My fiancee deals in antiques & I help him on the side. I went to an estate sale & purchased a bunch of handspun cloth nightgowns from the 1820s/30s era. The woman at the sale was telling me about the process of how the woman made the cloth from hemp & showing me the beautiful tiny details of their work.
There was not a hole in ANY of the fifteen I purchased. They were thick & sturdy. I brought them home & gently washed them with some oxyclean & put a little fabric softner in with them. They came out white & beautiful.
I was awe-struck. I have always known, intellectually, that hemp was supposed to make great clothing & it has a million & one other uses as well. But, it wasn’t until I put my hands on these nearly 200 YEAR OLD pieces of fabric that I realized why industry would want to fight this plant. It lasts, if not forever, then for a couple of life-times or more. How on earth would they be able to generate profit, if we weren’t wearing holes in our Chinese factory made clothing every two weeks?
Hemp can be grown without needing pesticide or herbicide. also needs less water than cotton. The chemical companies plus the clothing companies are a formidable lobby!
When you’re high on “hemp” you don’t care if there’s holes in your clothes.
#2 – people dont smoke hemp. hemp as only trace amounts of THC in it.
great article, nice find!
Two different issues, right? Hemp is not pot.
I’m against legalizing any more recreational drugs than we already have but I have no problem with hemp.
You can buy hemp twine in the US and it’s fantastically strong and cheap.
This reminds me of the plot-line of the great 1950s movie “The Man in the White Suit” starring Sir Alec Guinness. Guinness plays a chemist who invents a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty. He then discovers how the capitalistic garment industry reacts to his discovery. Great movie and has a lot of truth in its satire.
Hemp oil is a nice cooking oil too…..
I had a wallet made out of hemp a few years back, except the big tacky ‘ganja leaf’ logo it was a great wallet….
For what its worth, pot sucks, not because of its legal status, but because it makes you feel like shit. I hate it.
How many people want to wear 200 year old clothes? I’m sure women would love to go to the beach in the kind of swimsuits they had to wear back then. So to answer the question “how would the clothing companies continue to make money if clothes were more durable?” — by keeping up with (or leading) fashion trends.
Does it really matter if your clothes wear out in a year if you’re going to replace them anyway because they’re out of style?
8: Some clothing is timeless. Think of non-designer blue jeans, the clothes that LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, and Lands End sell, and so forth.
I can think of much of my clothing from other retailers that I’ve worn out, and couldn’t replace because the style had changed to something that didn’t fit or suit me.
Admittedly, women might think differently, though my wife keeps clothing as long as it fits, hasn’t worn out, and she still likes it, which is often many years.
She’s right. I remember being allowed to handle a four-hundred year old bible as a teen. The owner was completely unconcerned, because the pages were made of hemp- super thin, but white & sturdy- no yellow, no cracks, no tears.
7. You could use it those special brownies, but you’d still the special ingredients (by which I mean chocolate of course)…. the oil doesn’t have any medicinal qualities…. it is just crushed hemp seeds (which are different from ganga seeds in that they contain very little THC…)
I’d say its somewhere not quite as nice as olive oil, but better than veggie oil (unless you want something super crispy).
One more unforeseen effect of growing hemp ( this actually happened in Australia) the hemp pollen cross pollinates with the illegal pot plants and destroys their THC content making the local pot farmers go out of business
The placing of profit above utility in all aspects of life simply must stop. It impoverishes the people, robs them of good nutrition and health, enriches the few to an inordinate amount, and destroys the Earth. It makes excess a necessity, but making sure that everything breaks and falls apart as fast as possible. Nothing good will come of it, and if we can’t accept a future in which we all have reliable, durable, and sensibly produced products rather than break-apart junk, then we will be forced to accept a future of scarcity, starvation and environmental destruction.
Good design saves lives, saves money, and saves the Earth. Bad design kills, wastes and destroys. Intentionally bad design is an unrecognized crime.
Think about all the Nylon/rayon/synth clothes we are wearing.
Good cotton, and wools Wear longer then this THIN material.
But try to find many things MADE with quality Cotton and wool, that ISNT underwear/T shirt material.
Hemp is very good. Lasts along time.
But to make it illegal, even tho Cross pollination would make the THC in others Lessen?? Make it illegal (ALL HEMP) so that you can have a MARKET for drugs, and NOT worry about cross pollination..
I doubt the validity of this article. While I’m no hemp article, the ‘facts’ in the wikipedia article on hemp show that at the time it was made illegal hemp production had already dropped significantly, as had the market price of it. While having strong fibres, it was inferior to other products in many ways. If hemp clothing was in demand, then it could demand a higher price and would have been made available. Most clothing certainly isn’t being bought to replace worn out clothes, but just because people desire new clothes. Pot heads.
We have to protect the children because according to ALL child protection advocates AMERICAN CHILDREN ARE USELESS, DEFENSELESS, IDIOTIC, CAN’T WIPE THEIR OWN ASSES, STUPID, IMBECILLIC, DUMBASS, MORONIC WALKING TARGETS AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE HAVE TO BAN ANYTHING THAT MAKES THEIR PARENTS ACTUALLY DO ANY KIND OF PARENTING JOB so the children will be safe without any adult supervision at all.
And that’s why we have to ban Hemp.
While cannabis does hold so much potential for our species this is not the real reason that it is ilegal today. American government agencies including the CIA have managed to use their powers to put themselves at the top of the global drug chain reaping the largest profits of all from prohibtion. Profits are also made through enforcement and prevention as well as seizing of assets at all levels throughout the drug chain.
No one can tell you what not to do. Use your own common sense.
#16 I’m not sure what ‘facts’ you are referring to, since bans on hemp followed the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, and these gowns date back to the 1820’s. Unless you are proposing that the US congress has the power of retro-causality, in which case I wonder why they don’t deposit five gold coins in some 1400’s Swiss bank so we can run the country off of the interest. I could use the tax break.
Everything else you said was bunk too. Blended with other fibers, hemp lends its strength to whatever fiber quality you might care for. Hemp clothes do command a high price. And most of the clothes I buy are to replace worn out ones. Now, you might think that jeans change so much year to year that you -must- have the new cut (you queen), but that does not represent the opinion of most people on a budget.
“Pot heads.”
I’m sure some people on this forum are on the weed; I could care less. But I’m also sure that it messes with their good sense less than your breathlessness is messing with yours.
Just read an article about how the Brits had “declassified” marijuana to a less illegal status, and wonder of wonders, its use has lessened as well!
I don’t know how much of a bogus factor is involved in that (maybe the researchers and reporters smoke the stuff), but I do know that a great many folks who tried it over the years don’t like it, and they seem to be a lot of people who are ambitious, aggressive ‘type A’ personalities (the so-called “movers and shakers” of society who end up running governments, corporations and whatnot). It disorients and confuses them too much.
As far as the ‘evil weed’ is concerned, try asking any policeman how much of an actual problem it is compared with drunken drivers and cocaine crazies and what have you.
When all is said and done though… I think it’s a good thing that it never can become a mainstream recreation. It should stay in the shady background, something that artists, musicians, poets and general romantic daydreamers do on the sly, out in woods or in the streets or in back rooms where the morality police can’t smell the fumes. It’s fun! (like having sex in the bushes in the park… a sneaky, subversive thing to indulge in). Only actual foolish people will get caught doing it.
And…
You should be able to buy it at the drug/liquor/store. Fully taxed and legal.
18,
Then EXPLAIN why it was done in 1930, BEFORE the FBI, CIA and others.
16..
Umm,
THINk about the time.
Many had enough money and spent it.
Nylons were JUST coming out…Synth clothing was ABOUT to hit the market.
And it was a LUMP togehter THINg with Cocane..
Sheesh… aren’t all you careful arguers missing something? Take a look at that image above, and notice that some of those products or their containers, including the synthetic textiles mentioned, are currently made of…(I’ll just say one word)…
Plastics!!
And what is the raw material that most plastics need?
Petroleum!!
And what did they just announce this morning? That a barrel of crude is now creeping into the $90+ per bbl range… uh-oh…
– Smokestacks El Ropo Calhoun
Cannibus can produce seeds (for oil), fiber, or thc. It cannot produce any two very well, never mind all three.
Seperating the three strains of plants calls for thought on the part of the voters. That’s always a losing proposition.
Hemp use was dropping because cotton was cheaper, and the machine that seperated hemp fiber from the stalks was invented just a few years too late. Besides, Randolf Hearst (the guy that suckered the US into attacking the Spanish and the Mexicans) was using the “drug menace” to increase circulation of his paper. Pot smokers were supposed to have a sombrero spontaniously grow out of their heads, or something.
#5 – I’m against legalizing any more recreational drugs than we already have but I have no problem with hemp.
How many do we already have?
We have one. It’s alcohol. It’s dangerous and relates to many serious health and safety issues. And isn’t usable to some people.
I’m one of those people. I can’t drink beer, wine, or anything in even small amounts without getting ill.
Marijuana is much healthier than alcohol, doesn’t induce violence, is impairing, but much less so, and is frankly my god damn right as a human on the Earth to smoke if I please.
As a society, we need to get past legislating morality. Legal marijuana would do economic wonders for us… if only we could get past the bullheaded prejudices against it.
#7 – For what its worth, pot sucks, not because of its legal status, but because it makes you feel like shit. I hate it.
It makes YOU feel like shit… Not everyone… and its also possible that you had the bad stuff. A legal and regulated industry would be able offer consistent strain quality and effects.
Add to #26
On William Randolf Hearst. You also must understand that at the time, a fair amount of paper was made from hemp, and as stated, a new process was just developed to make this cheaper.
Hearst owned vast tracts of forested land and was determined to put cheap hemp paper out of business so that he could use his trees to make newsprint.
As far as it goes, I’m on my 3rd hemp wallet. They last far longer than leather, and usually, the stitching comes apart before the cloth starts to fray. And, when they start to smell of sweat, they can be washed!
Other articles of hemp wear that I’ve had were either the wrong size, too weird a design or had some other flaw. (I’m very picky about what I wear and often buy clothes that just hang in the closet.).
As for jeans, there is only one designer and one style that I like. Levi’s 501s. All others are not worth buying, IIRC. Now, if I could get some Levi’s 501s made from hemp….life would be good!
29,
you have a good debate..
But can we add that the processing to WOOD pulp, from the 1880’s to the 60’s USED mercury…and they took a MAJOR hit in the 60-70’s over settling ponds…
Processing Hemp, took little or nothing, and even families could do it at HOME.
I call bull crap on the article. At one time hemp might have been useful, today it has been surpassed by many other fibers in cost and quality.
In America’s history, hemp was seldom used for clothing as it’s rough texture was much rougher than was linen, cotton, or fine wool. It wasn’t until the process of fining or softening the hemp fibers was perfected that it was used in clothing. By that time, it had been surpassed by other cheaper alternatives. When it was used for clothing it would more likely have been as outer wear or rough pants, not nightgowns.
Its primary use was as rope and rough material such as burlap bags. Those that famously grew hemp, including most of the Founding Fathers who farmed, grew hemp for rope to bale tobacco and wool and later cotton. After manila fiber became common, its use as rope declined.
Hemp paper was expensive and primarily used for bond paper. Before tree cellulose became common, rags were the preferred paper material for common paper such as books. Although many historical legal documents were produced on hemp paper, today, better grades of paper are made using linen or flax fiber.
I suspect the night gowns were most likely made out of linen. It was a much softer, more easily worked material than was hemp in the 1820s. If they were decorated, they would almost certainly not have been hemp. I also doubt there would have been a lot of 15 nightgowns that old. While clothing from that period is not uncommon, usually it involves something of note, such as military uniforms or a woman’s ballroom dress. Since clothing such as underwear or nightdresses would be considered personal, there would be little reason to keep them. Especially if they were homespun.
32,
Have you ever seen a Paper Pulp mill??
SMELLED one??
Or seen the Mercury damage done, in the past??