Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-17

sumptivelv Of cocoons, not of reeled silk. At
all events the facts were so understood by the
Rev. Jared Eliot. OF Killingworth. Connecticut,
grandson of John Eliot, the apostle of the
North American Indians'O, writing in the very
year when the advices were received. His
version Is as follows;
that the silk manufactory Is in hourishing
way. In the year 1887, the weight of silk balls
received at the filature was only 1052, last year
produced 1910, and this year already above
silk exported from Georgia sells at London
from two to three shlllings pound more than
that from any other part Of the world
;n6 niS fbe sees bnsnsss 1asSe siIk nep1factorv
On the other hand, the complete
error appears in, and has no doubt been mostly
propagated among later writers through the
account given in 1916 by Major Mccall, which
turns the cocoons into raw silk and the pro-
duction into export, as follows:
I'm the year 1857 1.050 pounds of raw silk
were received at the dlature in Savannah. Ia
1888 the silk house was consumed by fire, with
q quantity of silk 7.040 pounds of cocoonS or
silk balls. In 1859 the colony exported upward
OF ten thousand weight of raw silk, which sold
two or three shilingS per pound higher IN Lon
don than that of any other country"
Great as was the mistake which ascribed to
one year as la ge an export as was reached IN
twenty, it was surpassed in error by q SubSe-
Quent writer, who says:
I'm 1916 more than twenty thousand pounds
of raw silk were imported into England from
Georgia"
This statement was probably based on the
production of 1876, and though brief. had the
misfortune to be incorrect In every particular.
The policy Of raising silk by means of boun-
ties was pushed to its extreme in 1851: when
the trustees OF Georgia established the follow
ing scale of premiums, which has certainly
never been surpassed:
For first quality cocoons, 2s. per pound; if
delivered at fiature, 3S Cd.
For second quality cocoons, Is. Sd. per pound;
| IL delivered at fllature. is. Sd.
For third quality cocoons, cd. per pound; IL
delivered at filature, Is Id.
This was at least two or three times what the
| cocoons were worth and is truly astonishing "
| The patent of the trustees expired In 1852, and
with it all the chartered privileges of the colo
ny, which then became royal province d.
| ment. Acts of Parliament of almost equal
| liberality soon replaced the measures of the
| trustees for squirting the silk industry. These
| acts were various and the encouragement they
gave was fuctuating. One Of them, in 1749,
| admitted raw silk from the American Dlanta-
| tions free of duty, and provided that Georgia
| and South Carolina should thereafter have
| the honour of being deuomiuated SIX Colo
nies" In the same vein of sweetness, George
| IL, June 81, 1884 directed silver seal to be
| made for Georgia, bearing on one side figure
representing the genius of the colony offering a
| skein OF silk to the king, with the motto: Htnc
| tdudeDg sperGte coLOni. For awhile the Parlia-
mentary bounties were three shillingS per
| pound; in 1866 they were reduced one-halt; in
giving e'5 to every &t00 in value. The last
| named rate was to continue for seven years.
when it was to be reduced to 20 per cent, and
again for seven years more at IS p cent the
political occurrences Of 1776 being evidently
| not anticipated.
The silk product rose while the bounties for
delivery at Savannah were most liberal, but
sank with marvellous rapidity shortly after
their reduction, falling to 29J pounds in 177O.
Throughout the entire period of silk culture in
Georgia the Saltzburghers of Ebenezer were
among the largest producers, and were almost
the only ones in the years Immediately pre-
ceding the war of the revolution who prepared
raw silk for export. During the war the
French settlers at New Bordeaux, seventy
miles above Augusta are said to have sup
piled much OF the high country" with sewing
silk made from cocoons of their own raising
The industry ceased, however, to attract atten-
ton: the last parcel Of raw silk offered for sale
in Georgia during the century being in the year
1890, when over two hundred-weight was pur-
chased for export at prices ranging from IL to
26 shillingS per pound.
In the tables given Of the silk industry from
1850 down to- 1880, the State of Georgia does
not appear. The report concludes as follows:
''This industry was encouraged by an act of
the California Legislature In 1665-S6, giving
bounty of $50 for planting 1000 mulberry trees
and $500 per 100 900 cocoons The operation of
the law proved unsatisf 4ctory and it was soon
repealed. An attempt to pass g new act to
encourage silk culture and manufacture was
defeared in the California Senate in 1872. The
speculation in silk raising ragged with unabated
fury for several years. iniic'ing severe losses.
1t is at present almost extinct in CaliforDi in
consequence of the reaction against this
mania"
An inquiry was attempted by the writer to
ascertain the amount of raw silk raised In the
United States during the census year ending
June 30, 1880 1t was soon determined
that the expense of making such an in
vestigation thoroughly would be more
than the result could be worth. The
only instances of the use of native silk in man.
ufacture were at Williams burg. Kansas, and at
Salt Lake City, Utah. The latter experiment
proved financially failure, the raw silk cost
ing much more than the Asiatic product. 1t
may, however, be stated in general way,
without pretension to accuracy. that the
amount Of reeled silk produced In Utah Terri
tory during the year was less than /. 200 pounds;
the amount in Kansas was less than 500 pounds,
and the product in no other State was more
than half much. Missouri and North Caro-
lima probably came next in amount of cocoons
raised, and after those States Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, the quantities produced there
and in scattered localities throughout the coun-
try being inconsiderable. PoToMAC.