Manila (Abaca) Fiber for World War II

Prior provision for Manila Fiber—World War II.—The Navy has regarded Manila as the best cordage fiber, and long before World War II initiated prior provision for a reserve supply in this country on which it could draw in the event of being cut off by war from the Philippines.

The Army and Navy Munitions Board in March of 1937 gave official recognition to Manila fiber as a vital and strategic war material, and kept the subject of its importance continuously alive. Consequently, when Congress enacted Public Act No. 117 on June 7, 1939, for Treasury Procurement purchase of vital and strategic materials for national defense, it included Manila fiber among these. Given the authority of this act, the Army and Navy Munitions Board on August 26, 1939, requested Treasury Procurement to purchase Manila fiber for stockpile, and set up the following buying procedures:

(1)    In order to avoid stimulating prices, no public announcements of prospective purchases would be made.

(2)    Undue concentration on purchases of the highest grades of Manila would be avoided, for it was found that an excellent rope could be made with a blend of various grades.

(3)    Manila would be purchased from Davao province in Mindanao, where better quality in the various grades was available.

(4)    Stocks would be rotated to prevent deterioration.

(5)    Bids from Treasury Procurement for stockpile 117 and from Navy for current needs would be alternated every two weeks. This avoided having both bids come out at the same time, which would have stampeded the market.

(6)    Storage would be safeguarded by automatic sprinklers for fire protection; windows and skylights would be covered by dark green paint in order to prevent fiber discoloration; and bales would be set on concrete floors or dunnage to avoid moisture.

A committee from the Cordage Institute was appointed to co-operate with the Government, and assisted materially in co-ordinating buying procedures and in rotation of stockpile 117.

The Army and Navy Munitions Board and Treasury Procurement, with the assistance of other Government agencies and with the wholehearted co-operation of industry, worked aggressively in making purchases, and were able to acquire prior to the outbreak of War on December 7, 1941, 146,213 bales of Manila fiber amounting to 40,208,575 pounds. In addition to accumulating these quantities under Public Act No. 117, another stockpile, consisting of 105,233 bales, or 28,939,075 pounds, was acquired by Defense Supplies Corporation, acting under a directive issued in August of 1940 by the Office of Production Management, the predecessor of the War Production Board.

The Navy, of course, had continued to acquire stocks of Manila to provide for its own needs at the Ropewalk in the Boston Navy Yard, and these were sufficient for the first six months of 1942. But by July of 1942, the Navy’s own stocks had shrunk to a dangerously low level, and the Army and Navy Munitions Board therefore requested the War Production Board to institute withdrawals from stockpile 117 for consumption into cordage at the Navy’s Ropewalk.

Authority for such withdrawals was secured by Executive Order No. 9203, July 20, 1942, which stated that the chairman of the War Production Board might dispose of Manila fiber in stockpile 117 for the United States Navy, for the United Kingdom, and for Canada. The reason for the inclusion of the United Kingdom and Canada was a Combined Raw Materials Board decision, March 3, 1942, which obligated the United States to make available certain quantities of Manila fiber to these countries. It did not become necessary, however, to make any allocations to Canada and the obligation to the United Kingdom was discharged by an allocation of 19,920 bales or 5,478,000 pounds. The entire balance of stockpile 117 therefore went to the Navy.

These stocks have provided and continue to provide for the Navy’s needs at the Boston Ropewalk. They were also used in part this year for the benefit of industry working on Army and Navy rope contracts. Stocks of industry processors had sunk to dangerously low levels, and there was no other place to turn, for the Defense Supplies Corporation stockpile had all been used and arrivals of Manila fiber from Central America were still not sufficient. It is safe now to say, however, that when stockpile 117 is finally exhausted, imports from Central America will be at such a rate that the supply line will be maintained.

It has been said that the outstanding example of our unpreparedness for war was the lack of stockpiling of critical materials from abroad. Fortunately, this cannot be said about Manila fiber. The Navy is proud of the part it played in the preparedness program on Manila fiber in stockpile 117, and is grateful to the other Government agencies and to private industry, without whose effective co-operation this achievement would not have been possible. By means of this united effort, we have had at all times during this conflict a supply of Manila fiber adequate for our most essential needs.

Conservation of Manila fiber.—Realizing that the limited available supply of Manila fiber might have to last “for the duration,” the Secretary of the Navy, on December 16, 1941, just nine days after Pearl Harbor, directed all Bureaus and Shore Stations to review all their requisitions and specifications concerning Manila fiber, and consider substituting pure sisal, a mixture of sisal and Manila, or wire rope. A conservation program was subsequently drawn up for the blending of Manila fiber of usual ropemaking grades with others of lower quality; for the blending of sisal and Manila; and for the blending of Manila with true (American) hemp. By the summer of 1942 the Boston Ropewalk’s production was scheduled in sisal in sizes up to and including 2¼-inch circumference and in a composite of sisal and Manila in sizes over 4-inch circumference.

During the balance of 1942, a continuous program on conservation was pursued by the Navy. This was reinforced on December 11, 1942, by an important action of the Army and Navy Munitions Board and the War Production Board. Cordage processors were notified that every Army and Navy purchase order for rope, whether placed directly with the mills or through their jobbers, had to be presented to designated officers of the Army and Navy in Washington for “screening” in order to insure using the least critical cordage fiber. The Maritime Commission also adopted this procedure. This review and screening of all orders, which still continues, has conserved many millions of pounds of critical Manila and sisal fiber.

Accumulating “frozen” stocks of Manila cordage.—With the issuance of War Production Board Order M-36 on August 29, 1941, there were effected controls over the processing and sale of Manila fiber and Manila cordage, which resulted in a “freeze” of dealers’ and wholesalers’ stocks. The Army and Navy Munitions Board estimated that eight to ten million pounds of such stocks existed, and on April 8, 1942, asked the War Production Board to have them collected for procurement by the Army, Navy, and Maritime Commission. The Army and Navy stated the sizes, types, and lengths of Manila cordage in which they would be interested.

The War Production Board assigned to the Metals Reserve Company the responsibility of accumulating, storing, and distributing such stocks, for this agency was experienced in such work and had the funds to finance the acquisitions. The Army and Navy agreed with Metals Reserve on a price, and on a procedure whereby Metals Reserve would advise weekly on stocks accumulated, and direct their distribution to supply depots. Starting in the summer of 1942, Metals Reserve circularized resellers of cordage throughout the United States, and obtained inventory reports of “frozen” manila cordage from over 30,000.

When the program was completed in February of 1944, the total quantities allocated to and purchased by the Army and Navy were:

This poundage from retailers and wholesalers was augmented by approximately 30,000,000 pounds purchased by Army, Navy, and Maritime Commission from manufacturers’ “frozen” inventories held at plant and branch warehouses and on consignment with large wholesalers.

By pursuing the foregoing program aggressively, the Army and Navy secured a cushion of Manila stocks enabling them to satisfy all their important requirements. Instead of being out of Manila fiber in mid- 1943, as was predicted in early 1942, the Army and Navy are still securing Manila cordage for the end uses for which there is no satisfactory substitute.

Western Hemisphere production of Manila fiber.—The story of the rise of Manila fiber as a Western Hemisphere crop goes back to August, 1925, when the steamship Ethan Allen left Malita in Davao Province of the Philippine Islands with 1,350 Manila rhizomes and suckers aboard. This planting material had been collected by Dr. Harry T. Edwards of the United States Department of Agriculture, and he accompanied the shipment from the Philippines to Panama. Many of the plants died, but some survived, and supplemented by additional lots brought over from Davao by Dr. Edwards in 1926 and 1927, they became the foundation for the development of Manila fiber in the New World. Experiments were conducted through the facilities of the United Fruit Company in Panama. Dr. Edwards predicted that a war in the Pacific might separate the United States from its source of supply, and that prior provision for such an eventuality would be a wise move. Small lots were produced annually in Panama, but, more important, seed areas were being developed to provide the necessary planting stock for the projects that were later to be undertaken after Pearl Harbor.

In the fall of 1936, Admiral W. H. Stand- ley, then Acting Secretary of the Navy, expressed the Navy’s interest in the growing of Manila fiber in Central America and hoped that commercial production on a large scale would result. Meantime, the United Fruit Company had continued its experimental work in growing Manila fiber, which is a wild banana plant with many characteristics in common with the banana plant cultivated for fruit production. On February 21, 1939, the United Fruit Company advised the Navy that it was prepared and willing to work out a plan for promoting the growth of Manila fiber in Central America. The Navy replied that it would lend its encouragement, would arrange for tests at the Boston Navy Yard, and expressed the hope, in the interest of national security, that the project would be successful.

On December 18, 1941, the Army and Navy Munitions Board asked the Office of Production Management, the predecessor of the War Production Board, to take action immediately to insure maximum production of Manila fiber in the Western Hemisphere. The first concrete step taken under this request was a contract entered into on January 3, 1942, by Defense Supplies Corporation with United Fruit Company. This was followed on September 11,1942, by two additional contracts, one calling for planting of up to 10,000 acres of Manila in Honduras, and the other of up to 10,000 acres in Guatemala.

The status of these United Fruit Company projects is now as follows:

* Estimated.
** The reason for not planting the entire authorized 40,000 acres was lack of sufficient seed stock.

It is essential that the United States have a continuing source of supply of Manila fiber in the Western Hemisphere so that this country need not be wholly dependent upon the Philippine Islands, and these projects in Central America should therefore be maintained in production. Furthermore, a blueprint for additional expansion should be ready as an instrument of prior provision in the event of future war. With the benefit of experience gained in this war, facilities in Central America could be expanded sufficiently to satisfy all essential military requirements with Manila fiber.