St. Paul daily globe., 1890-06-05
FLAX CULTURE,

Gen. GRANT. the assistant secretary
of war, did not probably make his pres
ent visit home to impress upon the
farmers of this state the Importance of
turning their attention from wheat and
other crops that have not been re mu-
nerative of late to that of flax. But his
interview, given in the GLOBE yeStar
day, shows that he has the impression
that the producers would avoid the con-
tinuance of error by growing flax i'll
order that the linen and other indus
tries based upon 1t may be developed
and the farmers may have staple
that will bring them thrift. The end is
laudable one, and, if feasible, should
be encouraged. 1t is not, however, by
any means a recent theory that this
country should grow flax and build
up all the industries based upon it. The
aid of the tariff has been invoked in
the enterprise, and the users of linen
and other flax fabrics have paid heavy
taxes in duties and to aid in develop
ing the reluctant infant The theory
has been that all that was needed to
induce farmers to grow flax was to eX-
clude all the foreign manufactures,
which would then spring up at home
and offer a lucrative market for the
straw. 1t is just twenty years ago that
the present duty of S. a ton was put on
flax straw. 1t had been on the free list
prior to that. Fifteen years ago fur
ther encouragement to the manufact-
urers of this article was given by put
ting a duty of 35 per cent on flax yarns,
increasing that on undreSsed flax from
SIS to $40 per ton, and raising dressed
flax all the way from SIS to $40 per
ton. Here was protection enough, one
would suppose, to satisfy the most ex-
acting. How have these high duties
built up and developed the manu-
factures? Twenty years ago there were
ninety tiaX-dressing establishments and
ten factories for making linen goods in
this country. Ten years ago these had
decreased to seventy-nine and five un-
der the operation of high duties on ma
terial. The linen factories in 1870, when
the material was free, or nearly so, EN-
ployed 1,746 hands and made goods to
the value of 81, 2,17S,000. Ten years of
protection for the producers reduced
the hands to 4S4 and the product to $602,-
600. There is good deal Of fax grown
for the seed in this state and Dakota,
but the straw is most generally
burned. The regions that grew flax
extensively before they had so
much protection have virtually aban-
doned it. The 27,oO0.0OO tons of flax
grown in 1870 had decreased to such an
extent that the census of 1880 fails to
enumerate it, but an outside party esti-
mated it at 100000 tons. In the light
of these facts the only chance to de-
velop the manufacture of linen and flax
products seems to be to place the raw
material on the free list. 1t is not as
sumed, however, that this would spe-
cially develop the manufacture, or in
duce the farmers to engage extensively
in the raising of fax. Two hundred
years of tariff or bounties most of the
time have failed to build up the i'll
dustry. Flax is conceded to be ex-
tremely exhausting to the soil, so
much so that in Great Britain, in
renting land, special provision is made
against the continuous or considerable
growth of flax. The farmers here will
not grow it very extensively even for
| the seed, and would not take the time
or trouble to preserve it in the way
requisite for linen manufacture. A great
amount of attention and labor is neces-
sary for this. 1t is the political agri-
culturists that dream dreams about
the great results to ensue from flax
culture. The only way its manufacture
can be greatly enlarged is by removing
all distractions in the way of obtaining
material at the lowest rates.