The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-09-28
LOCAL HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2s, 1910.
Invention Of the Weaving Loom.

invention OF tho Sllk-WcavIno Loom.
The silk weaving Industry which is to-
owes Its great progress TO Joseph Marie
Jacquard. who on September rs. 1897,
completed his silk weaving loom. which
was so much OF an Improvement over the
former method, that It practically revo-
lutionized the business. This loom to-
DAY bears his name. Jacquard was born
Vcntors OF similar machines. the best
years Of his life were spent In a seem
lnsly hopeless struggle to perfect his idea
and to have It accepted when perfected
whilo the Introduction OF his labor-sav-
Ing device called down on him the bitter
est maledictions OF those who believed
that the success Of such machinery meant
besGary for themselves and their fami-
Hes
When he returned TO his native city
at the age Of So. after his invention had
found himself attacked with abuse and
open violence by those whom the intro
thrown out OF employment a mob forced
It's way into his house and broke one
OF his looms to pieces On several ocea-
81 sions he barely ESCAPED @ from the rage
man who was reducing families to ruin
and starvation, ne was denounced at
every turn.
II was not long. however. before
the people generally accepted his inven.
tion as a public benefit, and In 1906 II
was purchased by the French government.
rics Increased TO so great an extent, and
the prosperity that followed was so pro-
nounced. that jacquard lived TO find him
self AS greatly esteemed as he had been
detested
He received tempting offers to settle
in England, but he would not leave his
village of oulns. whittier he had moved
after the death Of his wife. The cross
OF the Legion OF Honor was bestowed on
him, and within half dozen years after
l,i ino nT
him in Lyons.
In China the culture OF silk is OF the
highest antiquity. and according to Chi
Si-Hng the wife of the Emperor Hoang-t.
$500 years r. c. The industry was in
troduced into Europe from India by some
branch of industry In Italy. Turkey and
Greece, and II has been carried on TO
some extent in France. Spain and Por-
tugal, but in England with limited sue
cess
In the early DAYS the American COLO
nists devoted much time and labor to
the growth Of the mulberry tree and the
became, in the latter part of the eight
eenth century. an important silk-raising
section; and this continued to be hxed
industry In that section. Pennsylvania
engaged In the culture about 1851 ana
the state maintained some prominence In
tine Industry during the revolution,
was set up at Mansfield, in 1910. The
manufacture was introduced into Phila-
delphia about 1915. and the use OF the
Jacquard loom was begun in lS24. Poush-
kcepsie N Y, and Burlington. n. j., be
came important sik-producing localities
about 1898 Today the most important
center OF this industry In America Is Pat
crson y, j., where the water power OF
the Passaic river seems 10 offer the best
possible conditions for its prosecution: 1t
Is today the chief seat of SILK manufac-
t,rc In the United States
In 1900. when the last census was
taken. there was a total of "A, 43O SILK
looms in the United States, OF which 20.
5T2 were in New Jersey: 2.o49 were In
Pennsylvania and 5263 In New York
state, The census this year Will, no
doubt. show a big increase in the Indus
try,
On September IS the battle Of Tinche-
bray was fought In Normandy in llo6'
the first constitution OF pennsylvania
was adopted in 1776; the siege OF 1ork-
town. Va commenced In l1Sl and the
naval battle on Lake Ontario was fought
I'm 1913 re is the birthday OF Arnold n
Guyot. geographer (1S0O: Francis K
C;oulding. author (1S10); Frances E. VII
la I'd reformer GS39); Kate Douglas wig
gin. author dS5O. and Frederick Mae
Monies sculptor 1s6S) 1t is the date
OF the death OF Emperor Lotharie ], (S5o),
and Henry VI, emperor OF Germany
Gl9O.