The careful methods we have just described are indicative of the watchfulness maintained with each of the many fibers we use, although in none of them is there as great range of quality as in Manila, nor is purchasing power so important a factor. A recent and interesting development in connection with our Sisal importations is the direct steamship service now in effect between Yucatan and North Plymouth, and because of which cargoes of this fiber can now be brought directly alongside our own pier, unloaded by our own employees and trucked at once into our own warehouse. [Illustration: SISAL FIBER BEING TRANSFERRED FROM WAREHOUSE TO MILL] Every user of rope naturally expects that under equal conditions he will receive the same service from one rope that he does from another of the same kind and size made by the same manufacturer. The Plymouth Cordage Company aims to have each of its products give that sort of service; first, by possessing the best materials, facilities and workmen obtainable; second, by utilizing each of these factors to the best advantage. This policy, so well illustrated in our buying and selecting of fiber, finds its expression in every phase and department of our business, and herein lies one of the vital reasons why Plymouth Rope has always been so popular and is becoming increasingly so among discriminating rope buyers. Speedy transfer of the fiber from warehouse to mill is made by an industrial railroad operated by compressed air, which carries the bales directly into the various opening rooms. [Illustration: NO. 2 TAR HOUSE, PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY] [Illustration: REAR VIEW NO. 3 MILL, PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY] [Illustration] CHAPTER II PREPARATION OF FIBER FOR SPINNING--FORMATION OF “SLIVER” The opening room where the fiber is made ready for the preparation machinery is a reminder of the days when all rope-making processes were hand work. The bales are first opened up. In the case of Manila this means cutting away the straw matting put on to protect the fiber in shipment. Then the hanks which are packed in various ways--sometimes doubled, sometimes twisted--are taken out and straightened and the band at the end of each hank removed. No machinery has yet been perfected for doing the work just described, but the first of the preparation processes, a short step beyond, tells quite a different story. Here the hanks of such fibers as require a special cleaning treatment are placed on fast-working hackling machines which comb away most of the snarls, loose tow and dirt. [Illustration: PREPARATION ROOM, NO. 3 MILL, PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY]