1926: Asbestos Sources, Trade, and Much More

In 1926, the United States Department of Commerce (Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce), in collaboration with the Bureau of Mines, issued a wonderful little book titled Asbestos Sources and Trade. Although the book has less than 30 pages, it is packed with a lot of historical knowledge. Attached at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1926-Asbestos-Sources-and-Trade.pdf is a complete electronic copy.

The book is clearly geared towards helping manufacturing companies based in the United States. As of the mid-1920s, the United States industry consumed roughly 86% of the yearly world asbestos production, with most of the raw fibers imported from South Africa and Canada. The book notes that “Although deposits of asbestos are found in many countries of the world, there are comparatively few sources of spinning fibers.” As such, in many ways, the industrial demands of the United States drove the need to mine asbestos fibers through the world-market. As old timers in the manufacturing business would say, “manufacturing minus sales, equals scrap.” The United States based industry fed the asbestos demand, at least according to this book, as of the mid-1920.

To assist the United Statement industry’s demand for asbestos fibers, the book discusses each relevant country and the organizations within those countries for the United States based companies to contact. As an example:

As concluded in the book (about the book), “It is intended primarily as an aid to domestic manufacturers interested in foreign sources of the raw material upon which they are largely dependent.”

There is a lot more packed into this small book. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment or sending me an email to TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty