ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION. 



17 



Imports of vegetable fibers into the United States, etc.— Continued. 



Fiber. 



Hemp, not hackled 



Hemp, dressed line • 



Hemp, tow of 



Istle, or Tampico liber. . 



Jute 



Jute butts 



Kittul 2 



Kapok 2 



Manila hemp 



Mauritius hemp v 



New Zealand flax 



Palmyra 2 



Piassaba and Bass fiber ! 

 Rattan and Bamboo 2 — 



Sisal grass 



Vegetable sponge 2 



All other, and waste 



Quantity. 



Tons. 



8,306 



93 



244 



12, 205 



23, 393 



65, 599 



Value. 



Dollars. 



1, 030, 547 



22, 847 



27, 205 



717, 585 



957, 054 



1, 044, 152 



Value per 

 ton. 



Dollars. 



124 



243 



111 



58 



40 



15 



49, 433 

 *"i03 



3, 594, 901 



5, 548 



20, 616 



"I', 405 



3, 372, 346 



183, 768 



163 

 *4i 



Total. 



221, 495 



19, 604, 961 



1 Flax, dressed line, is dutiable at $33.60 per ton ; dressed line of hemp at $22.40 per ton ; all others, 

 free. 



2 Included in all other. 



The $19,000,000 to $20,000,000 represented by the imports of raw 

 fibers, in the above table, must not be taken as the value of the fiber 

 industry to this country. It should be remembered that considerably 

 larger quantities of many of these fibers are manufactured in other 

 countries for export to the United States, and that the total value of 

 our imports of "raw and manufactured*' is equal to three or four times 

 the value represented in the table. Our raw and dressed flax imports 

 amount to perhaps $1,750,000, while the imports of flax manufactures 

 have reached $12,000,000. Even Mexican manufactures from sisal 

 grass, such as hammocks, etc., are sold in the United States, and the 

 imports of cordage and yarns from various fibers is considerable. 

 Where $20,000,000 worth of fibers are now manufactured in this coun- 

 try it might be possible to manufacture $40,000,000 worth, and thus 

 double the home fiber industries; and it might easily be possible to 

 produce home grown fibers to the extent of half of the supply needed 

 in the manufactures that these industries represent. 



ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION. 



While 30 of 40 species of plants supply the world's demand for com- 

 mercial fibers, hundreds of fibrous plants could readily be enumerated, 

 the simple fiber substance in many of which to outward appearance is 

 just as good as the fiber of some of the commercial species widely cul- 

 tivated, and for which they would be the substitutes. This country 

 imports millions of dollars' worth of jute annually, yet some of the plants 

 recognized as native weeds in the United States contain stronger and 

 better fiber. That many of them are capable of producing a good 

 quality of fiber has been known for years, yet they are not utilized. 

 But they are interesting and are the subject of constant inquiry, as the 

 masses of their filaments, disintegrated and semibleached on the parent 

 12247— No. 9 2 



