[WARNING - much of the following consists of opinions, which while valid do NOT represent the view points of all museum members.   In addition, while documenting as much as possible, it is very possible that (because the subject is so subjective) that some technical errors might have been made. ]

• KING COTTON: --- In 1794 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which allowed for the separation of Cotton seeds, etc., from the actual cotton fiber.   This factor cannot be underestimated.  It must be remembered that Hemp fibers themselves were originally a cheaper substitute for wool, which itself was a cheaper substitute for a whole host of other substances.   Cotton before (before the invention of the cotton gin) was simply too expensive, and labor intensive to be practical for common use.   Aka, it simply took too long to separate the cotton seeds, steams and other objects away from the actual cotton fiber. However, after its invention the price of cotton started to drop and drop.   Soon it was the dominant fiber for clothing.
  
  But cotton, while being a gentler fabric (good for shirts, underwear, etc.), because of its very gentleness (or weakness if you will) made it a poorer material for ropes, twine, blue jeans, sailing canvases, and other industrial uses etc., -----Thus cotton, while a factor was far from the only one.
  
  
• LABOR COSTS: --- Hemp has always been a labor intensive crop, so much so that in 1815 Thomas Jefferson (yes that Thomas Jefferson), wrote the following:

  "Hemp...is abundantly productive and will grow forever on the same spot, but the breaking and beating it, which has always been done by hand, is so slow, so laborious, and so much complained of by our laborers, that I have given it up, . . . ; and in the mean time a method of removing the difficulty of preparing hemp occurred to me, so simple and so cheap, that I return to it's culture and manufacture.   To a person having a threshing machine, the addition of a hemp break will not cost more than . . . “--- Dec. 29, 1815 In a letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Fleming.

  Labor intensive here can be thought of as nothing more than a nice term for EXPENSIVE, and while cotton also is labor intensive, due to various factors, it was able to adapt.
  
  
• THE PHILIPPINES & CHEAPER IMPORTS: --- Unlike cotton, which due to climate and weather conditions couldn’t just be grown anywhere.   Hemp can, and in addition it had competitors such as jute, sisal etc., which started to be imported into this country around the 1830’s.   --- Without tariff protections American Hemp farmers just couldn’t compete with the cheaper imports.   Then in 1898 the ultimate horror happened.  The Philippines were annexed and with it, its much cheaper to produce Manila Hemp plantations.
  
  
• SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS: ---- During the latter part of the 19th Century. It seems that just about everything started to go against Industrial Hemp production including science. Examples:

  PLASTICS - Contrary to what most people think, the first plastics (which is a generic term) were developed in the 1890’s.   And granted, it took a while for them to develop into full-fledged products, still the hand-writing was already on the wall for Hemp twine and rope.
  
  

  PETROLEUM OIL - It is a fact that the original automobiles were designed to run on peanut, cotton and hemp seed oil.   However, petroleum (which at the time was much, much cheaper) quickly became a replacement.   In addition, petroleum oil also replaced Hemp oil for lamps etc., at about this time.
  
  

  PULP PAPER - Although paper had traditionally been made from human grown/cultivated crops such as cotton and Hemp, by the mid-19th Century, inventors started to figure out how to make it directly out of wood pulp or sawdust.   Although debatable, in the author’s opinion it was a couple of French guys around the 1880’s, who figured out how to put the last pieces of the process together that gave Hemp the coup-d’-grass.   [a thousand curses on them both]

“Hemp production in the United States reached its highest point in 1859, the decline since that time being 137,235,370 pounds, or 92.1 percent.   The last decade showed a decline of 11,271,370 pounds, or 49.0 per cent.   There are several reasons for the decline, among which are the introduction of manila hemp, the large importation of jute, the decline in prices of hard cordage fibers such as sisal and the use of cotton for twine and yarns. “ - US. 1900 Census (Statistics of Agriculture) - pg 420

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