The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-07-11
OUR SILK INDUSTRY.
Past and Present Features of
Its Growth.
FRANCE AMERICAS ONLY RIVAL.

FRANCE AMERICAS ONLY RIVAL.
In Manufacturing silk We Hold Sec
ond Place In the World. and Inn
portations Are Rapidly Declining.
Annual Output of American Mills
Now Exceeds 800, 900 900 In Value.
J Recently issued government stats
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 l. 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 $1O7, 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.
dictionary war it languished in spite
Of royal and colonial bounties. Con-
necticut took it up in 1883, 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
1866.
The importations Of silk are rapidly
declining American mills supply mDst
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 264O 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 legend that japanese royal
princess, returning from 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. A 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 silkwOrm in
western literature was made by Aris-
totle. England first came into contact
with the industry through the encour-
agement Of Henry VI, and Louis XII.
established 1t In France. COrtes
brought the first silkworms to Mexico
two years after his conquest In 1922.
Such, in few words, Is the history Of
this great industry as Uncle Sans sta
tistics record it.
The development Of sericulture In the
United States since 1850 has been rap
i'd. There were then sixty-seven silk
manufacturing plants, and they had
capital aggregating $678,OO0, employ
ing 1923 wageworkers, who were paid
annually 1927, 900. The total value Of
the output in that year was $1,9OO,O 900.
To make it 100000 pounds Of raw silk
were consumed. In 1900 there were
4S3 silk manufacturing plants In the
United States, with an aggregate capt.
tai Of $S1,OOO,OOO, employing $500
hands and paying them $21 100000 a
year In wages. The value Of the out
put in 1900 was $1O7, 25O, 900, for which
100000 pounds Of raw silk were
used, valued at $45,OOO,OOO.
In 1880 the imports Of silk into the
United States amounted to $8,OO0.OOO,
and by 1850 they had reached $780,
600. This grew by 1860 to $4,000 600.
The total imports in 1900 were $50, OO0,-
600. These figures, since 1860, do not
include raw silk, but only the finished
product. With the exception Of France
the United States is now the largest
importer Of Chinese and Japanese raw
silk. The United States imported more
raw silk from China in 1900 than all
Europe except France. The value OF
spun silk imported into the United
States in 1900 was only $3,5OO,OOO as
compared with our own output Of that
year, which was valued at $1O7, $50, 900.
Another way Of showing the rapid
increase Of the industry in the United
States is this: In 1860 only 10 per cent
Of the silk used here was home manu-
featured. This percentage had increas-
ed to 3S in 1880 and to 81 in 1890 and
to 70 in 1900. The real figure Is con-
siderably more than this, because the
80 per cent allowed for imported silks
covers not only the cost Of the goods
at the place Of export, but the carriage
across the water and the high tariffs
collected at the ports Of import. Gov
eminent reports show that IS per cent
Of all silk ribbons used in the United
States is manufactured there.
This American industry Is largely
confined to five states-New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York
and Massachusetts in the order named.
The capital invested in New Jersey
is $29,5OO,OO0, in Pennsylvania $21 ,OOO,-
OOO in Connecticut $40 900 600 in New