were under cultivation in the four countries of Panama, 

 Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras. A large part of this acreage 

 was in production and as abaca is a perennial, production was expected 

 to continue for some 10 or 12 years without replanting. Five large 

 fiber-cleaning plants had been installed by 1945 and were in operation. 

 During three war years, more than 20,000,000 pounds of abaca fiber 

 had been produced and practically all of it had been shipped to the 

 United States and manufactured into rope. In the meantime the pre- 

 war stocks of Philippine abaca had been largely, or entirely, exhausted, 

 and the Nation's one source of supply of this fiber was Central America. 



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