The herald., 1898-11-13
THE SILK INDUSTRY
ITS RAPID AND STEADY GROWTH
IN THIRTY YEARS PAST Z
BUILDING AND LOAN OPINION
A sorrowing Widower-The Stove
Trust-An Advance in Envelopes
The Sealing Industry
OFFICE OF THE HERALD,

Los Angeles, Nov. IL, 1898.
The announcement that the silk manuiac-
turers of the United States are rapidly IN
creasing the expectation of their products
adds interest says Bradstreets,. to some
recently compiled statements by the treas
ury bureau. of statistics regarding the SILK
manufactures, and importations and ex-
4 portations of this country during the past
few years. These figures show that the
manufacturer of silk in this country has
increased enormously, that the imports OF
manufactured silk have meantime been
greatly reduced, and the expectations OF SILK
manufactures are now increasing rapidly,
The total exports for the present calendar
wear being more than so per cent In excess
OF the corresponding months OF last year,
and for the full year will be six times as
much as in 1890. ..- :,
The manufacture Of silk in the United
States, which in 1860 amounted to So,6O7,-
I'll in value, doubled in the following decade,
being, according to the figures OF the census
of 1870, l2,2l0, ,662, more than trebled inthe
next decade, being in 1880 Sal ,O33,O4 and
again doubled from 1880 to 1890, being IN
the latter year $S7, ,29S, asa; while recent
compilation by the secretary OF the Ameri-
can Silk association shows that in the flve
years since 1890 the rate of increase haseven
accelerated, making it probable that the
silk production OF the United States today
amounts to nearly Or quite $i50,OO0,0 900 per
annum in value.
Meantime the importation of manufac-
t,red silks has fallen rapidly, that of 1890
being $3S6S6,374 and that Of 1898 only $23,
1923, ITO.
That the manufacture of silk goods in the
United States has increased very rapidly
within the past year is apparent. lmporta-
tions of raw silk, which in the fiscal year
1897 were 6,5l3,6l2 pounds, were in 1898
l0,3l5, l6l pounds, and the total value of
raw silk imported in 1898 was $3l, ,44G, ,S00
against $lS,9lS,2S3 in the preceding year.
This enormous increase in the importation
of raw silk is doubtless accounted for not
only by the activity in the great silk manu-
featuring centers Of this country, but also
by the recent announcement that numerous
cotton factories in the New England and
the middle states have substituted silk
manufacturing machinery for that formerly
used in themanufacture of cotton goods now
largely supplied by the mills located nearer
to the cotton fields of the SOUTH
The growth in importations of unmanufac-
tured silk, which OF course measue theIman-
ufacture of silk, has been steady and rapid
during the past thirty years. In 1868 they
amounted to ,404 in value; in 1878,
s5,995,567; in 1888, $l9,93l ,6s2, and in 1898,
S3l FAC, 800. In the single item of ''silk raw,
or as reeled from the cocoons, the importa-
tions of 1868 were 5l2, ,449 pounds; in 1878,
l,lS2,750 pounds; in 1888, 5,l73,S40 pounds
and in 1885, l0,3l5, l6l pounds. During the
earlier part of this period importers held
their own in the contest for the field, but in
the last decade have fallen practically out
of the race. In 1868 the mportations of
manufactured silk were SHIT, ,627 in 1S7S
Sl9,S37,972 in 1888, $33 999; in 1890,
$3S, ,374, and in 1898, S23, ,523,ll0.
Meantime our manufacturers have ap-
parently begun giving their attention to the
foreign market; their exports, which in
1878 were $1,000, having increased to $780,
$50 in 1888, $l6l, 1913 in 1903 and $780,, ,074 in
1898. During the month of August, 1898, the
exports were $27 ,25l against so, 400 in Aug
ust, 1907, an increase of 80 per cent in a
single year.
Silk manufacturing in the United States,
while begun nearly half a century ago,
seems to have developed almost exclusively
in the last half of that period Prior to 1870
the importations of raw silk for use in the
manufactures in this country had never
reached 100000 pounds, while, as already
stated they were in 1898 more than TO- 000, 900
pounds. During the civil war and in the
years Immediately following, the manufac-
lure of plain dress silks was begun, while at
the present time brocaded silks and satins
are manufactured on large scale, and the
manufacture of silk pushes and all vari-
cites of upholstered goods has recently been
successfully developed. In 1860 our manu-
facturers of silk supplied but about Is per
cent Of the amount consumed in the United
States; by 1870 they were supplying 30 per
cent; by 1880 more than so per cent; in
1890, 70 per cent, and today it is estimated
that IS per cent of the silk goods used in the
United States are the products of our own
factories.
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