Will We Dress in Paper Clothes? 



They make socks, chairs and twine out of paper now, and you 

 can't tell the difference between them and the usual product 



IX the good old days 

 of plenty, how lav- 

 ishly we used that 

 imposing natural 

 resource of ours, the 

 great American forests. 

 We cut down tree after 

 tree without taking the 

 slightest measures for 

 replanting them. When 

 we floated the trees to 

 our saw mills we cut 

 one-third of them into 

 lumber and we threw 

 the rest awa^'. But 

 finally, when we could 

 not help but see that 

 our forests were nearing 

 depletion, we estab- 

 lished the Forest Serv- 

 ice to determine what 

 could be done! And ever 

 since that time we have 

 learned a host of amaz- 

 ing things about lum- 

 ber and the uses of lum- 

 ber waste. But who 

 would have expected 

 as a result that some 

 day we would be mak- 

 ing such things as arti- 

 ficial silks from such 

 materials as sawdust? 

 Yet that is exactly what 

 is being done. Lumber 

 waste that was once 

 considered worthless is 



These interesting articles were all made 

 from wood pulp. They represent all 

 varieties and grades of paper "silk" 



A comfortable couch for the veranda or the summer cottage. 

 It is made from spun paper reeds woven over a rattan 

 and wood frame. It is as durable as it is attractive 



273 



now mixed with small 

 quantities of wood pulp, 

 made into paper, some- 

 times mixed with cotton 

 or woolen fleece, and 

 then spun into "cilk" 

 neckties and "silk" 

 socks. And, as the ac- 

 companying photo- 

 graphs amply show, 

 these are not the only 

 commodities that are 

 being so made with suc- 

 cess. " It is already a 

 matter of economy to 

 manufacture articles 

 from spun paper which 

 range in diversity from 

 furniture and rugs to 

 suitcases and flour bags. 

 Equally as interest- 

 ing is Jihe manner in 

 which the paper is spun 

 into twine and into 

 thread. In a process 

 for making twine, the 

 paper is first cut into 

 long strips about one 

 inch wide. These strips 

 are then passed through 

 a machine which corru- 

 gates them in the direc- 

 tion of their lengths. 

 These are then twisted 

 by hand into the shape 

 of twine, as the illus- 

 tration shows. The 

 twine is finally reduced 

 to the proper diameter by feeding it 

 into other machines which wind the 

 thread up very tightly. A process of 

 this kind is used for making the 

 larger size twines and ropes, and for 

 heavy cables for towing ships. 



For spinning the fine twines 

 that are used for wrapping bun- 

 dles and for binding har\'ested 

 grain, a slightly different method 

 is used. Narrow strips of the 

 paper are wound up in the form 

 of a disk. The inner edge of the 



paper disk is then pulled out, and 



