The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1886-03-04
= THE SILK INDUSTRY.
A Advance In Price Pron.Issd-EndInG
Inne Couaoetfffoz.

4
The meeting Of sswingsilk and twist
manufacturers in this city. by organic
ing an association 70 promote harmony
and mutual interests In the trade, took
steps toward closing 3 long and memoir
able strife. This branch Of the silk IN
dustry Is the Oldest in the country. The
salue Of its annual production of goods
is more than 100000. About fifty
separate concerns are engaged In the
manufacture, but the great bulk Of the
business Is done by half 8 dozen large
firms Nearly ali their mills are in Con-
necticut and Massachusetts,.
The manufacture Of sewing-silk as a
household art in Connecticut began in
colonial times, and attained Importance
in the earlier part of this century.
Then ensued q long series of efforts,
taxing Yankee ingenuity and patience
to the utmost to do the work by power
driven machinery. For many years the
product was inferior to the seWing-silk
of Europe, and when, by a series Of I'M
provements, it surpassed the foreign
goods in quality, it had still a hard
struggle for reputation. That this point
was carried as early as 184S is shown by
a sort of declaration of independence
in that year, signed by leading manu-
facturers at q meeting il this city, de-
claFing that they would no longer con-
ceal their goods under foreign labels.
At that period the competition was SCI
we're, but it was wholly with the foreign
producer. Next came the invention of
the sewing-machine, and the demand
for kind of sewing-silk suited to it,
which, when duly invented and inn
proved, came to be known distinctively
as machine twist" This gave great
impetus to the business, and the pro-
duction Of ''twist" now very far exceeds
all the rest of this branch of the indus
try. As the machine and its ''twist''
started in life and grew together in this
country, there was no foreign COMPETE
ton in the case. All kinds of sewing
silk shared in the improvements of man
ufacture with the result that foreign
competition ceased.
Then sprang up between our own
manufacturers fiercer rivalry than the
trade had ever known; and this condi-
ton of affairs has continued with few
brief Interruptions to the present day.
In most trades such competition tends
to degrade the quality of the product in
order to meet lower prices, but this is
not the case with sewing-silks, because
there are ready means Of testing them,
and buyers have been educated to re-
quire goods that will stand the tests
Practically the competition is solely one
of prices, thinly disguised by discounts
to purchasers, and presents of ''cabi-
net" expensive pieces of furniture to
display the wares. There could be no
more complete demonstration of the
fact that home competition is more eff
fective than foreign in bringing down
the prices Of goods. The sewing-silks
of to-day are far better than the once
famous italian silks, !" and are less than
half the price. But though such proof
may be very pleasant to the student of
political economy, it is not equally
when it continues year after year, par
ing down his margin of profits.
For the last two or three years the
cost of raw silk has been slowly but
steadily falling. This material is the
chief factor in the cost of sewing-silks,
and bears a larger proportion to the
value of the finished goods than any
other branch of the silk industry in this
country. Under the stress of COMPETE
ton the prices Of goods were forced
down in equal step with those of the
raw material, and consumers got all
the benefit Of the decline. But within
two or three months the conditions have
changed; prices of raw silk rose sud-
denly, rested little, then rose again,
and now seem still to be rising. All in
dications point to a permanently-in-
creased cost of the raw material. The
logic of the situation is as conclusive as
that of MIR. Micawber about income and
The manufacturers must
advance their prices, and now, if ever,
they should harmonic their differences.
-NetO York Tribune.