Evening star., 1942-01-25
Textile Plants
Dominated by
War Needs
Further Expansion
In Military Orders
Is Predicted
Special Dispatch to The Star.


tivity, as measured by fiber con-
sumption, set q new record in 1941,
with an increase of about 80 per
cent over 1910, 1t is pointed out in
a survey by the Standard g. Poor's
Corp. The cotton, wool and rayon
divisions all established new highs,
with the greatest gain shown by
wool, consumption of which in
creased about go per cent over the
year before.
From now on operations, especial
ly in the cotton and woolen divisions,
will be mainly Influenced by the
extent Of Government orders for
war needs. AS our military forces
are increased by the addition of mil
lions Of men, Government needs for
all kinds of textile products will
expand considerably. The Govern
ment Procurement Division has al
ready stepped up orders for textile
goods, and further acceleration in
the pace Of new buying is in pros
pect. In fact, demand for military
purposes will be so great as to
cut down the amount OF goods that
will be available for civilian use.
Under existing conditions, the
textile industry is assured of high
rate Of operations for some time to
come. but the experience of the
various divisions will vary because of
raw material problems and Govern
ment ALLEGATIONS to assure adequate
output for military needs.
Operations to Climb.
Because of the extremely large
supplies of raw cotton in this coun-
try, cotton mills should not be
troubled by raw material difficulties
and they are In position to operate
to the full extent of available ma
chinery and man power.
Indications are that the industry
will be called upon to maintain op-
erations at the highest levels pos
sible to I'LL Government orders and
regular civilian demand. More
over, a larger part Of operations will
be concentrated in the production
Of the heavier cotton constructions,
such as ducks. osnaburgs and den-
inns, which will require greater use
of raw cotton in their output. Gov
ernment needs for sandbags alone
will require a large volume of cloth,
good part Of which must be made
from cotton because of the uncer-
tain supplies of burlap.
Efforts are being made to have
the industry operate at maximum
capacity by adoption of q 24-hour
day. 7-day week basis. Such a
schedule presents difficulties, how
ever, because Of the unbalance of
machine equipment, the strain on
machinery resulting from continued
operation and the lack of available
skilled labor. 1t Is probable that
such rate of operations will not
be witnessed for more than tenn
porary periods, but 1t Is expected
that sufficient expansion will take
place to lift operations to record
levels in coming months.
Price Ceilings Extended.
The price ceiling placed earlier
on certain cotton constructions have
been extended to cover numerous
other items, including such finished
goods as towels, table cloths, bed
sheets and pillow cases. While
many items are based on sliding
scale arrangement under which
prices will vary with changes In
raw cotton prices, others are limited
to the highest sale price obtaining
during the November 1-December
period, pending more detailed
schedules.
The present price basis provides
reasonably good margins under ex-
listing conditions. Any later in
crease in costs, particularly labor,
however, would narrow margins un-
less compensating adjustments in
selling prices were allowed.
Wool Curbs Likely.
The high rate of wool consump-
ton in the past year has necessitated
large imports to meet domestic mill
requirements. So far, imports have
been sufficient to meet all needs
and provide a backlog of stocks for
medium term requirement. The
war in the Pacific, however, and
the further Tightening in shipping
facilities threatened, have caused
some doubt regarding the adequacy
of future supplies to meet the sharp
expansion in demand for wooden
goods for military purposes.
Accordingly, it has been ordered
that wool consumption by any
manufacturer be restricted for the
first quarter of 1912 to 80 per cent
of the quarterly consumption rate
for the first half of 1941. The order
also limits the amount of new wool
used for civilian goods by manu-
fscturers of worsteds and woolens
to so and 20 per cent of their first
half 1941 consumption rate. Both
these percentages are the maxi
mum allowable, and they may be
much less, depending upon military
requirements. No limit is placed on
consumption by a producer filling
only military requirements.
While this order limits the amount
of woolen goods that will be turned
out for civilian purposes, no definite
measurement of the actual curtail-
ment can be made as yet. Pro-
ducers working on civilian goods
may partly offset this limitation on
new wool usage by greater utiliza-
ton of reused and reworked wool
(See TEXTILE, Page C-9)