The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-21
ABANDONED INDUSTRIES
az FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

The department OF agriculture has re-
Gently decided to abandon the expert
ments it has been conducting in silk cui-
ture and make no further effort 10 eS-
I tabiish il - an American industry II
I cannot be made a paying industry, IL Is
stated, even If II be put IN the nahUs ~
school children and no pay De gwen 10.
their services. The federal government
has spent several hundred thousand uol-
I lars experimenting. 1t not only raised
I the worms and distributed eggs ana nter-
I atuTc free. but imported European eN-
perts. established a MILL bought the CO
/ cO0ns and, without charge, taught peopie
/ to reel the silk 1t having become eFl-
] dent that Americans could not compete
| with Italians working for ten 10 thlrly
cents day and with Chinese RECEIVING
/ four to eight cents q day, congress
stopped appropriations for SILK culture
/ q year ago and the agricultural depart
ment's plant has been shipped TO the
/ Philippines, IN the hope or ESTABLISHING
| an industry there
/ Few industries have such d romantic
1 history silk culture. Spasmodic al
! tempts nave been made to grow the SILK
WOrni and reduce raw silk in the United
states ever since the early days of the
| jamestown colony, and the numerous re-
I vlvals Of interest have been in dlrferent
| parts Of The country Benjamin Franklin
early became interested in the subject.
] This is not the only industry tried in
/ the United Stdtes only to be abandoned
later. One Of the most extensive OF these
/ is the vegetable dye industry. Formerly
| thousands of Americans were engaged in
| the cultivation of various plants, which
were used by thousands of other Ameri-
cans throughout the land N making dyes.
Now there IS practically none OF this work
/ being carried on. Thanks to the dis
cOveries Of German chemists, almost any
dye can lie made artiflcially from coal tar
products. in early times dyes and inks
were made in every household throughout
Nsa N-rn hut hair MI IA
confined 10 a few large factories, where
the synthetic chemist performs wonders
which IL was once thought nature alone
could perform.
striking illustration Of an abandoned
American Industry is the cultivation of
indigo. Tie people of South Carolina
entered upon this industry in lI4S. For
more than q century IL flOurished and the
indigo plantations Of the south furnished
a large prOpo, iiOn OF the worlds supply
Of this useful dye. During the civil war
the Carolina indigo industry was the
source Of much revenue TO the beleag-
uered confederate states.
The industry was carried on in a some
Wha- primitive manner. The indigo plant
is not blue in color, as is popularity
supposed, but green. ike most other
plants. The plants were cut and put into
large watts. to be covered with water,
where they were permitted TO ferment
the whole mass was then violently stirred
and beaten. This bruised the leaves Of
the plant promoting oxidation, which
latter process produced the blue color.
The blue YrecipiJate was then gathered,
the water drained off and the indigo re-
fired arc cured for the market.
How much more up-to-date seems the
process CT the synthetic chemist, who can
convert unlimited quantities Of naphtna-
lene, q coal tar deriyatiye, into artificial
indigo at less cost than il takes to pro-
duce the natural indigo. No wonder that
the synthetic process discovered in 1850
has practically resulted in transferring
the oTlds indigo market from England
to Germany, putting the American indigo
industry out OF business. and threatening
the destruction Of the indigo industry of
India. Java and the Philippine Islands
in the past the greatest sources Of sup
ply.
In 1876 it is estimated that 50 per cent
of the worlds supply was artificial in
digo, and IT makes as good navy blue"
as the natural product Extraordinary
efforts are being made to save the nat
ural indigo industry. Though the British
military authorities have decreed that
only the natural product shall be used in
dyeing the cloth for their army and navy
uniforms, and though the Indian govern
ment IS subsidizing its indigo growers.
their efforts appear to be doomed TO fail
ure.
A generation or two ago the cultiva-
ton OF che madden plant and the prepa-
ration from its root Of the celebrated red
dye was an important industry in the
United States. This dye has been replaced
by an artificial substance, called aItzarin,
which was the first artificial color or
aniline dye produced from coal-tar in 1858.
Now the cultivation Of the madden is con-
fined to few Isolated localities. The old
purple dye and household ink supply ex-
tracted from iOgWOOd and other vegetable
substances. have been entirely replaced
by factory colOrs and writing fluids.
At one time millions of dollars were made
in California by gathering certain lichens
and extracting dyes from them. Now that
industry Is dead. One Of the few vege-
table coloring substances left on the mar
ket Is anato, which is used in tinting
butter.
Fifty years ago it was believed that the
cultivation Of sorghum would open up an
unlimited supply Of sugar. Millions of
dollars were spent in America In expert
menting with this native plant Of Africa
and China. Millions Of acres were plant
ed, principally in the west Expensive
factories were built to convert its Juice
into sugar. The United States govern
ment fell victim to the craze. 1t took
the country thirty years to recover its
equilibrium, after IL was discovered that
sorghum could not be depended upon to
make sugar. The sorghum crop has been
dwindling steadily for a number Of years
and nearly all that is raised is used for
cattle feed.
The rise Of King Cotton and the ever
present labor problem are chiefly respon-
sible for the decline and almost total dis
appearance Of the flax and hemp indus
tries in this country. In the days of our
grandfathers. and even of our fathers.
nearly every family raised its own sup
ply Of flax and hemp which was con
verted into clothing, cOrdage, etc, on the
place. Many thousand acres Of flax and
hemp were cultivated between the ATTAIN
tic ocean and the Mississippi river
Years ago IL became apparent that IL
would be cheaper to import hemp and
flax from abroad than to pay high wages
TO American wOrkingmen in those indus
tries, while their foreign competitors were
receiving a few cents d day in Russia
Ireland and other countries. Jute, pro-
duced for few cents a pound in India
Is being widely substituted for hemp Cot
ton is produced much cheaper than linen
and hemp and IS better adapted to mod
ern machine methods of manufacture At
present the cultivation Of hemp has prac-
tically ceased everywhere except in Ken
lucky, while only a comparatively few
acres Of flax are cultivated in Michigan.
the DakOtas and one or two other states
for seed production.
Two important Indian industries have |
been tried by the white men, but not
found commercially practicable. The wild [
rice of Minnesota and Wisconsin feeds /
1000 Indiens, but the white man knows /
1t not. In Oregon there are thousands !
of acres of water lilies covering stretches /
of shallow water and marsh land, from /
which the Indians obtain a delectable /
seed for food. This has been put on the /
market, but it has failed to sell Many 1
M nil