The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-03-17
Cur @lio.
Silk in the United States

More than onc-half of the silk product
consumed in this country during the yea
that has just closed we're of native manu-
facture. The fact is probably a surpris
to most people, and may well draw atten
tion to branch Of industry which, With
a decade and half, has made astonishing
progress.
Repeated attempts to found silk facto
rics in the United States had been prose
cuted with skill and capital; but these, fo
the most part, proved unremunerative ~
to the outbreak of the civil war and the
high tariff regime which followed. The
necessity Of importing the new material
was disadvantage, but the relative high
price Of labor seemed to present more
insuperable obstacle 10 the success of the
undertaking. A larger proportion of han
diwork was, and still is, indispensable in
twisting and weaving silk than in other
textile industries. Much of this, un.
donbtedly, may be done by women, but
they could rarely be hired for less than a
dollar day, or ten times the sum paid Ia
silk throwers in China, aud from three 10
five times the stipend of female operatives
in Italy and southern France
American ingenuity, however, had con
triyed to measurably neutralize these draw
backs by improved mechanical appliances.
Before l840 Nathan Rixford patented a
silk reel Of his own invention, which was
q material advance on the Piedmont in-
strument. A number Of these reels were
soon afterward sent to China, and although
their introduction was attended with some
difficulty, the desired change was at length
effected, and Shanghai and Canton silk
re-reelOd by Rixford's process, is now reg
ularly consigned to manufacturers in the
the United States. A more decisive i'm
provement on European apparatus is pre-
sented by the so-called throwing machines
built at Patterson, New Jersey, it being,
Of course, understood that the technical
word comprehends the various processes
of winding, cleaning, doubling, twisting,
rewinding and reeliDg the raw silk. The
adoption Of this and other ingenious iu-
yentions has enabled American manufac-
turers, under the tariff Of 1865, to Offset
the excessive cost of labor, and compete
successfully with foreign fabrics. Thus
their demand for raw silk twenty years
ago fell short of million Of dollars, where
as this country at that date paid more
than thirty millions for the products of
Chinese and European Looms. By 1875,
however, their consumption of the crude
material had nearly quintupled, while the
importation Of manufactured silks had
shrunk to less than twenty-four millions.
The aggregate value Of the silk fabrics
produced in the United States during the
last year is computed at twenty seven mil
lions of dollars, of which fraction was
actually exported. We may add that al
though our manufacturers are working
under tariff of sixty per cent ad valor-
EN-, yet owing to the strong competition
at home, the price of certain goods, for
example dress silks, ribbons, and sewing
silks, was never so low as now.
The market for the last named product
is mainly controlled by domestic mauuiac-
lures. Our sewing silks and machine
twists are considered in some respects su-
perior to the foreign article, and we may
mention that the substitution of spools for
skeins was started in this country. 1t
nay be, however, that the remarkable
evenness and freedom from kinks secured
by stretching machines-an American in-
vention-are Offset by certain loss of
strength and elasticity. The italian staple
rarely needs artificial correction of this
sort, but its high cost substantially pro-
hibits its employment in our twist facto-
ries. The relative excellence Of American
twists and sewing silks seems to be gener-
ally acknowledged, since during the last
four years, they have been exported in in.
creasiug quantities. Ribbons and millinery
silks likewise constitute important features
Of this industry, their combined annual
valuation exceeding seven millions Of dol
lars. What is moro noteworthy, because
an exceptional amount Of hand work is
required in the production, the demand
for braids and fringes is largely supplied
by native fabrics Even gros grains haze
lately been made with profit, but it must
be said in general that for broad goods
and the heavy grades of dress silks the
outlook of American manufactures is not
favorable.
When We consider its beginnings and
impediments, the present state of our silk
industry may well appear remarkable. 1t
gives employment to eighteen thousand
operatives, two-thirds of whom are women.
1t represents an invested capital of eigh-
teen millions of dollars, of which fifth
is credited to New York, somewhat more
to Connecticut, and third to the city Of
Paterson, N. j., which in a modest way
might be called the Lyons of America.
The town was recommended by its water
facilities, and being already the seat Of
factories, could offer in the wives and chill
dren of its operatives the precise quality
of labor requisite to silk works at a mini.
mum rate Of wages Among other manu-
featuring centres may be named South
Manchester and Mansfield in Connecticut
the latter place being intimately associated
with the history of American silk culture.
Silk culture, indeed, should not be Who'll
ly overlooked, although in the Atlantic
States it has ceased to engage much atten-
tion. Yet it long held much larger
place in the hopes of English settlers than
the cotton crop, and james l. studiously
endeavored to supplant tobacco by the
mulberry tree. The growth of the white
mulberry and the breeding of silkworms in
Virginia were encouraged by large pre-
miums; and about the middle of the sew
enteenth century member of the House
of Burgesses said he had seventy thousand
mulberry trees on his estate. The cocoons,
however, proved so much less profitable
than tobacco, that their production rapidly
declined, although it was no infrequent
occurrence down to the time Of the Revo.
luton for delegate to the Colonial AS
sembly or great lady appearing at col.
onial Governors reception to wear gar
ments woven Of native silk. During the
eighteenth century Georgia and South
Carolina made conspicuous progress in silk
n r. W . D.,