Evening journal., 1905-05-06
OUR SILK INDUSTRY.
Past and Present Features. of
Its Growth.
FRANCE AMERICAS ONLY RIVAL.

I'm Misunderstanding SILK We Hold Sec /
ond Place In the worId, and Inn
Dortations Are Rapidly Declining. |
Annual Output of American Mills /
Now Exceeds 500, 600, 900 In Value. |
Recently issued government statis-
tics show that the United States is the
second silk manufacturing nation IN
the world, France being its only rival,
says the Washington correspondent Of
the New York Post 1t IS a far call
from 1909, when James /. failed in an
endeavor to introduce silk culture into
the American colonies, to the present
day, with the annual output Of Ameri-
can mills aggregating S107 100000, but
In these three centuries this particular
industry has kept pace with the de-
velopment Of the country. James l.
made another effort at introducing the
silk industry into the colonies in 1919,
and this time with somewhat greater
success, but until the close Of the Rev
olutionary war It languished IN spite
Of royal and colonial bounties. Con
nectlcut took it up in 1888. and the in
/ dustry had an uncertain and not very
/ promising career from that time until
/ after the middle Of the last century.
/ California was the last state to pay
! silk bounties, and it stopped them in
1855
The importations OF silk are rapidly
declining. American mills supply most
Of the American demand and are com
peting with France and southern Eu-
ropean countries, and also with China,
Japan and India, for the trade Of the
rest of the world. Silk was first made
in China, and authentic history notes
the use Of that article there as early
as the year 2640 b. c.
China guarded the secret Of the man
ufacture jealousy, and It was not until
the third century of the present era
that Japan learned how silk was made.
There Is a legend that a japanese royal
princess, returning from a visit to Chi
ma, concealed several cOcOOns In her
hair and afterward taught her coun.
trymen the secret Of the industry as
she had learned it herself. little
later the industry Travelled overland
to India, whence it went to Persia and
was from that country taken to Greece
by Alexander the Great.
The first notice Of the sllkworm II
western literature was made by Aris
, totle. England first came into contac
! with the industry through the encour
/ agement Of Henry VI. and Louis N
established It in France. Corte.
! brought the first silkworms to Mexici
: two years after his conquest in 1922
? Such. In a few words, is the history o
this great industry as Uncle Sans sta
] tlstics record It,
\ The development of sericulture In tn
United States since 1850 has been rap
n ID. There were then sixty-seven sill
= manufacturing plants. and they ha'
a capital aggregating S67S,0O0, employ
5 ing 1923 wageworkers. who were pai'
d annually $4,000. The total value o
. the output in that year was S1,9O0OOC
l. To make it 100000 pounds Of raw sill
4 were consumed. In 1900 there wer
!. 4s3 silk manufacturing plants in tn
a United States, with an aggregate cap
n tai Of 100000. employing $3.50
v hands and paying them S21,0OO,O00
II year in wages. The value Of the oui
k put IN 1900 was s1O7 100000, for whic
100000 pounds Of raw silk wer
+ used, valued at S45,O00,000
d In 1880 the imports Of silk into tn
+ United States amounted TO SS,0OO,OO'
IF and by 1850 they had reached Sl7,5OO
d OOO This grew by 1860 to S32,0OO,0O'
M The total imports In 1900 were $4,000
1t 600. These figures, since 1SGO' do No
d include raw silk. but only the fnishe
IN product. with the exception Of Franc
n the United States is now the large'
importer Of Chinese and Japanese ra'
silk. The United States imported MOI
raw silk from China in 1900 than a
i. Europe except France. The value
n- spun silk imported into the Unite
A. States in 1900 was only S3,500,OO0 Z
compared with our own output of thu
year, which was valued at SlOI2oO,OO
Another way Of showing the rap
p Increase Of the industry in the Unite
States Is this: In 1860 only 13 per Gel
er of the silk used here was home man
~ factured. This percentage had increa
ed to 3S IN 1880 and to 80 in 1890 al
% 10 40 in 1900. The real figure Is co
slderably more than this, because Il
- 80 per cent allowed for imported sill
ze covers not only the cost Of the goo'
at the place Of export. but the carriai
ne across the water and the high tarit
IN collected at the ports Of import Go
ernment reports show that 50 per ce
a. of all silk ribbons used in the Unit
States is manufactured there.
he This American industry Is large
confined to I'VE states-New Jerse
~ Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New 70
=" and Massachusetts in the order name
The capital invested ia New Jers
rs b S29,500,O0O. In Pennsylvania S21.Oo
Is 600. IN Connecticut S12,oo0o0O, In Nc
York S1I. 100000 and N hassachusei
'te s6.600,00O.