Newspapers / The Echo (Pisgah Forest, … / Aug. 1, 1941, edition 1 / Page 4
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August, 1941 THE ECHO 5 Ecusta President— (Continued from page 1) acres in this State and in the South, in general. We are interested in the pro motion of seed flax acreage in the South and are now studying the possibilities. We hope, in the not too far distant future, to develop the possibilities of seeing grown right in our close vicinity some of the needs of our paper mill. However, you must be patient. The quantities involved are really very substantial. During the past year, we have consum ed in our mill the production of about 250,000 acres of flax straw, and, with the addition to our new mill practically com pleted, our requirements in the future will be substantially larger. Now, let me tell you some thing about flax: The type flax which we are using is so-called “seed flax’\ It has been cultivated in the past for the purpose of obtain ing flaxseed only, which is used by seed crushers all over the country, who turn it into lin seed oil which is being used particularly in the paint in dustry, the printing ink in dustry, and for many other in dustrial purposes; especially at the present time, it is much needed for defense purposes, primarily by the Navy. The stalk on which the seed grows has gone to waste in the past. It contains the fibre. The fibre is what we are using for paper making. After the straw has been de seeded by standard methods, we buy from the farmer the re sulting straw stalks, which, in Minnesota and California, we bring to central stations, where, by mechanical means, we sepa rate the flax from the wooden portion of the stalk. This is an expensive installation, and the erection of such a mill is only justified when we have in a radius of 15 to 20 miles many thousands of acres at our dis posal This is one of the reasons why we have selected Minnesota and California. These States are familiar with the crop, have produced it for many years, and now have large and concentrat ed acreage well adaptable for our needs. I might mention that last year Minnesota alone had over one and a half million acres in flax. These areas are also familiar with large scale power farming and can produce crops very cheaply. Their income is de rived from the small net returns from large acreage, rather than from large net returns from a few acres. As stated before, these were the main reasons why we ob tain our supply of flax so far away from here. As to the possibility of flax becoming a crop for this sec tion, we are not yet in a posi tion to state when this can take place. We are working dili gently on this problem now, as we are anxious to add an agri cultural benefit to those which we have already brought to this vicinity; but the smallness of the acreage in this particular section is the reason why we could not apply our present methods of preparing the straw to this vicinity. As an illustration, we have a contract with one farmer in the San Joaquin Valley in Cali fornia this year for the product of 8,000 acres of flax, which he is cultivating himself. It is not unusual to make contracts with farmers who cultivate 2,000 acres—200 to 500 acres is a small enterprise. You can well see that this concentration of acreage tends towards economy of operation when the straw is processed and carried to the railroad station. We are, however, giving con siderable thought to bringing this crop to the South. As I told you before, in Cali fornia and Minnesota we bring the harvested flax straw to our central station. We now have in operation a new mechanical development of our own—a portable flax machine—which produces fibre from the straw directly in the field. These machines are be ing tested as to their capacity and cost of production in Cali fornia at this very moment, and the result of this operation will have great influence on our de cision to bring the crop to this section. We do not want to recom mend a crop to our farming friends in this vicinity, unless we can assure them of a profit able operation. We hope that with this portable equipment, we can use the product of iso lated flax acreages. It is our hope that, contrary to what we are doing in Cali fornia and Minnesota, namely, to bring the flax straw to the mill, with the use of our port able equipment, to bring the mill to the fields. If this can be worked out satisfactorily, as stated before, we hope to ma terialize on our ambition to bring this crop to this section. I am telling you this plan of ours so that you will realize that Ecusta is interested in your farming problems and that we are attempting to help you fight some of your battles. We are just about to put in to operation a special depart ment, in charge of competent men with prior experience, who will work out in detail flax fibre which can be grown in this section. I take the oppor tunity to mention this here—it might be a little premature— that we have other crops on our program which we are now de veloping which might be more easily grown in this section than flax itself. I also know you would like to hear from me why we actual ly located our mill in Pisgah Forest. The reason is that we found here the pure air and the desirable and sufficient water for our purpose. These two matters play an important part in our manufacturing pro cesses. We also were very much at tracted by the people of Tran sylvania County, especially those whom we expected to employ. With the greatest of pride and satisfaction, I make the statement that our anticipa tion regarding the help here has fully materialized, and we have found here amongst our employees loyal ^a. friends who have make a success of prise. I trust that tfeg ways be so, and I ^'lo best to make this po^ls ir You also might be'gj. to know something a'' j is being done with^ paper and the impoi^ it plays in the econoi^ our country. Cigarettes are bein? by the Treasury Dep^'’ the United States, enue Division, at $3.25 per thousand. " nearly 200 billion ' consumed annually try—which means 2 and million—and bacco companies treasury of the the stup'endous suin' 000,000 annually. practically over cash every working . year. As you know, cig^^'^g er, prior to the arrival* , Paper Corporation, ed from France. We were fortunate mill in e2h ()1( finish our miii m ply the large cigaret'‘‘p facturers with their f quirement;s, and thef j helped to keep all of- plied with y o u f ‘ smokes, and last, but^^ to see that the incoiJjjj Treasury Department been interfered with- iR This n'ew America^^'; which uses AmericaW terial, has contribute^’tc' continue to do so, to tl’' ; of our country. jsv I again want to te%, happy I am to have „e portunity to talk to sh want you to know th^.ju! ambition of our orgai^'3. let YOU grow our are going to turn it t J 1 I again thank you vitation to meet with y H and I am looking foi"''^l time when I can atte^''^] your meetings and and every one of y^in friend and neighbo^ j '^n All Star Game—August 13—8::;
The Echo (Pisgah Forest, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1941, edition 1
4
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