The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-04-20


impossibilities of this new phase of
American industrial activity for the
future
1t marks another long stride in the
forward movement of American man.
ufacturers, in their efforts to wrest
from the old world it's predcminance,
as makers of fine linen, and offers
new evidence of the striking ability
of Yankee mill operators to assimilate
and adapt to uses on this side of the
Atlantic manufacturing methods sup.
posed from time immemorial to be ir-
reconcilable with conditions prevail
ing here.
The manufacture of linen of any
kind up to the advent of the Nudge
process of treating flax offered sup
posedly insuperable obstacles in this
country. The enormous differences
in the cost of labor between Europe
and America heretofore has made its
manufacture here prohibitive. This
barrier has now been removed by the
discovery of the Nudge process. Mi
lady and every American home is to
be the beneficiary.
The American woman who is par
tial to the beautiful damask weave
with it's delicately shaded water de-
signs and has been accustomed to
paying fancy prices for it, made
necessary by primitive methods of
manufacture, In use abroad, and the
exacting demands of Uncle Sans col
lector of customs, will soon be able
to crafty her fancy at a striking re-
duction in the cost she has been used
to paying. The New England mills
will shortly be distributing its output
of damask linen and are already as
sured of a market, which from the
very beginning threatens to tax it's
producing capacity. In future the
tablecloths and napkins about which
the particular housewife is so proud
and scrupulously exacting on every
important occasion will be Yankee
instead of Scotch or Irish weave.
All the rich blends of the Scotch
and Irish damask, which have Justly
won for the linen industry of Scot
land and Ireland their surprising pre-
eminence in the past. will be turned
ont nv the Dew comnany
w. H. Kinkead, linen expert of
many years experience in the large
linen mills of Belfast has been en-
gagged by the Oxford Company as SUI
perintendent of its New England
mills. His acquisition and that of
other foreign experts, it is asserted,
will bring to the manufacture of the
American made article technical
knowledge of the art, which combined
with the improved Yankee process
and Yankee machinery, viii produce
textile of superior ill-round value.
While the manufacture of damask
linen is new to the country, the Ok
ford Co. for the last twelve months
has been making other grades of linen
by the Nudge process at its big New
England establishment, being the first
and only company in this country so
engaged in manufacturing a strictly
native product in this branch of tex
tile making.
By the utilization of the Nudge pro-
cess flax heretofore regarded as value
less and burned by the millions of
tons every year after yielding its seed
to the farmer viii become one of the
most valuable assets of the American
farm
In Europe but small percentage of
the flax is used in the manufacture of
linen. But the Nudge process prac-
tically everything is used, insuring
for the American farmer in the future
a market that will turn his waste and
useless flax into a bonanza of Aladdin
like proportions.