When a machine was invented in 1935 which would do for processing hemp as the cotton gin had done for processing cotton, the speculation was that hemp would become a billion dollar crop. Hemp fibre would be price competitive with cotton. It was already well known that it was superior to cotton in strength and superior to cotton as to being weed and pest resistant. It was also well known that one acre of hemp produced as much fibre for making paper as four acres of trees. Hemp is an annual crop.
Trees are a ten year crop.
Hemp would become the fibre of choice for paper as it had been from 1500 to 1850. Three things got in the way of hemp becoming the billion dollar crop. Some varieties of hemp had been used and abused for centuries in religious ritual or as a recreational stimulant. Hearst ordered some of his journalists to begin a campaign to paint hemp as a threat to society. They adopted a word from the Carribean islands which, if translated, means Mary Jane.