Pueblo chieftain., 1921-03-03
81 FREpERIC ]. HAsKIN

New York City, Feb. 2S.-All OF us
will soon he wearing garments made
from seuweed and grass, If the vege-
table fabrics recently produced by
German textile manufacturers become
popular In this country.
The Germans have achieved some
remarkable results in the textile limo
by proceeding upon the assumption
that almost any vegetable product
from 4 dandelion to a parsnip. can be
turned into clothing II necessity de-
mands it. During the war. necessity
did. The German supplies of wool
and cotton became exhausted: they
were unable to smuggle their new
supplies thru the blockade, so there
was nothing left for German chemists
to do but produce something new in
the way OF fabrics.
An exhibit OF these novelties
ground out under the oNiEencies or
war. was recently held by the Bureau
Of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
here, and was widely attended by
American textile manufacturers. 1t
included samples Of overcoatinEs.
table cloths, paper. sport Jackets.
sweaters, underwear, stockings and
socks, worstcd and many other mems
and womcu's gtrmcnts-all made
from various vegetable products here
tofor1 scoruCd as being OF little value.
Nctugs, hops. willow bark, pine need
les. corustalks. and asparagus are
merely a Few OF the things represent
Cd In tho materials.
Instead OF being brittle and fragile
and impractical for windy weather. as
might be supposed. the new vegetable
fabrics are SCft and sorFiCcIhlc and
guaranteed TO Withstand the toughest
gale The German underwear. made
from China grass. IS said to be better
than Tint made OF pure wool or wool
and cotton. as IL prevents tho gar
merts from shrinking. It IS also de-
Clnred by textile experts TO be OF bot
ter wearing quality.
a large variety OF clothing sources
is something absolutely new I'm the
history Of our civilization II is re-
NuluuQOnary-fnr ever since men de-
cided that they looked better in cloth
os they have been making them from
the same old products, which are
wool. silk, cotton and flax Archac-
oipEicgl records show that tho rs OF
spinning and wCaviu- were in "A late
stagC OF development rs FAR back ass
26oO b. C, which is as fur back as tho
matter can be traced. and that these
four fabrics were well known then,
The Four Sources
In other words. all that We wear
our frociSs and frock coats, our neck
ties and stocks and lucos and frills
md furbcluws-comcs from only
these four sources. that were dis
covered far back when the race was
young.
our wool supply is obtained chiefly
from the pclago OF sheep. while
small quantity is also obtained from
the hair of certain goats Cashmere
and Mohsir, for cSamplc) as well as
from the hair OF camels. Tho earliest
cloth-makers tapped the samo sources
for their wool
All OF our raw silk iE provided for
us by o5liging catcrpillars, which Sc
cretc the substance in their glands
and spin IL into Cocoons or cases in
which thcy make their change from
worm to moth. And tho Mongolians
had tho silk worms well trained for
this purpose centuries ago.
Cotton, obtained from tho seed pod
OF the cotton plant was also well uu-
derstood by the nnCtcnts while carly
history records tho use of rich linens
made from flax
In recent years. but two other sour
COS have been added to these four.
American manufacturers have sue
Cc"dcI In producing rough textiles,
such us burllp. from the iute plant.
and American chemists, after much
experimentation, have been able to
produce artificial silk.
Then the Germans began their cx-
p"rimcnts with various plants. These
commenced really some years before
the war. and the first successful vcgc-
table fabrics were brought TO this
country as early as 1914. But it was
the war. which for tho time being eli
minated the four big textile staples
from the market, that gave them their
chance.
According to statement of the
Bureau Of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce the now vegetable fiber in
dustry was established at Iruerstcn-
berg, Germany. in 1919. During the
first ycar in which the plant was on
Grated 1t confined its activities merely