The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-06


IL comes from the cocoons, a flmy, de-
ceptive substance to work with.
ut took me lifetime to learn this
business" said a woman assayer. TITS
thirteen years since started In bust
ness and I've been conditioning all that
time Ny father and grandfather were
conditioners. They learned silk in the
old country.
Il took up silk CONDITIONING because it
pays better than stenography. and had
the right feel of the fingers" said an
other boiler-off. mo matter how intelli-
gent girl Is, If the silk sticks 10 her fin
gers, she's a failure, but l found out
quite accidentally, after I had settled on
being a secretary, that 1 was a born silk
worker. Women having the right knack
with silk can always make good money,
and the silk industry is one line of work
in which women are absolutely indispen-
sable. For instance, only women are en-
ployed in the warp-room Of any silk man
ufactory and this preparing for the
lengthwise thread for the loom is most
important, and department enabling the
Indus trious worker to make s25 q week.
Men are excellent weavers; good foremen
and weighers, but when 1t comes to direct
handling of the raw filaments they yield
the palm. You may have seen very smart
and intelligent people try to make the slip
knot in tatting and fail, and some such
lnexplicable slight of hand is requisite for
the workers In raw silk.
Now, in silk conditioning or assaying
not only this proper feel of the fingers is
needed but the proper judgment and
nicely of calculation If 1 let my drying
silk scorch, for instance, or if don't holl
the gum out of 1t thoroughly. and if l err
even so much as a gramme in computing
my weights, there's a peck of trouble
The value of the whole bale OF silk is
reckoned from the conditioned sample, and
IL IL fro
India, China or Japan, is worth some
thing"
A professor who, has never graduated
from any college is in charge of the raw
silk conditioning where the won en- wo k,
a man who knows every trick ever prac-
ticed by silk growers since time was, and
to whom manufacturers and importers ap-
peal with their perplexities. But this ci-
rector leaves the actual work of discover
ing these admixtures to his lieutenants.
Before the hanks of yellow and white raw
silk are pumped into the boilers they are
subjected to the dessicating apparatus to
determine the exact percentage or mols-
ture absorbed by the silk since the worms
spun it. Silk, like all textile fbeTs. con-
tains certain degree of moisture. but a
bale of silk is capable of holding from 10
to % per cent. of water without showing
sign Of it. The Oriental 81 farmers
always start to reel their silk fiom the CO.
cOOnS IN the beginning CT me RAINY seas u.
The importers and manufacturers do IL
relish paying for ater at raw silk rates.
hence the conditioning houses After the
moisture has been thoroughly expressed
from the hanks of silk, they are put into
little white bags and boi.ed twice in ath
of boiling soapsuds, rinsed, dried by hct
air again and then put through the other
tests. The scene is quite domestic as the
women manipulate the dozens of samp es.
weighing them with the accuracy that
apothecares use in weighing out critical
drugs and managing every operation with
extreme reatnesS, because OF the c9Stly
nature of the goods.
The cocoons are put into water prepare
tory to Keeling the silk off. brush some-
thing like whsk, or a sink broom, is used
10 catch the end of the thread for the
Keeling. This reeling is ordinarily done in
the house of the silk farmer, and anyth ng
gummy that he can put into the water for
the cocoons to soak up means so much
gain for his pocket ard so mu-h damage
for the purity of the silk. Rice water il
admirable for this purFose that beng
cheap in Japan and easy 10 get. Dissolve
tin is good thing also, and there are tin
mines III plenty in the mountain distrfc
of China; soap, sugar, any kind of grease
or oily vegetable matter will answer, ard
the Orientals are versed in variety Of
expedents for overweight ing that we are
unable to guess at. The most t1ctful
manufacturer cannot weave rich, plant
silk from filament that have been tamper-
ed with. The native silkiness is mar. Ell
by the process necessary 10 abstract The
foreign substance. Those exquisitely de IL
cate silken fabrics made on The hand
looms of Europe and the Orient are made
from silk wound off the cocoon while the
worm is still alive, instead of its having
been killed by roasting. as Is the common
practice The roasted cocoon gives off its
silk more readily. The reel ng is facili-
tated but the difference in the texture of
silk obtained from q live cocoon and that
obtained from a dead is is plain TO an ex-
pert He can detect 1t just as a game
connoisseur can tell from the taste of the
bird whether il was scalded TO make the
feathers come off easily or was picked dry
THE certain proportion Of native gum
existent in the cocoon" said the condi-
toner. plays into the tricksters' hands
and our business Is to detect the true
from the false and put the standard of
I any particular bale just where it belongs,
Then the silk dealers know just what
grade of raw stuff they have to deal
with the throwers and dyers have
standard to go by, and the manufacturers
know definitely what grade of goods 1t Is
possible to make from any certain lot of
hanks and won't be trying blindly, as it
were to fashion a silk purse out of a
| sow's ear.
sitions of manufactured silks to discover
what has interfered with their perfection.
Our professor can tell the moment he gets
| the silk in his hands pretty nearly what
| the trouble was, but II is assayed accu-
tately in proof. Designation, boiling, rims
irg, drying and Weighing of minute frac
tional quantities is necessary in every
case"
The women conditioners also work in
| the sizing room, where the reeled silk
| threads are measured and their evenness
ascertained The test is made on five skeins
taken at random out of a bale. winds
very WELL" winds WELL" mot a good
winder," are the three grades of certif-
cate. The skeins are also weighed indi-
vidually, and there are tests for raw silk,
for thrown s Tx and for spun silk, all ae-
complshed by women possessing the rare
finger touch and accuracy The winding
machines used are delicate and expensive.
The raw silk wound off from the cocoon
where the silk is raised is reeled very I'M