Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-10-10
WONDERFUL ADVANCEMENT MADE
IN NEW INDUSTRY.
EXPORTS ENORMOUS INCREASE
WE ARE OUTSELLING FRANCE on
HER OWN GROUNDS.
In n Half Century the Total Silk Pro-
d4ction of the Country Has
Reached an Annual Value
of About $780,
100000.

WASHINGTON Oct. 9-(Special, The
announcement that the silk manufacturers
OF the United States are rapidly increas-
ing the expectation OF their products adds
interest TO some recently compiled state
ments by the treasury bureau of statistics
regarding the silk manufactures and i'm
portatiOns and expectations of this coun-
try during the past few years These nS-
ures show that the manufacture of silk
in this country has increased enormously.
that the imports of manufactured silk have
meantime been greatly reduced, and the eH-
portations OF SILK manufactures are now in
creaslnS very rapidly, the total exports Tor
the present calendar year being more than
- per cent in eXcess OF the corresponding
months or last year, and for the fuil year
Will be six times much as IN lS9"
The manufacture of silk in the United
States, which in 1860 amounted to s6,6V','h
in value, doubled in the following decade,
being, according to the figures OF the cen
sus OF 1870, $l2,ZlJ.662; more than trebled IN
the next Gecade, being in lSse, sti,n53,"io, anu
again uouD!ed from 1879 TO lsJ, peInS III
the latter year, sS.,2ts, iJi; wnIie Il recent
compilation by the secretary OF the Ameri-
can SILK Association SHOWS that In the
fve years since 1SJ, the rate OF increase
has even accelerated, making IL probable
Inat the silk production OF the United
States to-day amounts 10 nearly or quite
SlJ1,O0o,e0 per annum in value.
Meantime, the Importation of manufaco
tured silks has fallen rapidly, that or le.s
being SSo, ,oS6,5.4, and that o1 1888, only Vs.
So, ,llp.
That the manufacture of silk goods in the
United States has Increased very rapldly
within the past year Is apparent. lmporta-
tlons of raw silk, which IN the hscal year
OF 1881 Were G,5l3,ol2 pounds, were, IN 1888,
l0,Sl5,l6l pounds; ana the total value OF
raw silk imported IN 1895 was 81, l,ilo,sH,
against SIS,siS,2S5 in the preceding year.
Tnis enormous increase in the importation
of raw silk is doubtless accounted for, not
only by the activity in the great SILK man
ufacturing centers of this country, but also
by the recent announcement that numer-
Gus cotton factories in the New England
and Middle states have substituted SIX
manufacturing machinery for that former
ly used in the manufacture of cotton goods
now largely supplied by the mills locate1
nearer to the cotton fields OF the South.
The growth in the importattons OF un-
manufactured silk, which, of course, meas
ure the manufacture OF silk has been
steady and rapid during the, past tnirty
years. In 1868 they amounted to S-,52u isi
value; in 1873, s. in lsSS, loS2,
and in 1895, s5l i46, 500. In the single item or
silk raw, or as reeled from the cocoons
in 1873, l,1S2,IJO pounds; in 1Sss, o,l.3slo
pounds and in 1885, 10,3l5,161 pounds. Dur
ing the earlier part of this period import
ers held their own in the contest for the
field, but in the last decade have fallen
| practically out of the race. In 1868 the i'm
portations of manufactured silk were slI,-
70621 in 1875 sl9 s3I g12; in 1888. $33, ,S5o, s9;
in 1889. $SS ss6,S ,S74, and in 1898, s23, 523 llo.
Meantime our manufacturers nave appar-
emily begun giving their attention to the
| foreign market; their exports, which in
1915 were Sl9,032, having increased to $780,
| 659 in 1888. s151,613 in 1893. and s29i ga in
the exports were sss.25L against ssi,4o0 in
August, 1897, an increase of 30 per cent in
| a single year.
| The success of American manufacturers
! in supplying the home demand and obtain
| ing toothold in the markets OF the world
IS the more strongly marked since other
| pete with the great silk manufacturing
| nation of the world France. The stats
teal abstract of Great Britain just issued
| shows that the expectation of silk manu-
faGtures from the United Kingdom has
| fallen 30 per cent in the last decade, being
| In 1897. 81 ,33S I'D in value, against s2.65i,-
| pa in 1883, while the official reports of the
| German government show that the silk
| expectations of that country have de-
| creased ere in a like proportion, being si5,O9O,
| alone having barely held her own in this
| line. her exports of silk manufactures in
1893 beng Sa2 Sc, 200 and in 1897 s52 2sS. 100.
Silk manufacturing in the United States.
while begun nearly a half century ago
| seems to have developed almost exclu-
| sively in the last half of that period. Prior
IN the manufactures in this country had
never reached 100000 pounds, while, as al
ready re aS o stated. they were IN 1898 more than
| in the years Immediately following the
| manufacture of plain dress silks was be-
| gun. while at the present time brOcaded
! silks and satins are manufactured on a
| large scale, and the manufacture of silk
plushes and all varieties of upholstered
goods has recently been successfully de-
| yeloped. In 1860 our manufacturers of silk
| supplied but about 15 per cent of the con-
| sumption in the United States: by 1870
! they were supplying 80 per cent of the
amount consumed in the United States:
| by 1880. more than so per cent: in 1890. 20
| per cent, and to-day it is estimated that So
| per cent of tie silk goods used in the Unit
| ed States are the products OF our own fac
| tories.
| The following table presents the number
| of silk manufacturing establishments in the
| United States and value of their products,
shown by each census since 1860:
| No. Of Value OF
| Year. Establishments. Products
| 1860. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 139 66O7 al
| 1870. ...........................-... Sc I22IO6s2
| 3s2 Il 03S Gi5
1885. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. Az S729S i54
| The following table shows the imports of
| raw silk and value of manufactured silks
| during the past thirty years by fve-year
| periods:
| Imports Imports Of silk
| OF silk. manufactures.
| Year fpOunls(