The sun., 1901-06-16
SILKS NEVER 50 CHEAP.
WE ARE GAINING ~ THE WORLDS
MARhET, THAT'S WHY.
Wonderful Development Of the Industry Here
From a Few Hand-Loom Factories in New
England TIL Now We're supplying Our Own
Market and Seeking New Ones Abroad 4.

England TIL Now We're supplying Our Own
Market and Seeking New Ones Abroad.
For the mobiles, lady on earth We weave
Cleaning satin for gown and sleeve.
Royal velvet for courtly train
And artist Gngcrs may try In vain
To reproduce. With fines, brush,
The sunlt sheen OF the dainty plush.
Each slender nbre OF which oncs hid
The heples, form OF a chrysalld.
Sony OF th Snk Loom.
Almost the poorest woman In this nation
may wear a silk gown In these days. and that,
as Minister WI Ting-fang told the silk NOR
chants of America here some few months
ago. is not the case even In China. the home
Of sllken gowns Never before were womens
elk dress materials 30 cheap as they are now.
Never were satins. velvets. plushes. ribbons
and sewing silks at so low n price in pro-
portion TO quality as OF present silks. both
Of domestic and foreign weaving. are being
sold In the retail stores in all the pripcipal
cities OF this country at prices below the cost
OF manufacturing Never before have artists
tried so ,ealously In producing the creations
which women can make such dreams OF
delight and never before have the prices been
so Irresistible to tho feminine heart
II !s all due to tho rise Of the United States
among the silk-weayins nations OF the world
n rise so rapid and 40 iri iesistible that the two
dstln suished Swiss manufacturcrs-on OF
them the largest In tho worldwide served
on the Jury which awarded the Paris Exposi-
tion silk prizes were moved in their report
TO their Government to call attention TO the
swiftly increasing competition of the Ameri-
can weaver. in the markets OF the world and
to predict nothing but disaster to European
competitors from it
silk goods Of our own manufacture are
rapidly monopollzing the domestic market
and now are also finding an outlet abroad
No other country. tho nanufs cturers
agree. Is now 80 well equipped as ours for
tho low-priced production OF silk goods.
40 great has been the Improvement in power
loom making here. and now. though tho
conditions have not been favorable In thu
main either to labor or capital in the silk
industry in the last two ycsr., American
manufacturers are supplying at les.t rs per
cent OF the silk fabrics In tho dnmestic market
and in ribbons are making actually 90 per cent
OF tho supply
When the silk industry was started In
this country ia The early fortics II seemed
To have poor prospects, BY long acquaintance
with silk weaving the. French. English
swiss and Italian manufacturers had every
advantage over the budding industry. II
has heeu American mechanical genius which
has pulled the industry hero out Of tho, hole
The best factory gets the most work, IL
an AXIOM In th" SILK trade and American
manuiaO turers ect to work to make theirs
the best factories
In 1878 there were l.o05 looms. and all hanr
looms at that. In this country In 1850 there
were Sla3 hand loops-double tho number
and there wero also S.sl power looms.
turning out silk fabrics at double speed.
In 1900 the number had increased to ?o.SJ2
power looms and La hand looms Last
year. there were 10000 power looms on broad
goods alone and 1000 moro power looms
we're tuning out ribbons The use of hand
looms had dropped TIL there wero only $50
OF Them and Of these 1870 were turning out
specialties In narrow trimmings.
Tho silk Association Of America In It's
annual report ssued few weeks ago es-
timated the value Of tho product OF the silk
looms Of this country In the last year at
tiO0. 900, 0oo. More than fve hundred fac
tories were turning out this product In every