AND USE IN UNITED STATES. 49 



yet Mr. Sisson tried to make the commis- 

 sion believe that an increase in duty would 

 bring this sort of stuff to the flax market. 

 The linen-manufacturer can do nothing 

 with this straw that is sold by the load, 

 like hay in a tangled bulk of fibre, pitched 

 on the load loose as it comes. In some 

 sections it can't be sold at any price, and 

 in such case is burned to get rid of it. 1 



Mr. H. H. Stevens, of Lexington, Ky., 

 who appeared before the Tariff Commis- 

 sion in behalf of free flax machinery, said, 

 " It is the handling of the stalk that makes 

 or mars the fibre. An Englishman some 

 thirty years ago said of American flax, 

 * They handle it like hay.' It is the same 

 to-day." 2 



The Congressional Commission of 1863, 

 in summing up the situation in this coun- 

 try, say, " The raising of marketable flax 

 for long line, imposes too many burdens on 

 the grower, and is produced at too great a 

 sacrifice of seed, to warrant at present its 

 extensive cultivation in this country. . . . 



1 Rep. Dept. Ag. 1879, P- 57 2< 2 Rep Tar. Com., p. 1948. 



