DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE A. H. BALDWIN, Chief SPECIAL AGENTS SERIES—No. 74 LINEN, JUTE, AND HEMP INDUSTRIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH NOTES ON THE GROWING AND MANUFACTURE OF JUTE IN INDIA By W. A. GRAHAM CLARK Commercial Agent of the Department of Commerce WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1913 is. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE A. H. BALDWIN, Chief SPECIAL AGENTS SERIES— No. 74 LINEN, JUTE, AND HEMP INDUSTRIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WITH NOTES ON THE GROWING AND MANUFACTURE OF JUTE IN INDIA By W. A. GRAHAM CLARK Commercial Agent of the Department of Commerce WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1913 ^ ov> D. OF D. JAM 10 1914 ~3 CONTENTS. Page. Letter of submittal 5 Introduction 7 Linen industry in Ireland 14 Irish linen mills 20 Raw materials 25 Processes of manufacture 30 Spinning 30 Hackling room 32 Preparing room 36 Spinning room 37 Yarn department 44 Weaving 44 Weft and warp winding 45 Dressing 45 Weaving 46 Bleaching and finishing 49 Warehouse work 58 Operatives and wages 61 Cost of typical flax spinning and weaving mill 73 Linen industry in Scotland . .» ....... 80 '. .' Scottish linen mills . 82 Raw materials •. 84 Processes of manufacture 85 v Commercial quotations 88 Details of Scottish flax goods 90 Operatives and wages .* 92 Jute industry in Scotland 93 Raw materials 95 Foreign trade 101 Jute factories 105 Processes of manufacture 107 Batching room 107 Preparing room 108 Yarn preparation 112 Weaving room 114 Finishing room 116 Jute-machinery makers 116 Dundee public calenders 117 Operatives and wages 126 Cost of typical factory 131 Commercial quotations 135 of Construction various jute goods % 137 Bag manufacture and trade 140 Floorcloth manufacture and trade 141 Jute substitutes 143 3 4 CONTENTS. Hemp industry in United Kingdom 145 Jute industry in India 147 World's consumption of jute 147 Growing and marketing of jute 148 Acreage and production 152 Jute manufacture in India 155 Operatives and wages ^ 160 Export trade 168 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Fig. 1 . Roughing, the first operation in a flax mill 33 2. Tow carding in a Belfast mill . 33 3. Flax spreading machine . 38 4. Flax roving snd drawing machine . „ . „ 39 5. Wet spinning frames for linen yarn . „ 41 6. Linen weaving mill 47 7. The world's largest bleach field . - . 51 8. Jute roving and spinning frames 113 9. Shuttle used in jute weaving and weaver's reed hook, etc 114 10. Jute weave shed , . 115 LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Washington, September 25, 1913. Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report by Commercial Agent W. A. Graham Clark on the linen, jute, and hemp industries of the United Kingdom, with supplementary data as to the growing and manufacture of jute in India. As linen manufacturing centers largely in Ireland and jute manufacturing in Scotland, special atten- tion is given to these industries in their respective fields. Detailed information is presented as to processes of manufacture, cost of pro- duction, wages and conditions of employment, cost of constructing and operating factories, commercial usages, and foreign trade. Respectfully, A. H. Baldavin, Chief of Bureau. To Hon. William C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce. 5 LINEN, JUTE, AND HEMP INDUSTRIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. INTRODUCTION. Flax, hemp, and jute are so-called bast fibers, which are found in the skin of the plant stems producing them and which are freed from the inner woody core and the surrounding pulp by retting. They differ in this from the hard fibers, such as abaca, henequen, sisal, aloe fiber, and New Zealand hemp, which are found in the leaves of the plants producing them, from which they can be sepa- rated only by scraping, or decortication. Being similar in their plant nature, flax, hemp, and jute are frequently^ grouped in sta- tistics, and their manufacture forms the third most important textile industry of theTTnited Kingdom, being exceeded by cotton and wool manufacturing and being followed by silk, which is a poor fourth. Flax is mainly a clothing material, jute is the premier wrapping and sacking material of the world, while hemp is primarily a cordage material. POSITION OF BRITISH TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. In the United Kingdom Manchester is the center of cotton manu- facturing, Bradford of wool, Belfast of linen and hemp, Dundee of jute, and Macclesfield of silk. From the beginning of the machine manufacture of cotton the English have led in this industry, and in spite of increasing competition they still have a great lead in spindles and looms and in value of output, though surpassed by the United States in the amount of raw material worked. Until the middle of the eighteenth century wool was England's foremost textile indus- try, and, though it has now been displaced by cotton, England still leads in the manufacture and export of woolen goods, with the United States and Germany yearly increasing their competition. In jute manufacture the United Kingdom led for a long while, but it is now greatly distanced by India and has taken second place. In flax manufacture the United Kingdom still maintains a great lead over all competitors, but in the manufacture of soft hemp it is dis- tanced by Russia. In silk the United Kingdom has not been very successful and the industry has declined greatly from its former position. Although flax and wool are produced on a commercial basis in the United Kingdom, the bulk of these raw materials is obtained from abroad, while the cotton, jute, hemp, silk, and lesser used fibers are obtained entirely from other countries. Flax, hemp, wool, and silk are ancient fibers, while cotton and jute are of very modern use in the world's markets. Cotton did not attain great importance until the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, while jute manufacture on a commercial scale may be said to have started at Dundee about 1838. To-day, however, cotton is the 7 : 8 LINEN, JUTE, AND HEMP INDUSTRIES, premier fiber of the world, and more pounds of jute are manufac- tured than of any other fiber except cotton. SOURCES OF RAW MATERIALS. Flax is the oldest of all vegetable fibers of which we have record as being applied to the use of mankind, and at the dawn of recorded history we find the Egyptians famous for its manufacture. To-day Ireland is most noted for its manufacture, and the linen require- ments of the land of the Pharaohs and of other lands beyond the seas are supplied mainly from Belfast. The center of the world's manufacture is the Province of Ulster, of which Belfast is the capital and chief city. Other important flax-manufacturing countries are France, Kussia, Germany, and Belgium, but the United Kingdom contains about a third of the flax spindles of the world, of which the total may be estimated at something over 3,000,000. The York Street Flax Spinning Co. (Ltd.), of Belfast, who have some 63,000 spindles and 1,000 looms, and who are spinners, weavers, merchants, and bleachers, claim to be the' world's largest flax-manufacturing concern. The bulk of the world's flax supply is raised in Eussia, while smaller quantities are produced in Austria-Hungary, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Hemp is raised to some extent in China, Japan, India, and other sections, but it is typically a European product. Eussia produces the bulk of the soft hemp, substantial amounts also being raised in Italy, Austria, and France. Soft hemp is manufactured mainly in ropeworks, which also use the hard fibers, so that it is difficult to obtain world statistics that can be considered accurate. The Belfast Eopeworks Co. (Ltd.), of Belfast, claims to be the largest concern engaged in its manufacture. Jute is almost a monopoly of the northeast section of India and is the world's cheapest fiber. The center of manufacture is around Calcutta, in the Province of Bengal, but Dundee leads in the pro- duction of the higher-grade articles. OPERATIVES IN BRITISH TEXTILE TRADES. The operatives employed in the various textile industries of the United Kingdom, according to Board of Trade figures, were as follows in 1907, the latest year for which statistics are available Male. Female. Industries. Total. Number. Per cent Number. Per cent Cotton 217, 742 37.75 359,078 62.25 576,820 Wool and shoddy 108,838 41.67 152, 354 58.33 261, 192 Flax 29, 756 29. 62 70,719 70.38 100, 475 Hosiery 9,609 24.04 30, 362 75.96 39, 971 Jute 12, 366 31.08 27, 419 68.92 39, 785 Silk 8,776 30.40 20, 097 69.60 28,873 Lace 12, 843 61.08 8, 181 38.92 21, 024 Hemp 3,788 34.81 7,095 65.19 10,883 Other textiles 3,642 44.42 4,558 55.58 8,200 Total 407, 360 37.47 679,863 62.53 1,087,223 : : INTRODUCTION. 9 Next to the hosiery trade, the flax, silk, jute, and hemp trades con- tained the largest percentage of female labor. YARN PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN 19 7. As the 1907 census of production was the first taken in the United Kingdom and the final results were largely the result of estimates to avoid duplications, etc., the figures obtained are more valuable as an indication than as an accurate enumeration. They serve, however, to throw considerable light on the status of the various industries. In the figures finally published, the bast fiber industries—those utilizing flax, hemp, and jute—are grouped more or less.