Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-06-20
is Fed by Great Destruction Of
Life.
silk for Millions Of Wearers That ,oo
20 ooo,ooo,oo Worms Die to Provld. !
Z They Live Only to Work. i
Interesting Data. j..

Women who deck themselves ont T.,
silks, and men, too, for silk enters Inv
their ties and socks and other wv
ments that some can afford to buv -,
well as into most of the things wor.
by femininity, concern themslev.s
with the awful destruction OF n,
that Is necessary to permit thei,
vanity to have sway. About 15OO0
100000 worms are killed eyerv VOC,
to make silk for use of the hosiery sra
underwear manufacturers of the I'M.
ted-States alone in the manufacture a,
their products. This statement va,
made by H.>F. Hofer, manufacturer
OF Paterson, N. j., IN an address At
recent convention Of the National A.
ISOLATION Of Hosiery and Underwea,
Manufacturers, held in PHILADELPHIA
Mr.. Hofer presented figures tn
show that the manufacturers consume
around 100000 pounds of silk annual
ly, and that it requires 5000 cocoons
to make a pound, in other words
5000 worms give up their lives to
produce each pound Of the raw ma.
terial. He gave the number of the
worms that must die to give to thu
world all the silk that is produced in
year as about 20O,O00,OOO,OOO.
The silk worm, without sex, |,
mere being destined to perform
functions Of most unselfish manner"
said Mr.. Hofer in his most interest.
ing address. This worm knows moth.
ing but duties and obligations. It
does more work relatively than any
other creature in existence, because
from its first day of life until Its last
it is working uninterruptedly without
sleep or rest of ea7 sort.
True enough, its work might by
human beings be considered to be an
enviable occupation, since it consists
OF eating and nothing else. In the six
weeks of life this little creature eats
all that is necessary to enable its
growing to more than thousand
times its original size.
AT the first hour of life the total
weight Of these 100000, 100000
amounts to about 100000 pounds, and
after about six weeks this lot of lit
tie creatures will have done away with
about 10.000,00O,O0O pounds of mulber
ry leaves furnished by about 10000
mulberry trees.
The growing of the worm is SO fast
that it has to develop new and more
elastic skin every week for the period
Of five weeks. The time for the shed.
ding of one skin to the shedding of the
next is considered or called one stage
of life, and In the last stage the worm
has accumulated so much food and
transformed the same into uniform
solution of silky constituencies as 1t
deems sunicient- to enable it to build .
net or a house around itself, in which
it expects to remain unprotected from
the attacks of enemies while laying
dormant during it's Transformation
from a worm to q butterfly. In that
dormant state of chrysalis, when
imagining to be safe from all outside
enemies, within the artistically'built
house, the cocoon, it is mercilessly
murdered by men, wilfully destroyed
to satisfy the growing sense OF vanity
Of men, or, rather, women.
"Of course, the killing is necessary
If we are to derive the full benent
from the cocoon, because If we allow
the chrysalis inside the cocoon to oe'
velop into a butterfly, the latter Will
pierce the cocoon and destroy inc
thread at so many places that it Wouio
render the unwinding of the fine SIX
filaments an impossibility. A very
small proportion Of all these millions
Of silk worms are enjoying the PRIV
lege to grow to maturity, the butter
fly, the female one Of which upon me-
turity and all within few hours time.
lays from to 600 eggs, which wiz
make up a new generation year 4"
terward. ...-
THE time required for the transfer
nation from the full-grown worm INV
q butterfly varies somewhat mo ID ~
fluenced by climatic conditions, out On :
an average it does not take Longer
than three weeks. Therefore, ~
Wholesale killing must be anec'eu
within these three weeks. In lols "
hundreds of thousands are the COCOON.
thrown into an especially construc'eo
oven ana therein baked at a cer'a't
rate OF heat until all life Is eA''n
guished." ~.
There was much more in MI: f.
fers address that was particularly ~
teresting to the men interested IN ~.
manufacture of hosiery and unoel"'~
who heard him. -