bling with shares in Lancashire and thought that the workers would very soon discover that the inflation caused by this buying and selling of mills would inevitably be to the disadvantage of the people generally.
Like every other industry the textile business is heavily handicapped because of the war. The importation of cotton from Turkestan and elsewhere has stopped and as is the case with many other industries, new sources of supply and new methods have been adopted. Russia produces lots of flax. Her chemists have discovered two processes by which cotton goods are produced from flax. I saw stacks of such goods in a huge “ Soviet Store.” I am not expert enough to explain the process, but the effect is to turn half the flax into cotton. Without this discovery the Russian people would have gone very short of clothes.
Only first class goods are manufactured. There is no grading as apparently one rule has been adopted : the best is good enough for the workers. In order to utilise to the fullest extent the flax that is produced, peasants are now being taught to secure a greater return from their produce. Much waste has taken place in the past and no doubt much is still taking place. If the advice of Nogin and his colleagues is taken it is estimated that an extra 40 million poods of flax will be available for use without a single pood increase in
