Jute, Hemp and Bedlam

There is apt to be very little more jute (or burlap, which is made from jute) for the U.S., and no abaca (Manila hemp). Those facts may sound esoteric to the layman, but they have the U.S. Government—and all who know about jute and hemp—in a frenzy.

Burlap is the "wrapping paper of the wholesale trade." The U.S., even in normal times, consumes more than 500,000,000 lb. of burlap a year. Bulk foods—grains, raw sugar, coffee, salt, livestock feeds—are bagged in burlap; so are cotton, wool, fertilizers, chemicals, countless industrial products. In wartime...

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