I have never bought flour in cloth sacks, only the 25lb paper bags. I remember early in my marriage my father commenting on the amount of flour I was using and he said the bag didn't have 25lbs, it had 24lbs. I showed him the label with 25lbs. He remembered flour in cloth bags that did not have 25 pounds. The measurement had to do with the number of pounds packed in barrels!! He was born in 1912 and lived through some tough times in a large family. I didn't understand then and I still don't but I believe him.
I believe flour came in 25lb sacks. Can't remember for sure, but I know they were pretty large. We only made a major shopping trip to town once a month. We kids were allowed to go to the movies while the Folks shopped. Cost of a movie was a whopping 7cents per kid! Dad would pick up anything we ran out of when he went to the gin, or hauling cattle to sale barn. This was a time of rationing, so we were pretty careful about how fast we used some things up.
I looked around and see what I found from the State of Mississippi Code Weights & Measures:
Flour, in barrels, per barrel ........................... 196 pounds net
Flour, in half barrels ................................... 98 pounds net
Flour, in one-fourth barrel sacks ........................ 48 pounds net
Flour, in one-eighth barrel sacks ........................ 24 pounds net
Looks like Daddy knew what he was talking about.