The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1900-03-31
WOMEN WHO TEST SILKS.
4 Kind of Assaying at Which Femf-
nine Fingers Excel.

The most important laundry workers In
the world are the women employed in
the silk conditioning houses. They wash,
boil, bleach, rinse n dry, but instead
of ironing they weigh and reweigh the
pieces with the most minute exactness,
and the values comprehended in each
separate operation amount to thousands
Of dollars, The doer-up of linen, dimity
n cotton may become an expert IN her
line after a couple of years practice and
no particular education, but it takes the
silk boiler-off treble that time to attain
mastery of her profession. The condi-
TONERS deal only with the raw silk as 1t
comes from the cocoon, a flmy. decep-
tive substance to work with.
at took me a lifetime to learn this
business" said a woman assayer. Its
thirteen years since I started in business
and I've been conditioning all that time.
My father and grandfather were condi-
toners. They learned silk in the old
country.
81 took up silk conditioning because 1t
bays better han s~tenography, and I had
the right feel of h fingers" said an
other boiler-off. mo matter how intel
ligent a girl is, If the silk sticks to her
fingers she's a failure. but I found out
quite accidentally. after ! had settled on
being a secretary, that 1 was a born silk
worker. Women having the right knack
with silk a always make good money,
and the silk industry is n line Of work
in which women are absolutely indis-
pensable. For instance, only women are
employed in the warp room Of n silk
mandatory. and this preparing Of the
l%engthwise thread for the loom is most
important and a department enabling the
Industrious worker to make $25 a week.
Men are excellent weavers. good fore
men and weighers, but when it comes to
direct handling Of the raw flaments they
yield the palm. You may ave seen very
smart and intelligent people try to make
the slip knot in tatting and fail, and some
such inexplicable sleight-of-hand is req
uisite for the worker 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 I let my drying silk
scorch, for instance, or If I dom boil the
gum out Of 1t thoroughly, and If I 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 the raw silk that travels all the way
from India, China or Japan is worth some-
thing"
A professor who was never graduated
from any college is in charge of the raw
silk conditioning department, where
the women work, q man who knows
every trick ever practiced by silk
growers since time was and to
manufacturers and importers APP
peal with their perp.exities. But this d.
rector leaves the Acutal 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 Of mois-
ture absorbed by the silk since the worms
spun 1t. Silk, like oil textile ibers, con-
tains a certain degree of moisture, but a
bale Of silk is capable of holding from Is
to 25 per cent Of water without showing
. sign of it. The Oriental silk farmers
start to reel their silk from the
cocoons in the beginning of the rainy sea-
The importers and manufacturers do
not relish paying for water at raw silk
Fnence the, cOnQltlOnlng houses. Al
ter the moisture has been thoroughly ex-
from the hanks Of silk. they are
put into little white bags and boiled twice
In a bath Of boiling soap suds. rinsed,
by hot air again. and then put
the other tests. The scene is
quite domestic as the women manipulate
the accuracy that apothecaries use in
weighing out critical drugs and managing.
every operation with extreme neatness be-
of the costly nature of the goods.
The cocoons are put into water prepara-
tory to Keeling the silk OFF. A brush some-
like q whisk, or a sink broom, Is
used to catch the end of the thread for
The Keeling. This Keeling is ordinarily
done in. the household Of the silk farmer,
and anything gummy that he can put
into the water for the cocoons to soak up
means SO much gain for his pocket and
much damage to the purity Of the silk.
water 10 admirable for this purpose,
that bsing cheap in Japan and easy to get.
Dissolved tin y . good thing also. and