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Show He maintained that there could be no artificial fiber that would ever combine wool's good qualities. Untrained in science, he still observed the big reasons for holding to the use of wool. He knew that wool had an affinity for water and that was why it dyed so easily, yet that was also why it would shrink. But no fiber can be everything, he said, and wool was healthful to wear. Its fine qualities far outweighed the poor, and some characteristics had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the benefits offered. Rayon and acetate had been chiefly competing with with cotton and silk, but when chemists tapped the secret of nylon, in 1938, John K felt the textile revolution may have begun. And those first fibers heralded years of activity in the chemical world that he would not live to see. When wool came from the sheep ranges all brown, matted, and filled with dirt, dung, burrs, and grass, it was necessary to put it through various expensive and laborious processes to clean it up before use. The synthetics arrived at the mills in exact uniformity, clean and ready.to be spun, a much less expensive fiber in saving time and effort. John K was certain that wool would in time profit by science, and its shortcomings would be eliminated. Sheep were basic necessities to mankind as they had always been. He was as sure of this as he was that the Rambouillet breed of sheep was the most fundamental of all breeds. 236 |