Show new fabrics free army navy from need of silk washington the army threatened with a shortage of silk for artillery powder bags reported that it had developed a cotton substitute acceptable for most purposes at the same time the navy disclosed that it had developed a synthetic silk substitute details of which were withheld and also had laid in its own stockpile of silk for use in its powder bags and parachutes fabric bags are used in guns to hold the powder charge unless the material burns bums out completely with the discharge of the gun a smoldering fragment of cloth in the breech may result in premature explosion of the next charge the synthetic fiber developed by the navy fills this requirement and may be used also in parachute manufacture it was said even before the office of production management forbade silk processing by mills throughout the country to conserve th the supply for military use the navy reported it had enough silk on hand for current needs and was prepared to turn out the synthetic whenever need might arise the recent government order freezing silk supplies for army and navy use assures enough raw silk to supply military needs for two years it was estimated |