The age-herald., 1900-03-28
SILK MAKING INDUSTRY
 IN THE UNITED STATES

run before. Of the S65 mills today working their full capacity. no less than s2 have been started in the last twelve months France. which once supplied this country with its finest sllken fabrics, has been to a large extent forced out of the market by the home manufacturers. and the duties imposed on imported silks. Since the from the other sfde he has come over here to try to obtain a new foothold and match his skill against that of the native manu- facturer. New Jersey. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have each seen established within the last year the business proper or branch houses of some of the largest firms of Lyons, the center of the silk industry in France.
 Forty years ago S7 per cent. of the total amount of broad silk used in this country was imported; today the condition is re- versed, and, according to the latest official figures, B per cent only is imported To- day the United States is the greatest silk producing country in the world and it was less than two centuries ago that the in- dustry was first dreamed of here. The
 
 1t promises to compare before many years with that of French manufacture. Italy still produces the most beautiful fabrics, aGo because of the perfection attained she must always be drawn on for the heavy sat tin damasks and other rich cloths. When the attempt was first made in this country to manufacture silk only sewing silks, handkerchiefs and the like were made Ut is estimated now that one-third of the domestic output is ribbons, next in order come broad or webb goods-as the material for dresses is called-slk- thread hand and machine twist, knitting, crochet embroid- cry art silks, and so on. The domestic manufacturers stand first in that branch of the business which includes the threads. and the exportations increase yearly. while there are no importations.
 According to the secretary of the silk as- sociation of America, MT. Franklin Allen. the S65 silk manufacturing establishments in the United States in 1899 are located in 22s towns of nineteen states. New Jersey has 2oI of these establishments, New York 22S, Pennsylvania 102, Connecticut 66 Massachu- setts 59, and Rhode Island 26 the remainder scattering in the other states. The same authority gives partial estimate of the ge- neral strength of S61 of these establishments for 1899 as follows: Number of employees, 93,6OO total years wages, $S65O, GOO; capital invested, $1O5,OO0,OOO. As affording contrast these figures are given: For 1850 the impor- tation of raw material was 12O,0 ,01O pounds, valued at s4O1 1885; for 1898, the importation of raw material was 9979, ,4s2 pounds. valued at $2S234,650. The percentage of domestic aI- B; in 1898 1t was nearly s5 per cent.
 Silk operators receive good wages Among the adults the minimum weekly wage is S2O, but oftener among the skilled ones it is $40 week. Girls receive from SIP to $15 a week. The employees are made up of French, Germans, Swiss and Italians, but the native-born and trained American oc- eupies first place, in excellent and careful manipulation. The average age of the em- ployes. is from IA to 40 years, the former being girls who roll ribbons with alternat- ing strings of white paper of the same width and box them for shipment. The old CT employees look a&er the chemical and mechanical processes; the greater number of the employees. however. belong to the corps of cleaners, spnners, weavers and packers.
 The process which silk undergoes is an interesting one When the crude material arrives here it is a solid, sodden mass of glutinous stuff. First the silk is carefully assorted and then, to remove the gluten and other foreign matter, it is soaked. Then 1t is dried, spun, wound, and doubled to the required length, if for tram or filling. If for organzine or warp, it is spun twice after winding and the preliminary processes, first with fourteen turns to the right and then with sixteen turns to the left. Then this thread must be doubled and redoubled as many times as necessary for the desired weight of the goods to be produced, and then each of these augmented threads is spun again to give it greater strength. Af- ter this 1t is ree1ed ito put back in skeim form for dyeing. After the dyeing comes another winding, and then stringing or pulling to soften or polish the threads or dbers that have become roughened by the various other processes to which they have been subjected. After the organzine thus prepared has been made into warp, it is twisted into the loom harness for weaving. Every particle of this warp must, in the meantime, be carefully inspected and picked with delicate little instrument used by the operator of the loom. After weaving the goods are calendered by passing them over hot-metal cylinders. It Is in this process that moire or water effects are produced But little of the so-called artificial silk is manufactured in this country-1ess than one-half of one per cent, it is said. It is made from wood fibre, reduced to cellulose by the action of acids and then dissolved to a glue-like consistency. It is forced through perforated glass and drawn into threads which dry and harden in the air as do those of the spider or silk-worm. The artificial threads can scarcely be told from the real, but when woven the material does not wear nearly as well as the genu- inc. The raising of silk in the United States seems impracticabe. The archaeological division of the United States department of agriculture says in a report issued after careful experiment had been made: "There can be no question but that serious disap-