The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-07
Interpreting
The News
BY JAMES d. WHITE
Associated Press Staff Writer

BY JAMES d. WHITE
Associated Press Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. ItB
A Chinese woman has leveled
test-tube at the textile industry
around the world.
Producers of cotton, silk, wool
rayon and nylon may well sit IN
and take notice because DR.. Ruth
Feng, of Chungking, has figured
out n way to get fine, usuabl,
fiber from Ramie.
If you are interested in.
smooth, silky shirt or a bed sheet.
you are entitled to get moderately
excited about Ramie, too.
1t is possibly the strongest tbs
known. It grows in giant gras,
blades from three to nine feet long.
and comes up wild on every con-
tinent. In this country it grows O,
Florida swampland. 1t thrives O,
cultivation, yields two to fou
crops year, and grows from tn,
same set of roots for a decad,
There are Egyptican mummie
shrouded in Ranie cloth which i,
still intact after 1000 years.
But that cloth is coarse, because
until DR.. Feng came along no one
had found an easy way to sepa.
rate Ramie fibers thoroughly with.
out mangling them. Consequently,
Rarnie cloth has been coarse, stiff
stuff, but anyway it made a fine
cord for tires. 1t repels water and
resists rnildew. It has been used
for gas nantes. typewriter rib.
bons, parachutes and grass lin.
en- cloth.
DR.. Ruth Feng was the first
woman to graduate from Ohio
State University with a degree in
chemical engineering. She went to
Germany in 1888 to study rayon
production. After four years she
went back to China, intent on find.
ing native fiber that could feed
Chinese textile industry. She
tried Kaoling (maize) stalks, rice
straw and sugar cane. She tried
Rannie grass. and by the time Of
the war with Japan she had de.
veloped a method Of separating its
stubborn fibers.
Somebody built her a factory in
Chungking, because China needed
cloth. The Japanese bombed it out
of existence, but she tried again,
and today there are three factories
producing Ramie fiber and cloth
in Chungking.
China can use that fiber. The
country grows plenty Of shortfiber
cotton but has trouble getting the
more desirable long fiber kind to
thrive.
China's silk industry isn't large,
and she has no forests to provide
wood-pulp for rayon. Ramie may
be the answer to China's textile
problem. 450, 600, 900 buyers of cloth
who could sway the textile mar.
kets of the world by threatening
to lengthen their shirt tails a sin.
gle inch.
DR.. Feng's Rannie process could
be momentous for China if it can
be used in small factories scatter.
ed literally about producing areas.
Because China has few railroads
and poor highways, her economy
will be dispersed for a long time
to come.
| It can effect world textiles be.
cause the new fine Ramie is not
only strong and soft, but mixes
well with other fibers like wool and
cotton with distinctive results, Cot
ton takes on life and sheen. Wool
becomes softer and smoother.
I DR.. Feng doesn't think Ramie is
going to revolutionize the industry
overnight.
There's still much t o learn,
! the Chinese news service quotes
her as saying.
! But II believe it will rank as
one of the three important raw
i materials of the textile industry.
With the return of peace, the pos.
sibilities of this new raw material
will have a chance to be tried Out
on an adequate scale"