The following is a copy of an article posted by the folks at
Global Hemp on [
this page].
I am posting this not to spread the word about the benifits of getting high toking a joint. My concerns are in health and industry. I want safer plastics made from hemp that will not kill out oceans and I want hemp oil that can cure cancer and most of all I want these lies about a stinkin natural weed to stop. The exploitation of the marijuana plant is not caused by kids selling joints at concerts. It's caused by a legal system that has no respect for the freedom to manage our own health issues or the resources that we have right here growing in friggin ditches all across America!
Below begins the article, please enjoy....
VOL. 69 February, 1938 NO. 2
Sailing the seven seas with sails and rope made of hemp.
American farmers are promised a new cash crop with an annual value of
several hundred million dollars, all because a machine has been
invented that solves a problem more than 6,000 years old.
It is hemp, a crop that will not compete with other American
products. Instead, it will displace imports of raw material and
manufactured products produced by underpaid coolie and peasant labor and
it will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the
land.
The machine that makes this possible is designed for removing the
fiber-bearing cortex from the rest of the stalk, making hemp fiber
available for use without prohibitive amounts of human labor.
Hemp is the standard fiber of the world. It has great tensile
strength and durability. It is used to produce more than 5,000 textile
products, ranging from rope to fine laces, and the woody ‘hurds’
remaining after the fiber has been removed contain more than 77 percent
cellulose, which can be used to produce more than 25,000 products,
ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.
Machines now in service in Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, and other
states are producing fiber at a manufacturing cost of half a cent per
pound, and are finding a profitable market for the rest of the stalk.
Machine operators are making a good profit in competition with
coolie-produced foreign fiber, while paying farmers $15 a ton for hemp
as it comes from the field.
From the farmer’s point of view, hemp is an easy crop to grow and
will yield from three to six tons per acre on any land that will grow
corn, wheat, or oats. It can be grown in any state of the Union. It has a
short growing season, so that it can be planted after other crops are
in. The long roots penetrate and break the soil to leave it in perfect
condition for next year’s crop. The dense shock of leaves, eight to
twelve feet above the ground, chokes out weeds. Two successive crops are
enough to reclaim land that has been abandoned because of Canadian
thistles or quack grass.
Hemp fiber being delivered from machine, ready for baling. Pile of pulverized hurds beside machine is 77 percent cellulose.
Under old methods, hemp was cut and allowed to lie in the fields for
weeks until it ‘retted’ enough so that the fibers could be pulled off by
hand. Retting is simply rotting as a result of dew, rain, and bacterial
action. Machines were developed to separate the fibers mechanically
after retting was complete, but the cost was high, the loss of fiber
great, and the quality of fiber comparatively low.
With the new machine — known as a
decorticator — hemp is cut
with a slightly modified grain binder. It is delivered to the machine
where an automatic chain conveyor feeds it to the breaking arms at a
rate of two or three tons per hour. The hurds are broken into fine
pieces that drop into the hopper, from where they are delivered by
blower to a baler, or to a truck or freight car for loose shipment. The
fiber comes from the other end of the machine, ready for baling.
Modern version of a linen duster made from hemp, one of the toughest fibers in the world.
From this point on, almost anything can happen. The raw fiber can be used to produce strong
twine
or rope, woven into burlap, used for carpet warp or linoleum backing,
or it may be bleached and refined, with resinous by-products of high
commercial value. It can, in fact, be used to replace foreign fibers
which now flood our markets.
Thousands of tons of hemp hurds are used every year by one large
powder company for the manufacture of dynamite and TNT. A large paper
company, which has been paying more than a million dollars a year in
duties on foreign-made cigarette papers, now is manufacturing these
papers from American hemp grown in Minnesota. A new factory in Illinois
is producing bond paper from hemp. The natural materials in hemp make is
an economical source of pulp for any grade of paper manufactured, and
the high percentage of alpha cellulose promises an unlimited supply of
raw material for the thousands of cellulose products our chemists have
developed.
It is generally believed that all linen is produced from flax.
Actually, the majority comes from hemp — authorities estimate that more
than half of our imported linen fabrics are manufactured from hemp
fiber. Another misconception is that burlap is made from hemp. Actually,
its source is usually jute, and practically all of the burlap we use is
woven from laborers in India who receive only four cents a day. Binder
twine is usually made from sisal, which comes from the Yucatan and East
Africa.
All of these products, now imported, can be produced from home-grown
hemp. Fish nets, bow strings, canvas, strong rope, overalls, damask
tablecloths, fine linen garments, towels, bed linen, and thousands of
other everyday items can be grown on American farms. Our imports of
foriegn fabrics and fibers average about $200 million per year; in raw
fibers alone we imported over $50 million in the first six months of
1937. All of this income can be made available for Americans.
The paper industry offers even greater possibilities. As an industry
it amounts to over $1 billion a year, and of that, 80 percent is
imported. But hemp will produce every grade of paper and government
figures estimate that 10,000 acres devoted to hemp will produce as much
paper as 40,000 acres of average pulp land.
One obstacle in the onward march of hemp is the reluctance of farmers
to try new crops. The problem is complicated by the need for proper
equipment a reasonable distance from the farm. The machine cannot be
operated profitably unless there is enough acreage within driving range
and farmers cannot find a profitable market unless there is machinery to
handle the crop.
Harvesting luxurious fields of hemp in Texas with a grain binder.
Another obstacle is that the blossom of the female hemp plant
contains marijuana, a narcotic, and it is impossible to grow hemp
without producing the blossom. Federal regulations now being drawn up
require registration of hemp growers, and tentative proposals for
preventing narcotic production are rather stringent.
However, the connection of hemp as a crop and marijuana seems to be
exaggerated. The drug is usually produced from wild hemp or locoweed,
which can be found on vacant lots and along railroad tracks in every
state. If federal regulations can be drawn to protect the public without
preventing the legitimate culture of hemp, this vast new crop can add
immeasurably to American agriculture and industry.
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