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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1923)
I ! i; 'This Will Coipe About with the Inevitable Development of the Flax and Linen Industries Here Where All Conditions' Are Favorabler-Present riirie Propitrous for;Rapid Stndea in this Fieldi Hemp industry Goes with :That.of -Flax - The-writer believes the most lm ' . portant development that is tak ing place In the Salem district .The most important In relation to Its certain , effect of " making Salem a large city - ' fa the development of the flax , industry. "and along 'with It the . hemp Industry. , ' V f '' iJnen" Is 'the; world's ' oldest veg'-etabl-fibre fabric' " Linen -will outlast cotton' in , everyday wear in proportion of one to eight or more; that fs, one linen sheet' Or 'tablecloth will out wear eight r more of cotton. - i, "irireitremely Important, there tore that the -world should have more linen ; It Is bound to have more, and more; the cry now is for . more and more. v.-' Ireland jbow manufactures mtre "than-one-third of the linen . of the world; gnd. s&e bas been producing : less than a fourth of the flax needed in her manufac " ; tares." "v-. .v.- .' $ -' ? : The bnlk of her raw materials formerly came from Russia. Russia is now practically out of .it; perhaps permanently; for be- fore the war flax was railed by Russian peasants as a tax tribute crop.'. , 1 ..' ! :, " -, s r Trying to Fiji Cap . In the six counties of northern Ireland, there are 900.000 spind les which require 40.000 tons of i flax to keep them running full . time. ; - When the Russian supply 'was available, the linen mill of northern' Ireland 'secured ' 25.000 tons from Russia. ?9,5 00 tons at home. 4,000 from Belguira and , 1,500" tons from Holland. An authority writing in the 1 London Times of a few weeks ago said that assuming tnattne nortn era counties of Ireland Bhonld be successful in getting tneir propor tion of the world's raw flax sup plies, they would still have a de- licit of, 17.500 tons 'annually to keep their spindles running full 'time. But this authority does not : expect more than half supplies for the; next five: years -or; nntil two or' three years,-after Russia has . "settled down" and one guess is as good as anotner a to mac probable or - possible - date. - This notwithstanding the fact that Ital ian hemp Is being substituted for 'flax in the northern Ireland mills, festering around Belfast. But the I Italian hemp crop' has been 30 per aient short, with . an increasing world wide demand for it. ? The northern, Ireland mill man agers hare looked for relief from 4he .colonial possessions of . Great 'Britain; to Canada and South Af rica and India and the others; and to France and Belgium and Hol Jand but they hare looked in -Taln,; excepting for slight relief .from a larger acreage. in France, Holland and Canada. : " j i; ,l A New Day Coming - The " United -States '.was a flax . growing and manufacturing coun- fr' In colonial days; ' making the home-spun,, on hand looms in 'the houses- of the ,5eople; : each .farmer cultivating a small patch jet flax. : - . ' - , The United States manufactur ed more flax in 1776 than she iocs now.' ' ' But a pw'day.U coming. A recent authoriative statement jfeads: "Unsaid: that -probably the greatest industrial asset which the war has givento yi-iaerica is 'the possibility, of establishing in the United States a flax and linen Industry; that is the manufacture iff American linen from American Iax. ; .; I What does that mean to Salem? II TbJsw,rUer,ni filling, to risk , bis reputation as a .prophet by laying it means millions; millions ,annuallyv ;-; v ' FlaX-if :firat ! grown jon, a con PXhlaie.. in, Oregon for ,lts seed'; fn the seventies and early 'eighties for the linseed oil mills m the Gray family, the mills be- . Tng located onthe present Bite of "the Salem woolen mills. , i i Best fn the World ' Ia 1895, Eugene Bosse,: from Belgium, who' had been exporting lax lor the. United States depart fment of agriculture, came to Sa-lem- He v had been so employed ;ior two years, flax being, grown gander the direction of the various tate agricultural college experi ment stations and he had -found .that, the best flax in the United States or the world the -best fib ber flax -was- raised in the section . of Oregon. : s :r,.'.: ;v ;. This fact was known, before to a few people as t will appear be- -. low: ?f-.-':.: ' ;, ' . -"31r.' Bosse Taised and'" treated flax for its fiber here for a num .1 ber of years with varying business J ' success or failure; due to many causes,; the story beipg! too-' iong ifor details at this time. ' . , In 1898 Mrs. W. P. Lord, wife ot Governor Lord of Oregon, or- Iganized the Oregon Women's Flax Fiber association, and, under the direction of this association and Its financing, several crops of flax Jwere raised. Due to several mis- fortunes, including a fire, this as sociation was not financially able to carry, out ail Its program; hut Hit at .4 least .demonstrated over 'again" the superiority of the flax " gTown here, tor Its fiber. DrDelmetTthe greatest manu i f acturer of linen mesh wearing ap . t afeTT Investigated conditions nere ,aad he was on thepqlut of estab wim BEOTE IB 1 lishing a mill here when the war interfered, j - - The companies with which he Is connected jmay yet be interest ed; and they? win have to look sone where for raw materials, at least; ; j There have since . been several flax treating plants in operation here. One of them, the Oregon Flax Fibre company, of . Turner, seven miles south ot Salem, bunt a plant for making tow- and fibre about six years ago. It was fi nanced by Theodore .Roth. Edward Schunke, E, J. Hansett and other Salem people, and raised flax of its own and - contracted ior. the raisins of flax by the farmers of that section-,! and carried on. its business till the plant was sold, last, year, to Jthe , Willamette Flax & Hemp company, which company is now operating it. Then there' is the state flax in dustry, at the penitentiary of which more will be said later on in ibis article. 4 i World's Rest Flax .Now for the most convincing proof of all that t niseis the' best flax country on earth, for the fi ber: ' j :!; - ' r ' ' : ' ' Listen: 1 . Mr. "Miller," near Turner, took Lsamples of flax fiber grown by himself to the r Philadelphia Cen tennial in 1876. THis product came into competi tion with every flax growing coun try in the world. , . i . The judges did not-know. where the samples were raised-'They judged by j points length. strength, etc.; nine points in - ail. No. one of the , judges, however, knew the findings of any. other Judge. - When the footings were aade it was found that the Ore gon flax had won ON ALL NINE POINTS. It was the best flax fiber grown in the world In every single part icular ' At that time, a great Belfast manufacturer; , of linen products made the statement that.no other country could come up to Oregon and that he could take two pounds of the Marion county fiber AND SPIN A THREAD THAT WOULD REACH AROUND THE WORLDS The Barbours. are spinning lin en thread and selling it now round ,$6: a pound; $12 a ton. t-.v i . Fishermen at Astoria are pay ing $2.60 .a pound for the twine that goes Into their nets. It costs them nearly $400 (ot a. net; and, In the salt water, the net ' lasts only two years, i 1 . This is one reason for the hieh price of fish. j'li The Dawning New Day ; At . the , request of Governor Pierce and with the influence of Superintendent Johnson S. Smith of the state penitentiary,' the Ore gon legislature at its session that ended. last month passed a revolvi ng fund law,. setting aside $100,- 000, and making available nearly $50,000 more, and allowing of the borrowing ; of, stiU- $50,000 more for -buying raw, materials and pay ing the cost of labor in working them up; a law fashioned after the Minnesota' law; designed to put the Oregon prison on a self supporting basis through the op eration of it industries ' " And. the - most important of these industries Is expected to be the present'flax Industry, improv ed and enlarged for turning flax into fiber, spinning .tow, nphol- stery tow, and dairy feed ; and threshing the seed five articles of -commerce- ; j . And, more important still, it ls expected to secure machinery for the spinning at the orison nf sack twine and later on seine and other twines, and perhaps for the man ufacturing of rngs, crash. Xoweling and other artices .. ... J .; Still More Important Still more - Important, this will bo the beginning,, of a jjejnonstca Ion on a firmbasis -of the possi bilities of a great flax and linen Capital City Nursery Co. ; 426 Oregon Bldg. Phone 75 t - Industry here; using millions of capital and employing scores 'of thousands of men and women the year through. , . The penitentiary plant will this year take. 2000 tons of flax; and likely more than that, many tons wiU be raised in the Salem dis trict; part of it to be treated by the Turner plant, and perhaps some ot it at the. Rick real 1 plant of the co-operative association; Rickreall, Polk county about eight miles west of Salem. . Flax and Cotton The United States department of agriculture recently made the statement that in 1921 the boll weevil fatally affected 79 per cent of the cotton grown in the United States and actually prevented the production of 6.27J.O0O baled. Said the Portland Oregonian in a recent editorial article: L"Probably it is too gloomy forecast that paints the complete destruction of cotton, growing in the United States," but fruit grow ers, ior example, wno nave seen entire districts in the older states abandoned to the ravages of bor er, moth and scale will be coo wise to disparage, as they Seu to do the value of scientific research and united action for pest sup pression. Scarcely a standard commodity is now immune. ; The corn borer, smut and rust in wheat, the alfalfa weevil and a myriad of other insidious j work ers threaten our food supply at its source. The' isolation which was the pioneer farmer's protection against spread of plant disease has given way to conditions which de mand co-operative measures of the highest type." "Is Cotton Declining: May Lin en Come In " Under the above heading The Statesman of February 24th had the following editorial article: "Southern- Kansas, , Kentucky and Missouri are going into cotton culture this season on a much lar ger scale' than usual, encouraged toy the advancing price for that staple, v The only fly in the oint ment is the prevalence of the boll weevil. As a rule in the south arsenic is the chief weapon used for fighting the pest, while plant ers have relied on the negro for applying the dope. But in these States' the colored man hesitates to undertake the job- One would naturally suppose, this was be cause he disliked handling the poi son. But it isn't.. He believes it is God's will that the bug shall exist, r Religious scrupies' have ta ken many strange forms, put none stranger than this." Los Augeles Times. " :';-' " The advancing prices of cotton are likely to prevail for a long time. . j A recent newspaper report re cords a continuance and a growth of the exodus of negroes from the south that has been going on for a" long time ; K especially, since - the World War unsettled the colored population of that region, giving its memoers opportunities for ta bor in the, north, and showing about 500,000. of the young men of the race something of the out side world and its allurements and opportunities. This report says 50,000' negroes have left the cot ton: districts of the south, within the past few 'months ; p Spreading lively alarm, among the cotton producers concerning the growing lack of labor for cul tivating and harvesting ': their crops. : . ' ; L Then the boll weevil has In creased its damages 50 per cent In the past year- Notwithstanding the millions of dollars of government money de moted to i the attempted" eradica tion of the destructive pest.'; All this is having an effect up on the prices of cotton goods of all kinds: on the Drices of all. the various articles of commerce in which cotton Is used. -1 Spring Planting; Time -Let us supply anything you need in Fruit;' Nut and Or narnental Trees and Plants r'x ' ;, Order Now ELFST What interest have the people of the Salem district in this news (a theKe developments?'. , A They may hold eventualities of great interest to our people. " ' If the mounting prices of cotton shall go on Indefinitely, which within the possibilities,. there will naturally result a search for cot ton substitutes And tk,6 vegetable fiber that will make the best and cheapest sub stitute for coton is flax fiber. It is more than a substitute. -Ar ticles made from flax fiber have five to ten times the strength and wearing and enduring qualities of similar articles made from cot ton. ' ; Flax fiber is instrinsically worth a great deal more thaft cotton pound for pound, and the price of cotton is already up around the price of the best flax fiberaround 30 to 33 cents a pound, and away above spinning tow, which is (now around 17 cents a pound. - Spot cotton was quoted at $29i80 pound in the New York market yesterday. If this trend shall continue, and if the people of the Willamette valley will become active in push lng their own interests, it will j not be long til all the availabe acreage of this- valley will be used fo raising fiber flax. This would mean linen mills here; and spin ning mills and many, -kinds of manufacturing plants using: flax products, and incidentally hemp products; 'for ow richer lands here are capable of , producing vast quantities' of hemp, running two or three times the tonnage to the acre of flax; and capable of be ing used also in many ways, as substitute for cotton." v , The Oregon penitentiary, thanks to the Legislature that adjourned early yesterday morning. Will now be in position to work up the pro duct of a larger acreage of flax than has yet been grown in the Saem district; and soon to carry its manufacture into higher pric ed articles than has been done heretofore. r So far so good. But this will be only pointing the way to the greater things tlTat may be accomplished in this allur ing field. What Salem needs now is. men with a vision of what may be accomplished in the flax, and linen business. Men- who will help to spread abroad the news of the great future to be found in this i field- . There are greater things bound up here than in all our forests; than in all our fruits than in all our grains and grasses and vegetables; than la pur min erals. Here is the biggest thing in Oregon in the making. Here are profitable investment oppor tunities for millions of capital. Here are labor opportunities or hundreds of thousands of men and women. Here are city build ers; the magnet that fs destined to draw from the wide world annual ly . many millions ot dollars-to be spent here in making our state the richest among all the sisterhood of states. : The Stateman expects to publish a series of articles on this subject from time to time, on this page.' Another Statesman Editorial ' The Statesman of March 3 car ried the 'following editorial ar ticle: V ., . The Statesman of last Saturday called editor iar attention to the fact that the price of cotton is get ting up away Jjeyond the price of spinning fiaxtow, and nearly as high as the best flax fiber . ? And still going higher. Cotton in the New York market a week ago yesterday was $29.80 a pound; Ittwas $30V75 a pound yesterday. . The price of spihnning flax tow here is now 17 cents a pound, and of the best flax fiber 33 cents., a pound- ' ,) , , ' This rise in the price of cotton r 1 is due to two things, among many others : r.'v -v il v - ----- I ,:, ., The states south of the MaSdn anJ Dixon line ar deeply, wrought up over the emigration of their negroes to the north.. Not sJnce tlexwalr has there been such an exddus, and the full significance of the negroes' uddenparture from their homeland Is! shown by the fact that they are taking their depart ure just when Uhe weather is coldest in Yankee land. They are essentially children of the sun, ana the urge is great and deep that will make them move to the lands of blizzards and cold during the winter season. ' The departure has wrought ha voc in the cotton, fields, with the result that the Memphis Cottosq Exchange has asked congress io amend the immigration laws 9f that laborers may be brought from i Europe to the cotton belt. The day of poorly paid skilled la bor seems to have ended in the sooth, although some states ajfe endeavoring 10 lorce tneir dibck workmen to remain at nome. . , The southern states have falJ ed to make provision for the f ucation and improvement eg their negro population, with the result that white farmers i and plantation owners are today fac ed with the prospect of financiai ruin " and many large agricul tural districts haye1 their lands lying untilled and idle. , The southerners .have always insisted that the solution of the negro problem was a southern matter. but up to date have done nothing about it. 1 Many tnings are wortnng to gether to make the time propi tious for the development of the flax and linen industries in the Salem distrct. " . J The mechanical puller will allow of large fields with no more expense than the harvest ing of grain. Other mechanical inventions are coming in that will cheapen the preparation ot the iflax straw for manufacturing. and manufacturing processes here f ill be in the most favorable lo cation favored- by nature, with; "soft" water and mild climate. and an atmosphere singularly free from "electricity," important in spinning fine threads. There is a favorable protectve tariff on -flax manufactures now -i And in fact all things are working together for the making of Salem a world center in flax and linen manufactures AH things but the organizers I ? F- " " The Best . , tt u I I A- . T'" l. 1 Lr : I 7r 4. . and the capital, and they can be had, it we keep at - it everlast ingly. ' " " ' ' . - Might Go On and On Tho writer might go on and on , The subject is almost inex haustible. The price or cotton is still tising. The avorage "price of cotton in the United ' States for I9rt.r. wan 9.S cents a DOUDd. 'It was 10.01 in 1915. It was 35.V in 1921. It is Utely to go higher than the best npinnng flax at any tme. And to stay higher Listen: , ' Kmil Hansett. who has charge Lpf the penitentiary flax plant worked up all the 1922 crop ia small supply), disposed of it, and received the money for the pro- duct, and realized a profit oi S5 per cent on the cost; and he paid $1 a day for prison la bor, 75c "going to the state and 2'5c to the men; and he charged up every item . of overhead And ,thes prices for fiber and tow were lower their than now; a. goodrdeal lower for tow. If ahat profit can be made irpm rthe- primary manufacturing pro- ovsc" "--.- what profits may be made from the' spinning of frax here taking 33-cent fiber, for instance, and making $2.60 seine twine, and doing it at a cost of aroud 10 to 15 cents a pound. i Then think of the higher realms of linen manufacturing. Think of the 33-cent fiber in your linen handkerchiefs - for which you -pay C0c; if you can buy one of pure linen -and that meas $2400 a pound! And laces are still higher; very much higher. Flax has been, grown on Sa- lem district land in such tonnage; over five tons to -the acre, that one acre has produced over a ton of the best fiber; say about 200 pounds to the ton. That is unusual. But it can be done; again. Figure It up, and see fcnt a million dollars worth ot linen handkerchiefs might be taken from about five acres ot Salem district land. And per haps twq - ot three, million dol lars' werth or more of laces. Bat mako it 10 acres; or make it 20 or more, and where will you find such yields from land plus labor and scientific and mechan ical knowledge and profit on capital Invested; where, outside of a gold or copper or lead or diamond mine? 1 " LA D D & B U S H Bankers Salem .. . - V , Fire and Burglar-proof Vault in the Northwest And these all work out; pinch out. Flax growing on the same land will last forever; with - proper, rotation; the same rotation that careful farmers give to potatoes or grain or corn or vegetables, ..most of which are more , exhausting to the land than Is the . growing of flax. FIFTY TWO BASIC INDUSTRIES OF SALEM (Continued from page 3.) will compare favorably with the best districts in the world. ' : An Industrial Center Salem -has industrial dinner bucket brigades drawing more than $3,000,000 a year; and her total payrolls axe perhaps above $7,000,000; perhaps i exceeding any city in the country in her per capita wage earnings; her popu lation being a little, more than 20,000. : White coal Is' the big gest thln for any city; and this is being accentuated more every day. : Edison says electricity-: Is the only thing in the world that is growing cheaper. Our houspt will soon be heated by electricity; and they will be cooled by It, and lighted, and .everything that can be done mechanically will be per formed by the currents that come over the wires. There are a al ready mapped out available unde veloped water powers iin.streami near to Salem amounting to 130,- 218 horse power. - Some of these powers will cost , comparatively little to develop. This will mean cheap power for Salem. The b'g gest thing that can happen to Sa lem Is the harnessing of these powers; and the time, is not far distant. Salem is bound to be come a great manufacturing city. There are many other reasons, but cheap hydro-electric power is the biggest of them all. Wood Working , One-third of all th undevelop ed water power in the United States Is located in the Columbia River basins. Half the water pow er of this country is in the three Pacific coast states. One-fifth of the standing timber. in. the United States is in Oregon. Manufactur ing plants will have to come where the timber is; and they are bound to come where the water power Is. No factory can run without wood; even steel mills have to have box es and crates. Salem has a num ber of flourishing wood working plants, and she is bound to get Oregon L V, ' ' ' ! f I - 5 i fur:.: - Our Paper Mill Salem has the most up-to-dati pajrr mill in the world. The fix t -carf paper was shipped Septc. ber 30, 1920; and -the mill wa in1 full operation, after IS moclL of building. However, more am more machinery is being added, tomake the finest grades of fun!' cy papers; sulphite processes or'' for the present but wood pu. process to be added before Ioej. ' The Oregon Pulp and Paper com pany Is the corporate name, and a1 great deal of the capital, for bota common and preferred stock, li local capital. Major F. W. Lead better and Chas.'K. Spauldiog an i among the moving spirit of tLi great enterprise. Major Leadbet-1 ter says Oregon, Is in the center, of the greatest wood pulp supp!y in the world. So we may conn. t dently look forward to constant expension of this great mill; and to the construction of morefpape-' mills. 1 NEVT-JR TASTED ' ; : y bartlktt veavu Geo.rge Washington may have crossed the Delaware but he nev- er had the pleasure of eating a fine . Bartlett pear,, such as grow. to perfection around Salem. For the year he died, 1799 a man by the name of Bartlett brought 1 from England Just one pear tree', and planted It on ' his farm near Dorchester, Mass. And frca this one tree came the faruouj Bartlett pear, by far the leadir., , pear on the Pacific coast. The, BaYtlett pear was first grown la J1770 by a"Mr. Williams in Eng- lana. But. after Enock Bartlett planted his one tree in 1788, it has always been known as tha ' Bartlett. . . .'- . There are. millions waiting herd , for v the men who will organlxs the linen Industry in the Salect district. This will come .'la time but It can be hurried tiy the right men,,' to their "great 1 profit. 1 , : . J Of course, Salem is the Cherry. City of the World. The . four greatest sweet cherries of the world were born- here: Bint. Lambert, . Black Republican and Long Stemmed Waterhonse. And the Royal Anne and other great cherries, attain' greatest perfec tion here. -1 i : ... . many more; including, factories , , i ' c ' 1 -J ' 'i - t i I '.