THE OREGON STATESMAN, SALEM; OUtfUON
THURSDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 23 1924
GIDEON STOLZ CO.
' Manufacturers of
I. - , . i -
. Dependable Brand :
Lime-Sulphur Solution
T brand" yon n Aeptmi on for
Prices "tipoit application
1 f .
Factory nr corner ; of
Summer and Mill St. . i '
I galrin. Oregon, i -
Wa Ara Oat AfUr Two K&iouj
1 Wa are bow paying ovrr three
quartern of a million dollars a year
to the .dairymen of tbia section for
milk. - i
"Marion Butter"
; Is the Best Butter j
More .Cows and Better Cows
Is the crying need !
MARION CREAMERY
& PRODUCE CO.
SalemfOre. Phone 2488
Next Week's Slogan
- - . 1 ' H i ;
Subject Is
01 BOMB FILBERT IP10USTRY
FU1X IflSW WIlL BIG Mil , ; i
lILUOilSBUtLrFOllililiE
It Will Become the Greatest Single Industry in Oregon,
and Perhaps in a Short Time -A General Review of
the History and Progress of Flax Growing and Manu
facturing. Condensed Into Comparatively Short Space
i
(The following article wag witr
en by the Slogan editor of Tbe
tatesman for- the issue of the
'aclfic Homestead (published
rom 'The Statesman building) of
June 12. . It contains a concise re
view Lof the history and develop--aent!
of the flax industry:)
"Old things are passed away; 1e
iold, all things are become new."
' . 2 Corinthians, 5:17.
In the flax Industry; all old
-Lings are not passed away, and
Butter-Nut
The Richer, Finer LoaT
cherry city
bakery;
Onr Idetl; .".. Oar Method:
Th Bef Only Copratioa
Ccpild City;
CvcpeittiyeCre!nery
- A non-profit ertraaization owned .
entirely by the dairymen. Give s
a trial. - j . -
Maanfaetnrer of Bntterrnp Batter
"At yonr uroeer " i '
t
Pboaa 299
137 8. Com'l St.
DIXIE HEALTH DREAD
Ask Your Grocer
For Years
.And Years
' The Statesman has been
supplying the wants of the
critical Job prfnting trade
Proof positive we are
printers' of worth and merit.
Modern equipment and
ideas are the ones that get
by.- ": . .1 '
Statesman
Publishing
Company
i.
rhone 3 or SS3
215 S. Coml St.
S E L'LIN G SALEM DI STRICT
Devoted
a
The Way to Build Up jYour Home
' Is to Patronize
Selling Salem District is a Continuation of the Salem Slogan and
will not; but some old things have
passed and others are passing, and
more will pass. But the miracle
plant that grows from the seed
in 50 to 70 to 90 days and pro
duces a fiber that; last "forever."
for all practical purposes, is the
same as it was in ancient Egypt;
excepting for improvements made
by modern methods of selection
and cultivation. After the : man
ner of II. G. Wells, but very brief
ly.' take the following "Outline of
History," applied to the flax in
dustry: ., j j I ' -
A Long History
Flax Is the oldest known veget
able fiber used in the making of
articles for wear and household
use. It was grown In ancient
Egypt. Fine linens are found in
the tombs in the "Valley of the
Kings," - where the mummified
bodies of the great houses (phar
axhs) were put away 6000 years
or so ago and samples of these
fabrics, many of them preserved
In the British museum, show weav
es that our modern machinery
and methods cannot imitate. The
narrowness of these textures
shows that the shuttle was not
known to the ancient Egyptians;
the width was limited to the
length of the human reach. , But
the shuttle was known : in the
time of Job, told i of In the Book
of Job. supposed to be the oldest,
book in the world, for Job is re
ported to have said "My days are
swifter than a weaver' shuttle,
and" are Bpent without hope."
(Job 7:6.) : . i..'. j j; i .
Came the massacre of St. Bar
tholomew;; came a time (around
1685) when persecutions sent
colonies of Huguenot weavers from
France,, to the north of Ireland;
came the slow development of the
now great linen industry of the
Belfast district. ! ; U
Belfast became'' the great llaen
city of the world, drawing her
supplied of fiber from Holland,
Belgium. France and other coun
tries, i including Russia: mostly
Russia, where she got the bulk of
it before the war, Ireland itself
producing only some 13 per cent
of it. And her hemp fiber from
Italy. f -.- ( :
All this made! Belfast a verp
rich, city; that part of Ireland a
verv rich section. '""
Then came cotton manufactur
ing on a large scale, and cotton
was largely substituted for linen.
This phase retarded the rapid
growth 6f the linen Industry, in
England, Belgium, France, Aus
tria and Germany, and in Scot
land; and in the Belfast district,
too but Belfast has held her own
and more, even ! in the face of
this fierce competition, despite the
fact that, she has "not succeeded in
her many i attempts to much en
large the home growth of the raw
materials in Ireland; depending
on Imported fiber.'
So much for the 'Outline, of
History." : j
The Xew Things
But little was done in all the
long years towards discovering
and, adopting new processes; ar
riving at shortcuts.
But great changes have come in
the past seven years; are coming
every year now. i -
Seed selection! and improved
methods of cultivation have
brought and are bringing higher
production per acre of fiber, and
a longer, betteri fiber. And more
and better flaxseed.
Machine pulling of flax has
come One Vassot .(Canadian)
' flax pulling machine operated suc-
io -Showing' Salem District People thb Advantages
- n
Opportunities of
HI til
Your
Home People ; 3 '
This campaign of publicity for community upbuilding has been made
possible by the advertisements placed on these pages by our public
spirited business men men whose untiring efforts have builded our
present recognized prosperity and Who are ever striving for greater and
yet greater progress as the years go by. ) ' ? , j' ' j
"i. " - v .-
i A close-up picture of the same flax grown in 1923 on the A. E. Bradley farm near
Turner; showing height of the flax. The men are six feet or over tall. They are,
treading from left to right, Col. W. B. Bartram, Ottawa, Canada; A. E. Bradley,
fAumsville, Oregon, and Robert Crawiord, superintendent of the Oregon state flax
; industry. ; ; . : . f ' ;:
cessfully In the Salem, Oregon,
district last 'year. - There will be
13 of these machines for the com
ing harvest in the Salem district.
The pulling price has been and is
now $20 an acre, with additional
costs in getting and maintaining
hand labor. Machines will reduce
the cost, in. time, to $6 an acre,
and less.
Short-cuts are being used in
deseeding i threshing) the flax.
Retting used : to require six
weeks or more. Warm i water
(tepid water) retting was discov
ered by British experts during the
war. . It reduces the time to four
to five days makes possible put
ting in and taking out of the
tanks and; retting the flax in a
week. (There is an interesting
story herd, for which the writer(
has not room in this issue.)
Short-cuts have been invented
in scutching the flax after retting
and drying; separating the fiber
from the straw.
1 (Still shorter cuts are known,
eliminating retting and drying and
scutching;; taking the fiber direc
tly from the flax straw,, from the
"green tow." Henry Ford Is
experimenting on this. He is rais
ing 600 abres of flax on his own
old home farm in Michigan, near
Detroit, this year. He expects to
manufacture linens for his car cov
erings and! seat coverings, etc. etc.,
and to produce it half the present
cost of flax: fabrics making, too,
articles that will outlast cotton
articles Inj the ration of three to
eight to one.)
There re; short cuts and new
methods ih preparing the fiber for
spinning. J '
There are new invention in spin
ning . thej ... "yarns" for i making
twines and threads and linen
cloth of all; kinds.
There aire new ways of weaving
the cloth.) 1
New ways of bleaching the cloth
to make it white for napkins and
table cloths and handkerchiefs
and towels, etc, etc. This, process
formerly ook a year, and requir
ed large acreages of "greens," for
the bleaching had to be done by
exposure to the weather; the rain
and sunshine and snow and storm.
Now it is done chemically in al
most a twinkling and done bet
ter. ;
There are new ways of making
"damasks"jor putting figures into
the cloth and pictures and names
of railroads and hotels, etc. Won
derful new ; ways, vastly cheapen
ing the processes. 1 '
And new ways of dyeing, in the
yarn and,! in the cloth. And new
ways of hemming and making
laces, etc.. etc. ; .
jTIie New Time
Nearly! "all things are become
new," orj are becoming new,4 In
tbe linen i Industry. New and
cheaper. This Is the age of ma
chinery; Jthe age of invention, of
short-cpts. ! j' !
What does this all mean? ; It
means ' that linen articles will' be
cheaper In the markets than cot
ton articles;
Th" Is no boll weevil in flax.
None in hemp. No negro exodus
will affect the flax pulling ma-
- !
; and Its Cities
Town
Pep and Progress Campaign
v
1:1
: J 'J r
Ail
chines, drawn or pushed Jy trac
tors; running, if necessary, .,24.
hours a day. ? -
j It means that a $100,000,000
annual industry will I be ; transfer
red to western Oregon and Wash
ington and northern California;
with no" telling wh$t extensions
into Idaho and other; states. The
$100,000,000 a yearfis about the
amount we are now sending out of
the United States, for the manu
factures and by-products of flax.
The $100,000,000 annual indus
try will mean a million new people
employed, directly . and indirectly,
here at home. Hpn T, B. Kay,
former state treasurer of Oregon
and nominee Cor that- office at the
coming November election recently
made that very pfedjetion, as ap
plied to western Oregon alone, ad
ding that the Willamette valley
will some day hate la population
of ten millions. i " .
! The $100,000,000 annually will
grow far beyond ttiaM figure, when
tbe time comes that linens will
be cheaper than cottons in the
markets. and it is cqming, and is
not very far away.
i As to the , Present
; For the Slogan Issue of the Ore
gon Statesman, Salem, of October
25 last the present! writer, in
editorially summarizing the flax
industry, wrote, in part, as fol
lows ; ; f . ! ; -' 5.
"Salem lis now, the fiber flax
center of the United; States; the
center of the only district in North
America where the? flax can be
grown yielding a fiber suitable
for manufacturing into fine linens
such as is grown; In ; parts of
Ireland and Belgium;; and in small
sections of Francej Holland and
Russia, and goes to the linen mills
of Ireland. .. i
"The industry here Is so far
confined to the growing of flax
for the state plant at the Oregon
penitentiary, where it. is made into
the fibers of the different grades
and into upholstering tow, with
seed and dairy feed by-products.
There is no waste, excepting the
pithy part of the siajk. i The plan
is to Install spinning inachinery
at the penitentiary plant, to make
seine and sack sewing twines
;'And when thajt Consummation
comes about this institution will
be made 1 self supporting; and
more. The industry will yield a
profit that will admit Of erecting
better buildings and Installing new
machinery, besides! flaying a small
wage to all the workers in the
Institution f f 1 -
"Working .within the walls, and
giving a high rate joff reformations,
like that of the Minnesota peni
tentiary at Stilwater, where the
rate, 85 per cent; I the highest
in the world for such an institu
tion. - ' - J "
"This Is all coming about In
regular order. Its Consummation
is in the near future; within two
to four years; perhaps before the
end of 1924. There Is no doubt
of its feasibility the only ques
tion ,1s good management and full
cooperation by all concerned. The
new revolving fund iw of that
institution gives full authority.
, "But the working of all the
Their
Owe
and Towns'
The Surest Way to! Get More and Larger Industries
; Is to Support Those You Have j
' "
available men in the Oregon peni
tentiary, a sufficient number to
make the institution self support
ing, will take care of the product
of hot more than 2500 to 3000
acres of land; not a great increase
in acreage over the land that was
in. flax 4. be. present year; producing
something above 2000 tons; yield
ing! the 'growers about $80,000.
- "With the spinning operations
going on at the penitentiary, and
that institution made self support
ing; there will be a good start
towards the . full development ' of
thej industry
. ffRut it will be only a start. '
"Linen handkerchiefs are now
selling in the Salem, stores, and
in -the stores throughout'the Unit
ed States, at prices that mean' $24
a ' pound for flax fiber.! That
means $24,000 an ( acre for ; the
product of our flax land -for it
will produce flax that will make
1000 pounds of fiber to the ace;
in jmany cases it has produced
more didvproduce more this year.
if'There is no other crop grown
annually , on the land that is cap
able, year after year, of producing
such great values to the acre, with
the aid of capital and machinery
and skill and, management carry
ing the raw material through all
the processes of manufacturing up
to the point where it may be
placed on the shelves of the mer
chant1 .- "A ,' ' -. '! -.:
"So that a comparatively small
acreage of Salem district land
may be made to supply the flax
for an annual industry of $100,
000,000. The, full, use and proper
rotation of crops on land in the
Salem district that Is now idle' or
fallow the slacker acrescould
be made to supply the raw ma
terials for such an Industry. T
"We produce the flax that
makes the fiber for the fine linens
and for the valuable by-products.
We have the "soft" water that is
necessary for the proper retting to
get the strongest and best fibers.
We -have the air freelfrom "elec
tricity" necessary for' the fine
spinning. We have the climate
that will admit of manufacturing,
the whole year through. '
"In short, nature has done her
full part in making this the fine
fiber flax district, and; the twine
and thread and linen manufac
turing district the center for
the whole world. . Everything is
here. : " i . i "' ; i . j.
"Nothing lacking
, "Everything but the 'organizing
genius to bring about this eon
sumption. And this will come;
or It will. be. developed here, soon
er or later., The stage is all set
-was set in the beginning when
the hills were heaved up and the
valleys laid down, and; the ocean
currents directed. ,
"Ever since 1876. at the Phila
delphia Centennial, when flax
grown near Turner, Oregon, took
first prize over the ! competitors
from All countries, on all nine
points considered, ' it ' has been
known that the producing question
was settled in our favor
"And . an j Irish manufacturer
said when that award - was made
that he could take couple of
Cbtan
try
pounds of Oregon flax and spin a
threads that would Teach around
the world! . i . ; . jL
"Thfe rising price of cotton is
working ; for , our flax . industry.
The. price of cotton is now close
to the .price of the best flax fiber;
cotionils close to 30 vents a pound;
and flax fiber around 33 cents a
pound-j 1 , ;' ' ; .
"And a Hnfcn towel or sheet will
outlast a dozen cotton towels or
sheets! In many ways, such as in
tbe( making of wings, for airplanes,
cotton! cannot compete at all.
"Linen is the strongest woven
fabric! It is the most enduring.
It Will, last almost "forever." It
is found in the Egyptian tombs,
finer than out- weavers can fashion
it done under a process that is
a lost ! art. A Nearly every old
American family has s4mples of
flax manufacture hundreds of
years bid; ' ;
"So I the negro exodus from the
south,) and the boll weevil, are
working for Salem as the capital
or the! world's flax and linen and
hemp Industries."
True of Big Territory
Wh4t was said In the editorial
article in the Oregon Statesman,
quoted above,' is true of any part
of Western Oregon, western Wash
ington' or northern California, in
the possible production of the fine
flax f(ber; , and In the. manufac
turing of it; wherever there is
the "soft" water to be found.
It is only that the state flax
plant 'at the Oregon penitentiary
has so far limited the) industry
to thej Salem d-istrict. ' i
Since that "article was written.
there has come af difference of
$120- ton in the. prices of cotton
fiber and flax f ibr, in the Irish
market. The flax fiber sells there
$120 iv ton cheaper than cotton
fiber. The price at the Oregon
penitentiary plant is now 42 cants
a ponnd for long .fiber; . around
$100 a ton for ; upholstering tow;
$2.37 a hundred j pounds for
flaxseed sold to the linseed oil
mills; Ifive and half cents a pound
for, whole flaxseed : sold to the
wholesale and manufacturing drug
trade, jand six and a half cents a
pound ifor ground flaxseed Isold to
the drug trade for poultlcesrshort
line; spinning tow is 'worth around
20 cents a pound; for sack twine
and- the makingsof toweling., The
bolls jchaff) from the threshing
are now being burned at the state
flax plant, making a saving of
about 5 $15 a day for fuel. But
they make good stock feed,! espe
cially dairy feed, and they will be
sold a,nd used for this purpose.
and the shlves will : be blown to
the . boiler rooms ' and burned In
stead, j The shiyes are the waste
from- the scutching;- separating
the fiber from the woody; part, j
Linen Mills Coming
Negotiations are nowj afoot for
a linen mill in Salem. It . will
spin the yarn from the fiber and
make j linen goods of various
grades for the general market. It
will likely spin more than enough
yarn for its own needs, and sell
t -
I
The Vessot flax pullerr thirteen of which machine are owned in the
Salem district. This shows his puller working on the farm of P. E. Thomas
son, near Turner, the past season. This machine pulled some flax at less
than: $3 an acre, not
lVhy suffer with Stomach
DR.
P.
j
Ifonrs lO to 12 a.
it io another mill ownf r, a spe
clalty manufacturer. j
There -is still -another - prospec
tive mill headed by aj man, pro
posing to do spinning i of yarns
only at first, and perhaps also
spinning the yarns into" twines
for various trades, including the
making of seine twines; ,
So much for all that. And
once the mUls begin to come, there
will be. many of them, j But first
the rawi; materials had - to be
guaranteed. That has been done.
There are many peculiar things
about flax, not the least being the
fact that, kept in the dry, it gains
in value with age; gains in fiber
value about 10 per cent if kept
one year. It may be kept Inde
finitely. ; This quality! will help
In conserving the supply of. raw
materials, once the industry -gets
to going strong. .1
As to the Grower ' ' ;
The state flax plant will pay
the growers this year $36.50 a
tori for their long line, fiber;
szi.50 for their short fiber suit
able for upholstering tow. The
grower can produce nibTe than two
tons to the acre of long line fiber.
But it would be well to let some
of the growers themselves tell
their stories. Writing for the
October 25 last issue of the Ore
gon Statesman, the following are
some of them mostly abbreviat
ed j to save space herei
j From a New Grower
S. B. -Mills, Aumsville; Or., said.
among other things:
"I am young in the flax grow
Ing business having gf own only
tw6 x:rops, and they have more
than doubled any other crop in
value that I have raised. I be-j
lieve the flax growing industry is
fast becoming the leading farmj
Industry in this section; of the
country. . ;f'-
TI believe it Is the most profiti
able rotation crop we have." ;
140 An Acre Clear 1
H. C Porter of Aumsville
wrote: ; j
'.'Eureka At last the farmers
have found a profitable crop in
the raising of flax, There was
raised on, my farm this sjeason two
miles southeast of Aumsville five
acres of flax which , brought al
net profit of $50 an apre. My
neighbor joining me qn the : east
planted 2d acres from which he
realized a net profit of $1000.!
My neighbor joining me on the
west had eight acres on. newer
land which brought him' a net
profit of about $80 Jan ; acre..
Others of my neighbors did al
most if not equally as well." j
Mr. Porter sent an affidavit of
D. j F. 1 East burn, testifying to the
fact that on a little less! than two
acres 'of his Mill creek bottom
land i he raised a crop ojf flax last
year that netted him about $140
an j acre clear of all expense. It
was new land, being he sixth
crop raised on it; but no fertilizer
was used. ';,''. ' f -J . - , :
: $197.42 From One! Acre
W. Jay Denham, Turner, -Oregon,
wrote: ! j .'-j
"I took and measured off one.
. :" . ,' . ..."J, ,
. Ai' '; ' ' S' - - ' - '-.
counting overhead.
We;Wffl,
Give Our
Best
Effort
f i
At all times to assist In
any possible way the devel
opment i of the fruit and
berry Industries In this val
ley. !!
Oregon
Packing
Co.
Trouble WTien Chiropractic will
Remove the Cause
Your Health Begins When
I You Phone 87
1 For An Appointment!
' : " ' ! - ' : !
O. L. SCOTT
S. C. Chiropractor
itay Laboratory 414 to 419 U. S. National
Bank Building
m. and 2 to 6 p. m.
acre of ground which was in flax
and5 after pulling the flax and
leaving in the field for ten days
till thoroughly cured, I hauled It
to the warehouse, and It weighed
five tons,' 975 pounds, which
brought me $45 a ton, or a total
of $244.92 "off of the one acre."
The total cost of that acre,
wrote Mr. Denham, was $47.50,
including $4 for renl of the land
and $25 for pulling, leaving a net
profit of $197.42., That was. a
few years i ago, when flax prices
were higher than now; also ex
penses were higher.
Mr. Denham wrote that he net
ted above all , expense last year
about $50 an acre for all his flax.'
(The twelve new flax pulling
machines, j spoken of above, ar
rived in time for harvest, and six
of them were taken out and work
ed throughout the season; the
other six being still In the hands
of the Btate flax plant at the
penitentiary. The farmers who.
had contracted to buy them found
that, on account of! their short
crops, due to the unseasonably dry
weather, that they could not ful
fill their agreements. These six
extra new machines In the hands
of the state will no doubt be pur
chased by the growers next year
and used in the harvest. The
seven machines used gave good
accounts ot themselves. In some'
cases, they pulled flax at; less
than $3 an, acre, not counting
overhead or capital investment in
the machines. The machines were
sold to the farmers at $2250 each,
actual cost to the state, and some
of the machines more than earn
ed their cost this year, to say
nothing of the fact that without
their use it would have been
next to Impossible to get the har
vesting done at all by hand. This
would have been more manifestly
the case had there been a normal
crop; and It will be evident in
future years here. The Portland
Chamber of Commerce assisted in
paying for the machines by ad
vancing $12,000 in cash. Excep
ting for the spot cash payment,
the cost of the machines to the
growers would have been $2600
each. Machine pullinsr will ko
further than any other one thing
towards developing flax ; growing
liere on a large scale. It gets
the industry away from the neces
sity of producing flax for the fiber
In small tracts. In order that mem
bers of the families of the farm
ers and their neighbors may do
the pulling. - Also, as will be seen.
machine pulling will be done at
a fraction of the cost of pulling
by hand. One machine may take
the place ;of 80 hand pullers
more, in fact, In' cases where. In
some years, machines will be
equipped with lights and run night
and day. I Something should be
added to this article concerning
the fact that the flaxseed oil is
the linseed oil of commerce. It
is the only "drying oil" : that is
produced or has ever been pro
duced on a commercial scale, and
(CoaUnned n past )
it vk if
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