New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-22
SILK RAISING IN ITALY.
THE RESULTS OF CHEAP LABOR.

VENICE, June S.-Bcarug IN fecouecIioh ""i
struggle with foreign competitors ana iree-
traders-a struggle during which lbE lhiD-
me warmly advocated the now triumphant
American policv-I found peculiar interest III
a recent visit 70 the sik-producng prov
ince of Venice near the Austrian border. am oo"-
WINGED that we must either place aheayy duty upon
cocoons and raw silk, which are now admitted free
of duty, or give up for years all hope OF raising
onoon onr own people this essential article OF con-
su,unt,on for which we now send abroad so many
millions of dollars.
lido not know personally single silk-groWcr III
the United States but do know OF the brave EFFORTS
made in Kansas. New-York, Pennsylvania ana Cdl-
ifornia to introduce silk culture; and at the Cen
tenuial Fair examined the results OF the laborS OF
pioncers in a number of our Southern and western
States.
feel that il is utterly hopeless for them to ex-
meet to succeed financially under the present law
n law which leaves them without shadow OF
protection from the direct competition win the
Chinese, and the Italians from among whom
write Congress cheerfully awards the heavy I'M
most of 60 per cent on vevets, black silks, ribbons
and other articles of silk manufacture, into whlch
the free coming raw silk and cocoons are made
hold that the hundreds OF thousands OF American
farmers, at whose doors now grows the Morus Mu!-
ticaulis or other species OF mulberry bearing leaves
proper for slkworm food, and who could add each
year by raising raw silk fair sum TO their III
comes. have a right to demand a reasonable division
of the heavy duty now paid, so that labor expended
ON the mulberry tree and the slkworm may be-
come duly rcmunerative.
Leaving this question: however, to the agrlcul-
tnriss and their representatives in Congress will
proceed To show the kind of competition
against which the American requires pro-
lection. promising that the freight on silk
is n merely nominal factor. and that prac-
ticallv these slopes of the Julian Alps are
NJ the door of the farms the shores OF the Hnd-
son or the OHIO. first visited the house of poor
peasant who Qke many of his neighborsl raised
several thousand silkworms ON boards covered win
cotton CLOTH in a usually vacant room OF ms cot
tage. The man was at work IN the helds' MS WIG
rsd and attended 10 the worms this a means
Of nroft aside from that usually expected for the
maintenance of the family. The entire expenses
of the family of three persons could not be more
than cents per day, and the entire furniture oil
the cottage could be purchased for less than the
American laborer would cxpcnd for two or three
articles of luxury for his home. This woman had
all tbs oucness and intelligence necessary for rails
ing the silkwOrms successfully. In America, ac-
cording to locality, she would have commanded
be surprised if the aggregate earnings of the labo-
rious man and wife for the year reached more than
$50.
Another place that | visited was the cocOonery
Of wealthy farmer, who produces some 500
pounds of cocoons annually. The worms were in
large room attached to his dwelling. Eggs brought
by our fast Pacific Railroad trains from Japan had
been Matched near a stove, and the little animals
were in large trays along the walls. The ordinary
labor.rs Of the farm attended to them. The men
were paid cent. per day and fed on say total OF
90 cents per day; the women less. The fields OF the
farm were generally bOrdered by mulberry trees,
which were grown with little cost, and, clipped as
they are each year of their small branches, they do
not seem TO inJure the crops OF wheat Plahisu De
meath. The comforts with which this large farmer
surrounded himself were not more numerous imam
those demanded by the New-England laborcr. A
large iron pot was boiling over an open hre IN ms
kitchen, which appeared to be the most irequented
hving-rOom Of his establishment, and lamp bum
ing before n cheap image of II SAINT appeared TO
satisfy all bis aesthetic lOngngs
In the important process OF winding the silk from
the cocOOns, which here costs about one-iiIth OF
the total cost of producing the raw article we inn
mort the great contrast between the American and
Italian labor is shown even more strlkingly. About
seyentyiivc hours of active labor are necessary 10
reel off kelO Ia little more than two pOunds of raw
silk For this work francs in paper or about 80
ce Is of our money is paid. One OF the mills That l
visited employed 1872 wind eTS it was running only
a norton OF Its lUlCc. AnOlHeI mil, tulplON ing
forty wiuders, was full operation y small non
understood wheel dipped it's floats III the mountain
torrent that ran through the streets, thus supplying
a fluctuating power at minimum cost. The forty
wOrkwomen sat in two long rows IN the upper room,
so closely packed that their elbows touched each
other their hands immersed in water 30 hot that
clouds Of steam continually arose from IT, bllng the
room with a cOndensng cloud. The puddier OF Pitts
burg and Danyllle lives III comfortable atmos-
pheTe compared with that III which the sllk-wlndcr
exists. Her work requires an unceasng and severe
VII
ing vat before her, nine threads OF almost micro
scooIc size are being drawn from them by the whrl
ing reels above. The wInder sits watching the
dancing balls OF silk, adding fresh cOcOOnS when
the delicate tbrc is exhausted, or ready wltha new
thread when any of the nine breaks. An overseer
walked between the rows of workers, keeping them
up 10 their task. No word IS spoken. We don't
allow them to talk TO each other" said the son of
The halloween, at takes off their attcntion-but
they may sing much as they please; 1t doesn't
hurt the work for them to sing" Presently they
did sing; hugh voice started u IOrg note, and
Others, one by one joined III the strain until the
room was filled with song that rose high above
the hum of the machinery. L never heard
music more utterly sad those who know the
feld-songs of the saye-labOTer, or the Groom
of the hali-staIved tellaheen In their mud
nuts ON the banks of the Nile, know the undertone
of hopeessncSs that ylbGated through every note.
But IL the cry of the semI-cIyiilZed slave
If was the hopeless, helpless wall Of hearts that
have known and seen about them "A higher lie but
that stand forever despairlngly outside the open
gates. The women were seemingly OF the better
Italian type, and capable OF the culture of noble
civilization. They must come here at halt-past 3
in the morning" SAID the proprietor " and they 20
away AT III the evening, out OF winch sixteen and
a half hours they have one and a half hours in
PERMISSION from labor" For this they receive what
is equivalent to Is cents American money. What
do they eat 7" asked " Boiled Indian cornmcal,"
said the Observation-Disclosures meat " But they
have gardens IN which vegetables are raised ~ |
said. - don't know" said the master; never
know where my workpeople hve."
these are the taskmastefs-these the wages-this
is the class of skill and this the hereditary degrade
ton and poverty with which our American silk
growing pioneers are brought into direct COMPETE
tIOn.
CROP PROSPECTS,.
THE DEPARTMENT REPORT AS TO OATS, POTATOES