El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-17

I silkwOrm at SO cents yard. the stuff
| IS sure to be adulterated Sometimes
| there is an admiXture of mercerized
cotton (Which is ordinary cotton
! treated with caustic potash), and often
/ ramle' Is used-a strong and mstrous
! fiber from a plant of the nettle family.
( native to the Orient
But how is the everyday woman to
/ judge the quality of the silk she pro-
poses to buy2 What test can she ap-
ply The answer is that she should, in
] the first place, beware of silk that
feels hard Hardness suggests the
presence of metal. Next, let her hold
1t US between her eye and the light.
/ II when thus viewed it is transparent,
It should De rejected-the presumption
being that it is a net filled in with
tin salts Finally, If suspicious, let
her burn a sample. If the stuff be
pure silk there will be almost no ash
On the other hand, cheap and poor silk
will leave behind one-third to one
half OF its weight in ash, which is a
metallic residium.
AduIterated Linens.
So much for silk; but how about
linen? There is plenty of good and
pure linen to be had in the shops The
/ trouble IS, however, that the women
generally want to get their table
cloths, napkins, sheets, handkerchiefs
and towels at cheap prices Conse-
quently, to meet this demand, MANI
facturers have 10 resort TO adUltera-
lions. Mercerized cotton is largely
adulterated with tow (short fiber
refuse). tied together and spun. 1t is
very difficult to detect this particU-
lar kind of Justification, and the tow
fabric has little wear in it Most So
called linen" handkerchiefs are cot
ton one way e, with a linen warp
and cotton welt One should ask for
pure linen when purchasing
Fortunately for the everyday wom-
an, there are good off-hand tests for
linen. The cool feeling" on which
T.
liable. because manufacturers have
lee rned TO initiate this by treating cot
ton with magneSia. If, however,
piece of the fabric be held up to the
light the threads out of which it is
woven Will show little irregular Jumps.
in case the stuff is pure linen; cotton
fiber is smooth. Again, when cotton
is burned, the ash is black; the ash
of linen is gray in color But an abb
s6lutely satisfa Glory test can be made
10y satuTating a scrap with Slyceflne-
If linen. it will be rendered trans
lucent; if cotton it viii remain Opaque
Scientific Tests.
Scientific tests of linen are made by
treating samples with a dye that viii
color only linen, affecting cotton not
at all: or by the employment OF an
other dye that cOlors cotton and not
linen. Thus a piece Of adulterated
fabric will assume the appearance OF
a checkerboard, even the percentage of
Justification being apparent off-hand
to the least experienced eye Such
methods, however, are for the labora-
tory. Where it is a question Of de-
termining the 'fastness" Of the color
of dyed linens, boiling a sample in
water is best-much more satisfactory,
indeed, than the old-fashioned eX-
pedient of chewing d scrap and then
examining it by the light Of shop
window.
Frauds in Wool Fabrics.
The total worlds supply of wool is
said to be equal to only one-third of
the demand. Hence it is not surpris-
ing that wooden fabrics should be
largely adulterated- But here again
we have widespread demand for
cheapness. coupled, as in the case OF
silk and linen goods, with an equally
general ignorance. In the old days,
when materials To- clothing were
largely of home manufacture, every
housewife had a fair knowledge of the
at the present time. To cite familiar
e--lmple, the average woman supposes
that the stuff called "flannelette' is
at least partly wool, although the
fact is that it is wholly cotton, both
sides Of it being scratched with wire
claws to give it the characteristic
fuzzy nap. It is exceedingly inflam-
mable, and every now and then 1t
happens that somebody wearing
garment made of it is burned to death.
"AlI-wool7 fabrics too frequently
have a background" consisting of
wide-meshed net of cotton, against
which, in the process Of manufacture,
waste DOL fiber is blown from both
sides with an air blast. Thus felted
together with a strong cotton skele-
ton. the stuff has all the appearance
of woven wooden cloth. Too many
blankets that are supposed to be all
wool" are in reality not more than 10
per cent wool. In cases where each
Of 4
twisted around it. detection is diff
cult. And then, as the last resort of
manufacturing ingenuity, there is
wool twice on the sleeps back
which, being translated, means the
taking of old rags. burning the cotton
out of them with acids, and respin-
ming the residum into new fabrics.
Naturally. the latter do not wear we'll
Fire Test for Wool.
What shall the everyday woman do
for tests in this case? Well. for one
thing. she may try the effect of fire
If she will touch d sample with the
flame of a match it will burn with a
flash in case it is cotton. and with
little smell. Wool viii burn more
slowly, with a marked animal odor.
But a test absolutely conclusive can
be made with a small quantity of
caustic potash, purchased at the near
by drug stOre-mixing the stuff with
water and boiling a scrap Of the fabric
appear, dissOlving. IF there is any
cotton in it the latter will remain IN
dissolved
The principal reason why many shoes
do not wear as well as they ought Is
that the leather of which they are
made is adulterated by loading it
with glucose or with Epson salts, to
render it Decentralization being usual
" sold by the pound. These substances
injure the leather and destroy its
waterproof quality. The soles and
counters of cheap shoes are too often {
made not of leather at all, but of |
leather scraps ground up, mixed with (
p per pulp. and nodded to the shapes |
required. Such material is treated with I
rCbber to waterproof it, and with oil 4
and glycerine to soften it.
The hide of the bovine animal is |
commonly split into half a dozen |
with view to economic /
ing the material, and the leather thus /
is stamped by special ma
chinery in such a way as to produce /
luite a variety of limitations. Nearly
III of the sOcalled alligator skin bags
carried by women are pure counter
felt, being made from this kind of