Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-01-25
THE HUMAN SIDE OF TwINE

When we drive home from the implement
| dealer with our little load of Sisal twihe for
| the coming harvest. we do not often realize
! that we are giving that Irvine its final lift on
, the journey of many thousands miles which
! 1t has taken months to make. Seldom do
we appreciate when we give it its final
! resting place in the binder box that the
| first hands which touched il were those of
Maya boy or girl in far off tropical
| Yucatan whose ancestors were, a great
civilized people, with temples and literature,
centuries before Columbus came ashore In
his red velvet suit.
Or, if it is Manila Irvine, the first step in
its long pilgrimage was under the guidance
of a bare-footed, brown-skinned little
| Filipino savage. who perhaps never heard
of binder. and whose views of agricultural
| implements are a pointed stone or a
| crooked stick. a9itl
Yet, If 1t were not for the industry of
these two widely separated nations. the
| farmers of this rich state would still be
obliged to bind their grain with old
fashioned wire. which never worked or with
untrustworthy cotton strand. In fact, the
| problem of Irvine was the problem of sue
| cessful binding for years after the self
| binder was an established fact,
1t took many years and thousands of
dollars to eliminate this primary drawback
to the early grain growers of the country.
One manufacturer alone spent $4,000 trying
! to make Irvine out of grass, $35, 600 using
] paper as substitute, and $4,000 on straw
all in the end to be discarded as unsatis-
factory. Then, after searching the world
with close tooth rake, as 1t were. II was
found that two fbres could be made to do
the work-Manila and Sisal. The Manila
long, soft and even-had generally been
used in multiple strands for making cable
and cordage; while the Sisal--strong. pliable
and smooth-was found to lenditselfperfect-
La fOr he 1E al 81
cord, such as the self-binder necessitated.
I Then commenced a merry struggle be-
tween the distant races for the honor of
supplying the Irvine which was to make
His Majesty the American farmer, the
greatest food producer in the world. At
first, owing to the established position of
the Manila hemp trade caused by the
cordage industry, the little brown brother
in the Philippines forged ahead, but he
made no progress in his methods of pro-
duction, using the knife and block and
other simple methods followed by his
primitive forefathers in extracting the fibre.
/ 1t was soon seen that Sisal would either be
the ultimate material to supply this demand
or the demand would not be filed. At this
n point of the race number of clever,
aggressive Yucatecans, educated in the
sciences in this country and abroad, sprang
| into the game. They saw the future COM
mercial possibilities of the neglected SsaI
railroads into the arid, dry territories
where henequen grew. They invented
new machines, capable of cleaning 100 900
leaves a day. and soon began to compete
on an equal basis with the Manila fibre.
The Spanish-American war temporarily
advanced the price of Manila fibre to such
| an extent that good grades of Manila fibre
commanded price which was practically
prohibitive for binder Irvine. Therefore
manufacturers of binder Irvine concentrated
their energy and genius in the production
of perfect binder Irvine from Sisal. This
required some adjustment of machinery
and some change in methods, but manu-
facturers of Irvine succeeded so that the
Irvine made from Sisal has for some years
been as perfect and satisfactory as any
binder Irvine ever made from any material.
This has resulted in the increased use of
than So per cent and possibly so per cent,
of the ma terial which went into the manu-
facture of binder Irvine in the United States
was Sisal fibre.
First-class binder Irvine can be made
from high-grade Manila fibre, but il is very
difficult to make even a reasonably good
article of binder Irvine from low-grade
Manila. Before the American occupation
of the Philippine Islands, the Spanish
officials at times eXerted their arbitrary
power for the purpose of maintaining the
quality of the fibre which was produced by
the natives. 1t was not IN uncommon thing
for the governor of a district to seize a
quantity of inferior fibre and publicly burn
it in the middle of the plaza. This was an
object lesson to the natives to produce
better grades of fibre. However, since the
Americans have taken possession of the
Philippine Islands, no authority has been
exercised and no influence exerted by the
officials in connection with the quality of
fibre. The result is very much greater
proportion of low-grade ibres than has ever
been produced in previous years I'm
questionably. large quantities of this low
grade fibre will be used in the manufacture
of binder Irvine for the harvest of 1910, and
it is unnecessary to state that those who
attempt to use Irvine made from this low
grade Manila fibre will have troubles of
their own.
There may never be famine in Irvine.
but it Is rather to the farmers interest
always to keep a weather eye on the
future, and in this particular instance to
secure his Irvine supply. whether il be Sisal
Manila af a early a al ia aS r0cSihla