The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-03

us will soon be wearing garments
made from seaweed and grass, II
the vegetable fabrics recently pro-
duced by German textile manufac-
turers become popular in this
country.
The Germans have achieved some
remarkable results In the textile
line by proceeding upon the as
sumption that almost any vegetable
product, from . dandelion to a
parsnip. can be turned into cloth
ing II necessity demands it. During
the war, necessity did. The Ger
man supplies of wool and cotton
became exhausted; they were un-
able to smuggle their new supplies
through the blockade. 20 there was
nothing left for German chemists
to do but to produce something new
in the way of fabrics.
An exhibit Of these novelties.
ground out under the exigencies
Of war, was recently held BY the
bureau of foreign and domestic
! commerce here, and was widely at
tended by American textile manu-
facturers. 1t included samples Of
overcoatings. table cloths, paper.
sport jackets, sweaters, underwear.
stockings and socks, worsted and
many other mems and women s
garments-all made from various
vegetable products heretofore
scorned as being of little value.
Nettles, hops, willow bark, pine
needles, cornstalks, and asparagus
are merely a few of the things
represented in the materials.
Instead of being brittle and fra
gile and impractical for windy
weather, as might be supposed, the
new vegetable fabrics are soft and
serviceable, and guaranteed to
Withstand the toughest gale. The
German underwear, made from
China grass, is said to be better
than that made Of pure wool or
wool and cotton, as it prevents the
garments from shrinking. 1t is
also declared by textile experts TO
be of better wearing quality.
| A large variety Of clothing
sources is something absolutely
new in the history of our civiliza-
ton. 1t is revolutionary-for ever
since men decided that they looked
better in clothes they have. been
making them from the same old
products, which are wool, silk, cot
ton and fax. Archaeological rec
lords show that the arts Of spin
ming and weaving were in a late
stage of development as far back
as $500 B. c., which is as far back
as the matter can be traced, and
that these four fabrics were well
known then.
The Four Sources.
In other words, all that we wear
our frocks and frOck coats, our
neckties and stocks and laces and
frills and furbelOws-come from
only these four sources, that were
discovered far back when the race
was young.
Our wool supply is obtained
chiefly from the pelage of sheep
while small quantity is also OBJ
tanned from the hair of certain
goats Cashmere and mohair, for
example) as we'll as from the hair
of camels. The earliest cloth-mak-
ers tapped the same sources for
their wool.
All of our raw silk is provided
for US by obliging caterpillars,
which secrete the substance in
their glands and spin it into CO.
coons or cases in which they make
their change from worm to moth
And the Mongolians had the silk
worms well trained for this pur.
pose centuries ago.
Cotton, obtained from the seed
pod Of the cotton plant, was also
we'll understood by the ancients
while early history records the USE
of rich linens made from fax.
In recent years, but two other
: sources have been added to these
four. American manufacturer
have succeeded in producing rough
textiles, such as burlap. from tn,
jute plant, and American chem.
lists, after much experimentation
have been able to produce artificial
silk.
, Then the Germans began theil
experiments with various plants
These commenced really some
years before the war, and the frs
successful vegetable fabrics wer,
brought to this country as early al
. 1914. But it was the war, which
for the time being eliminated thu
four big textile staples from thu