The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-29


Several attempts have been made in
these columns to attract the attention OF
Western Washington land owners and
enterprising citizens to the rare adapt
ability OF our soil and climate for fiax cul-
ture, and the great inducements-largely
enhanced by the new tarid-for adding
linen manufacture to our many and varied
industries.
And now comes Mr.. J. 8. Davis, Of
Hoiyoke, Mass, with arguments to the
same effect. and it is subject upon which
none are qualified to speak more authorize
lively. Few men in the United States
have had larger experience or have been
engaged In the manufacture Of textile
fabrics 90 long - he. Az far back % 1850
Mr.. Davis successfully conducted thread
mill at Portsmouth, N. H., and in the fol-
lowing year became agent and business
manager for the then newly established,
but since famous. Lyman mills. of Hol-
yoke. In 1852 be introduced lawn weaving
into this country, In which line the Eng
lish had previously monopolized the
market
During oil Of these years he has expert
mented largely with flax, In the growing
of which and in linen manufacture he has
long been satisfied that our country has
no reason to be dependent on foreign pro-
ducers or manufacturers. To his mind
these facts have always appeared patent,
but with the enormously growing demand
and the increased protection afforded by
the new tariff the subject has been re-
moved beyond the range Of controversy.
For several years last past we have been
importing an average Of twenty millions
year in linens, the larger part from Ire
land. Scotland and Holland. The grow
ing Of fax and making Of linens is one Of
Ireland's principal industries, it is by all
odds the greatest industry of Scotland,
and IL il the one upon which the major
part Of Hollands people are wholly de-
pendent In all of those countries the
fiax growers and linen manufacturers rank
among the thriftiest portions Of the popu-
lation.
Not one Of those countries, nor the most
favored parts Of them, equals the Puget
Sound country in natural advantages for
fax culture and for its preparation for
market. No portion of any of them ex-
cells, If any of them equal. this section in
suitable sites and surroundings for linen
works. None of them compare in facilities
for convenient conveyance Of the finished
product to market, or in access to markets
capable of so great extension.
In the bleak, unfertile Northeastern
states for many years before and after the
Revolutionary war, nearly every farmer
| cultivated his patch of tiax, which their
boys gathered and prepared for use and
their wives and daughters spun and wove
| into cloth for home use and Outlines for
sale. And cultivated, gathered, prepared
| and manufactured in this crude manner
| the industry was found profitable.
What was done on a small scale In that
inhospitabie region may certainly be more
| proftably done on q larger scale in a
region so peculiarly adapted to IL as is
| this. That tiax could be made a pofita-
| bic crop Mr.. Davis entertains no sort of
| doubt, and he is quite sanguine that if
| farmers can be made to recognize the fact,
| and viii engage in the culture to suffi-
cient extent, capitalists viii be plentiful
| and eager to invest In the manufacture.
| This industry has been left to other
countries and the United States has been
| blind to the possibilities that lie before
| her." says this eminent authority, ana
adds. "The time is fully come when the
| American manufacturers should make the
linen this country now requires"
| II is time for Western Washington to
wake up and eclipse Holland, Scotland
and the north Of Ireland combined in the
| matter of tiax culture and linen manufae-
ture. II Is ''in the pins" and TWEEN ~ mil
| lions q year is worth reaching out for.