Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-11-29

on fIue-cured tobacco of the contracting buyers and the Secretary
of Agriculture of the United States held at the Mayflower
Hotel, Washington, D. C, September p, 1888
While you gentlemen who represent American tobacco
growers and industries are familiar with the facts which
/ am about to state, the average American smoker does
not know that practically all of the cigarette paper used
in his daily smokes is made in France.
have on my desk a large roll of cigarette paper made
from American grown flax, and | am reliably Informed
that much linen paper used for other purposes as well as
cigarettes could be manufactured in this country, and
more important to the farmers of my state of North Da-l
kota this linen paper could be made from American
grown flax-straw, which is now of little or no value.
The manufacture of cigarette paper would create a new
industry which would prove a boon to American agricul-
ture and American industry. [ am informed that last year
the first cigarette paper was manufactured from Ameri-
can grown flax. To the paper and tobacco industries this
marked a development Of tremendous Importance. Today,
the millions of pounds of flax used for the manufacture
of cigarette paper are Of foreign origin. England, Bel
GUM, France, Russia and other European countries, are
the markets which furnish this raw product.
About forty million pounds of flax fiber are used as
the basis for the production Of the cigarette paper con-
sumed in the United States. That this material can now
be obtained in our own country is an important safe
guard to the welfare Of our flax-growers and tobacco in
dustries. In order to obtain what has been, at best, a par
tial protection, the larger cigarette paper consumer has
been forced to carry a paper stock varying from a few
months to a years supply.
Under methods recently developed for the extraction
of fiber from seed flax straw, all the long fiber can be
utilized in the textile industry for the manufacture of
linen, leaving the short fiber available for the production
of a purely domestic paper for cigarettes.
Up to the time of the successful manufacture of cigar
cite paper from American grown flax, the pioneers in
American flax-growing were not even aware of the po-
tentialities of domestic flax for the production of this
paper.
Seed flax has been successfully grown for many years
in many parts of the United States, and now it has been
shown conclusively that the short fiber, extracted from
seed Flax straw furnishes tha finest row material obtain.
able for the manufacture of cigarette paper.
Let us now examine why and how the manufacture of
cigarette paper may be the means of bringing a great
new industry to this country. Thousands of acres must
be planted to produce sufficient flax fiber to meet the de-
mands OF the cigarette paper requirements of the country.
The use of flax fiber in the United States possesses
tremendous possibilities. Through the use of cigarette
paper, manufactured from American grown flax, tobacco
men insure themselves of a domestic source of supply,
with all its inherent advantages. By that step they also
offer the possibility of bringing to this country new
wealth and employment through the development of the
new industries. Can the United States, and you tobacco
men particularly, afford to overlook this opportunity at
this time?
The use of American cigarette paper by American
cigarette manufacturers is a subject that is along the
lines OF the National Recovery Administrators code of
ethics, and one which would be extremely helpful at this
time to American farmers, American labor and American
industry.
The cigarette industry Of this country uses ap-
~proximately eighteen million pounds Of paper a year,
OF which seventeen million pounds, according to the
Department Of Commerce, are imported from France
and other European countries. The import value in
1882 was over four million dollars, and the total val
ne OF such importations in the last ten years amount
ed to over thirty-five million dollars.
The president of one of the largest cigarette companies
recently estimated that over one hundred and seventy
billions OF ~ready-made and hand-rolled cigarettes were
consumed In 1882 in the United States. To produce cipar-I
cite paper sufficient for such consumption, about eight
cen million pounds of cigarette paper would be required
TO produce this tonnage, over forty million pounds Of
raw materials are necessary. Raw material in the form
OF fiax fiber for the manufacture Of American cigarette