II. NONPROCESSED BURLAP. Burlap is a plain woven cloth made from the best qualities of raw jute, ranging from 27 to 150 inches in width and from 6 to 16 ounces to the linear yard. The standard is the 40 inch, 10 ounce. Burlap is the world's leading sacking and wrapping material. Fourfifths of that consumed in the United States is made into bags, used as containers for grain, feed, bran, flour, granulated sugar, and for a number of bulky commodities. It is also used for wrapping a great variety of products ranging from cotton cloths to dynamos; for tailor's padding; as the constituent basis of brattice cloth, fireproofed for use as screens in mines; and as upholstery materials and horse clothing. About 33,000,000 square yards were used in 1919 as backings for linoleum and floor cloths. The domestic production of jute cloths, other than cotton bagging, has always been negligible. The record output in recent years was 7,292,000 linear yards of burlap in 1918-about 1 per cent of the domestic consumption. In 1919 and 1920 production was 5,659,580 and 4,879,642 linear yards, respectively. The above totals do not include fabrics of all jute, or of jute and cotton, used as paddings or interlinings in coats. As in the case of burlap, the production of paddings reached its height in 1918 with 8,540,000 linear yards, and then declined to 4,200,000 yards in 1919 and 4,150,000 yards in 1920. Exclusive of the amount produced by two prisons, eight companies, since 1914, have woven these fabrics, seven participating because of war conditions. Five of these have since discontinued weaving these fabrics. TABLE 2. Domestic production and imports of nonprocessed burlap,a a Includes all burlaps, specified and nonspecified, from July 1, 1909, to Oct. 3, 1913. b From July 1, 1913, to Oct. 3, 1913, inclusive. c Burlaps, not bleached, dyed, etc. d Burlap, and paddings of jute, or in chief value of jute. To convert these to pounds, a linear yard may be taken as weighing 9 ounces, The United States is the world's largest consumer of burlap. Imports constitute two-thirds of the jute cloth exported from British India, and one-half of those from Dundee, Scotland, The quantity and value of burlap imported during 1905-1921 from these sources, are shown in the following table: 4 • The quantity of burlap received from different countries is first available for 1905. TABLE 3.—Imports of burlap from British India and the United Kingdom compared with total imports. Calcutta, India, and Dundee, Scotland, are the world's leading jute centers. Burlap imported from Calcutta is used for bag material, and for wrapping and baling purposes, whereas that from Dundee consists of cloth, which requires special machinery or a high grade of workmanship, such as tailors' paddings and backings for linoleum. Although under the acts of 1897 and 1909 nonprocessed burlap was subject to a duty, averaging 1.65 cents per pound (about 1 cent per linear yard), or 26.75 per cent ad valorem, American manufacturers considered it unprofitable to attempt manufacture in competition with India. III. PROCESSED BURLAP. The leading processed cloths falling under paragraph 279 are: (1) Burlap, tarpaulin, and double-warp bagging which have been rendered noninflammable, as brattice cloth; (2) and burlap which has been dyed or printed for upholstery or decorative purposes. Reports from individual establishments show a marked advance since 1914 in the domestic production of brattice cloth converted from jute fabrics. The cloth converted in 1920 amounted to 3,380,826 square yards, with an estimated value of $899,000. Imports for consumption under this classification, first enacted in 1913, ranged in the years 1914-1921 from 3,768,108 pounds in 1914 5 to 1,140,362 pounds in 1918, with a yearly average of 2,092,244 pounds, valued at $258,637. Imports consist for the most part of brattice cloth. Two-thirds of the imports come from the United Kingdom, and British India furnishes the bulk of the remainder. NOTE. No figures are available regarding total production of cloth imported in the gray, and printed, dyed, etc., in this country. The amount so processed in the United States is many times larger than imports of burlap which has been dyed, etc. • From Oct. 4, 1913, to June 30, 1914. PART I. BAGGING FOR COVERING RAW COTTON. DESCRIPTION AND USES. Cotton bagging is the coarse jute cloth employed for covering raw cotton. The type used for baling the American cotton crop is the coarsest bagging made and the lowest grade of jute fabric woven. The better grades of bagging are usually plain woven with a doublewarp thread. The greater part of the bagging consumed in this country, however, has a single warp. The consumption of doublewarp bagging will be discussed in connection with the trade in burlap. The importance of the domestic trade in cotton bagging may be judged from the fact that in the season of 1920 the American cotton crop, including linters, totaled 13,863,208 bales, each bale requiring an average of 7 yards of covering. Cotton bagging is usually woven from yarns produced from the lowest grades of jute butts or cuttings, the woody ends of the stalks cut off when preparing the fiber for shipment. The bulk of the cotton bagging woven in the United States has about two warp threads and two weft threads per square inch, and weighs about two pounds to the linear yard. In the tariff acts of 1897, 1909, and 1913 imports of cotton bagging under a specific paragraph have been restricted to such covering having not more than 16 threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling, and weighing not less than 15 ounces to the square yard. The acts of 1897 and 1909 made specific mention of two classes of burlap: (1) not exceeding 30 threads to the square inch, counting the warp and filling, weighing 6 ounces or over per square yard; and (2) not exceeding 55 threads per square inch, counting warp and filling. There are three grades of bagging woven in the United States. The first is manufactured from jute butts with a small part of waste; the second, from jute butts mixed with 60 or more per cent of other materials, principaly old bagging, and cordage wastes; and the third of practically all old bagging with the addition of a small amount of hard fiber. These grades are made in various widths and weights. The usual width is 45 inches. There is greater diversity, however, in the matter of weights, which run 2, 21, 21, and 3 pounds to the yard, with 2 pounds to the linear yard as the dominant weight. Various trade names such as "American, "York," "Peerless," "Hub," and "Calcutta" are used to designate the quality and weight of the different classes of bagging. Six yards of material are used in covering the average bale as it comes from the gin. The bagging is held in place by six ties weighing about 11 pounds each, making the actual tare amount to about 21 pounds. American mills limit the tare to 24 pounds per compressed bale, whereas European purchasers usually buy on the basis of 6 per cent gross weight. The production of "compress labels"-patches of greater weight than ordinary bagging, added at the time of compression to equal the purchaser's allowance for tare-forms an important part of the domestic trade in cotton bagging. About 80 per cent of the American cotton crop is sent north and abroad. Previous to shipment all cotton that is exported, and a very large part of that consumed in the United States, is compressed, which reduces the size of the bale one-half. In order to make up the difference between the actual and estimated tare, it is a common practice for shippers, when rebaling at a compress, to add to each side of the bale a compress label. When the shipment is intended for Europe, the labels weight about 4 pounds each, bringing the total weight of the bagging up to 20 pounds. The leading weights and sizes of compress labels are: Large amounts of cloth made from secondhand twilled sugar bags are utilized for covering cotton. These bags, which are not manufactured in the United States, measure 29 inches by 48 inches and weigh twice as much per square yard as burlap bags of domestic origin. They enter this country as containers of raw sugar shipped in 320pound quantities. The leading domestic use of such bags is for sacking vegetables, cottonseed cake, and other bulky commodities. The quantity consumed in a given year for covering cotton depends upon the price offered for their use as sacks. As a rule, only the poorer grades are used for covering purposes. The use of secondhand bagging is extensive. A number of southern mills sell their secondhand ties and bagging directly to farmers and ginners. After bagging has been used a number of times it becomes so worn that it must be rewoven or mixed with jute butts or cordage wastes to be serviceable any longer for covering purposes. The reweaving is done by first running the material through a special type of picker, which tears it up into its original fibers; next it is recarded, respun, and rewoven. DOMESTIC PRODUCTION. MATERIALS. Jute is the fiber generally used in the manufacture of cotton bagging. The amount normally consumed of other fibers such as Russian seg, New Zealand tow, Norwegian tow, or of fiber wastes such as cotton tares and mill wastes, is small. With the exception of cotton, more pounds of jute are produced than of any other fiber. Unlike cotton, however, the production of jute is confined almost exclusively to British India, which levies a duty on all exports of jute and its manufactures.1 The rate in 1921, on the basis of the rupee being equal to 32.44 cents, amounted to $0.40 1 No preferential duty on jute is given to countries of the British Empire, though Dundee has been urging it. The views of the English jute trade on this subject are set forth on page 39 of the Report of the Committee to Consider the Position of the Textile Trades after the War-London, 1918. per bale of 400 pounds of jute butts, and to $1.46 for the same quantity of long jute. On hessian the duty was $9.73 per ton of 2,240 pounds as against $6.49 for the same quantity of sacking." Jute is ordinarily the world's cheapest fiber. The causes for its low price are: (1) The heavy production per acre; (2) the fact that the production of jute is confined to a part of the world where labor is cheap and abundant; (3) the ease with which the fiber can be prepared for spinning. Although jute is the cheapest fiber, yet it is too expensive to use any but the ends (butts) in the production of cotton bagging. When being prepared for shipment, the jute fiber is divided into three classes: 1. Jute butts consumed chiefly in the manufacture of sacking weft, bagging, and paper. 2. Jute rejections-material either damaged or barky or knotty, and therefore unsuitable for manufacture into burlap. 3. Long jute-fiber utilized in spinning the yarns used as the warp and weft in hessian, and as the warp in sacking. The United States is the world's largest importer of jute butts, which have been free in all acts since 1891. The domestic consumption totaled 29,832 tons in 1920. By 10-year periods, the American consumption has averaged yearly: 1891-1900. 1901-1910.. 1911-1920. Tons. 64, 089 43, 790 30, 583 A number of different grades of jute butts are imported. "Mixings," the cheapest and the grade used in the manufacture of bagging, represents the bulk of the butts imported. The price of "mixings per pound landed in New York was 2.5 to 3 cents in January, 1913; 2.75 cents in December, 1913; 1.4 to 1.5 cents in March, 1921; and 2 cents in July, 1921. The greater part of imports is consigned to the two American companies that turn out all but a small part of the bagging produced in the United States. The lack of tonnage during the closing years of the war created a scarcity of jute butts, which led one of the largest producers of bagging in the United States to develop the desert fiber, yucca, which grows in West Texas and New Mexico. Before the close of the war this company had erected a plant and was extensively using yucca in the manufacture of bagging. At the close of the war, this bagging concern was planning to produce about 40,000 tons of yucca fiber per year. Increases in domestic railroad rates, while the ocean rates. from India were being lowered, combined with advances in domestic wages, coal, and other supplies, made the cost of yucca prohibitive as compared with jute butts imported from India. As the result of these conditions, the company was obliged to discontinue the production of yucca. 3 A number of waste materials, other than those specifically mentioned in the clause relating to cotton bagging, which might be utilized in its manufacture, are free of duty. The last clause of paragraph 408 provides that the waste of bagging, burlap, and similar fabrics suitable for the manufacture of paper shall be ad 2 Indian tariff act No. VI of 1917, effective Mar. 1, 1917. • Freight charges from India to ports in the United States are discussed on p. 52. |