Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-31
RAMIE AND IT'S FUTURE.
A Plant From Which May Spring q
New and Great Industry.

Pedestrians on F street have been inter-
ested for some days past in q unique ex-
hibit in a show window Of "ramie" and
goods made from the fiber of that plant.
Little is known of ramie in this country,
but ii is beginning to be extensively used
by manufacturers of cloth, and there is a
decided tendency among certain classes OF
capitalists to establish a purely American
industry through the encouragement of the
growing of the ramie plant by farmers, and
its preparation into threads or cloth. Mr..
s. II. Slaught of California has recently
come to this city, aviug been urged by GER
tain interests to erect a ramie factory at
Alexandria, to be operated In connection
with college where general education In
this industry could be given and apprentices
trained thoroughly in the manufacture Of
ramie. He is decidedly enthusiastic on the
subject of the development of the raJnie
industry and predicts thai when the won
derful qualities of the fiber and the ease
of its growth are thoroughly understood 1t
will in a large measure cisplace vast i'm
portations of silk and WOOL and should
make inroadS on the output of cotton and
wheat, thus increasing the price Of that
raised.
Ramie is now grown extensively in China,
| Japan and India, Mexico Hawaii, Samoa,
| the West Indies and South America. In the
United States Ii has also been cultivated in
| fornia. The main supply comes now from
China, where for many years II has been
| used either singly in the preparation of
| fabrics or as an adulteration of silk goods.
The fiber is remarkably strong and srs-
| ceptible Of being woven into almost any
quality CT fabric from the coarsest goods to
| the finest textures, the latter of which rival
silks in delicacy. 1t can also be dyed In any
color. One great advantage claimed for the
ramie plant is that il gives several crops a
year, often producing as many as four, and,
being perennial, does not require rc-rooting
for sometimes as long as twenty years. II
is thus most economical occupant Of the
soil, and Mr.. Slaught contends that 1t can
be protitably cultivated when once the
farmers have come to know how to handle
ii and when the methods for its preparation
have been improved in the point of econo-
my. One great disadvantage so far has
been the difficulty in securing ways for
cleaning and ungumming the fiber in
ingly cheap labor of China, where this pro-
cess is all conducted by hand. The China
man produces only one or two pounds of
fiber per day, worth, perhaps, 10 cents.
Mr.. Slaught claims many advantages for
the ramie fiber over the flax and hemp, and
also a capacity to rival the best cocoon silk.
He believes that in the near future the cap
italists of the country will realize the Won
derful opportunities here given, not only
for successful competition with the Chi
rese importation, but for the establishment
of an industry that will become one of the
leading sources of revenue of the United
States. The uses of ramie, he says, are so
varied, its fabrics so universal in character,
that in a few years, with factories In good
working order and the farmers supplying
the stock regularly, ramie goods Will be
used by every class of people in this coun-
try Meanwhile he contends there must be
a single or divided process of Genonstra-
ton, in which the government should aid.