The Washington herald., 1918-08-10
COTTON VITAL
IN WARFARE
Fiber One Of Most Essential
Products in Munitions,
Says Holland.

Alvin Hunsicker. vice PRESIDENT OF
one OF the largest American Indus
tries. an industry which Is dependent
for its raw material upon cotton. said
lately that the public little realizes
how great and diversified are the uses
to which cotton fbers are now put.
especially in some Of the eommodi-
ties which are needed for war serv-
ice. Mr.. Hunsicker said that in his
own industry ffty-three varieties Of
woven cotton are employed and some
Of them have been so advantageously
used as to furnish the government with
the best kind OF gas masks and also
ayiators' coats
Sometimes there have been insinua-
tions that those who are now framing
the new war tax are disposed to be
1ndulgent to cotton. but the fact re-
mains that there is probably no 9TH
er material which is of greater i'm
portance to the government at this
time than cotton fiber.
Only few years ago the public re-
garded cotton as something whose eX-
elusive use was in weaving fabrics for
clothing OF for household commodi-
ties. Such, in fact, was its use until
the men of science discovered that
cotton fiber could be converted into
many valuable materials with would
take the place of other and more ex-
pensive materials.
Recently H. ]. Broughton. who Is
associated with the z. /. du Pont de
Nemours and Company. stated that
since. We entered the war 1t has been
claimed that the winning of .the war
depends upon various commodities.
For instance. food has been spoken
of as a fundamental necessity, so
again shipbuildlng has been thus re-
fer.ed to; while at all times Mr..
BTOushton says men and money are
uppeTmost in the minds of the peo-
pie as a winning factor. Curiously
enough very rarely has reference been
made to cotton, and the most impOT-
tant service which the cotton plant
ers of the South are now performing
in aid OF the war. Mr.. Broughton
says that the part which cotton is
now playing in the war is an INDUS
trial romance ''of gigantic proper
lions"
What the Chemists Have Done
Some time ago a group of expert
chemists undertook to make inves-
tigation into the value of the cot
. ton fibre properly treated for in
dUstriaI purposes. They have made
many discoveries. 1t is not the
least remarkable of the many very
remarkable industrial and scientific
tTiUmphs which we have gained
since the European war began that
were cotton to be withdrawn from
the field of chemistry today many
essential industries would be para
lyzed. The public has not been in
formed of the extent to which cot
ton hbre is utilized in making
buckets, pans. car wheels, boxes,
blankets and beds. There is a short
cotton fibre or fuzZ which clings
to the seed after ginning and this
formerly was regarded as a waste
product which was a good deal of
a nuisance. Now the chemists have
shown how this fibre can beutiIized
SO as to form in a combination with
various acids making possible the
9roduction Of gun cotton, etc.
Gun cotton, under proper treatment,
constitutes the most important of the
military powders of this time. When
il is not confined it burns slowly.
Again the chemists discovered that
soluble cotton, If a formula which is
now established be followed. makes
a perfect imitation OF natural ivory
II has already been introduced into
gas masks.
Making Imitation Leather
There is now pending at Washing
ton q claim for a patent for a process
by means of which leather can be
properly tanned in a few days and
without the use of tannin. The
formula has been worked out by a
man Of science, and it may be of
great value after the patent has been
granted and manufacture begins. But
already cotton fiber is being so util-
ized as to provide a substitute for
leather, the commercial name of
which Is fabricoid.
This artificial leather possesses a ten
sile strength much greater than anv
split leather. and when it is coated
With dissolved nitro-cotton ii furnishe,
what many regard as an excellent sub
stituts for leather. Nr-Broughton saws
that the making Of this product is an
other step in our industrial evolution
where mechanical and chemical
science have taken up the rnanufac-
ture Of a substitute or artificial prod-
uct. where formerly only the natural
material, such NaS hides, was known,
Leather substitutes are now being en-
ployed in the manufacture of auto
mobile tops and the estimate In that
in this industry alone. of which the
cotton fibre is the basis. twenty-five
million yards OF leather substitutes
were used last year. So also har
sWeats are now made from artificial
leather almost exclusively, Il being