New-York tribune., 1919-03-25
Silk Strengthens Texture of
Our Friendship With Japan
Into Fabrics So Pleasing to the Eyes and Touch of
Americans Is Woven the Toll of Millions of
Peace Loving People, Says Nipponese Merchant

| back to its pre-war price. If the labor
cost keeps on mounting, the price of
silk may become prohibitive. That
would naturally reduce the volume of
consumption. Our foreign customers
may decline to pay the price which
would make possible the production of
silk on profitable basis. When that
happens Japanese labor will flow into
more profitable channel and tho silk
industry will join the gray company
of lost arts. But there is nothing on
the horizon to justify the slightest
pcssimism at present.
"There are more than 100000
famllles-not persons. mind-who are
engaged in raising the silk worm. And
this does not include the people who
are working in filature factories"
1t may be added that Mr.. Imai's COM
pany-the Katakura Company-alone
mas eighteen filatures, employing about
10000 men and women.
Importance OF Sericulture
"A vast number of our small farm
ers," he continued, "can never hone
to make ends meet without sericulture.
Indeed, in many cases raising the silk
worm is quite as important as the rice
crop. Often people speak of seri-
culture as a secondary occupation of
the Japanese farmer and the cocoon
his by-product. 1t often happens
though that the farmers income from
the silk worm is quite as large ss
from his farm products, if not actually
larger;
"And the beauty Of ericulture-from
the standpoint of the small Japanese
tiarmer-is that the silk is hand made
IN peculiarly emphatic sense An
inventive genius may work the miracle
OF giving us the machinery which will
raise the worm. But it is quite be-
yond our imagination at the present
time. And as the handling of the worm
takes good deal of patience and
deftness of touch the two things with
which gracious Heaven seems to have
endowed Japanese farmer folk, espe-
claily their women, their prospect of
holding the job seems to be reason
ably secure.
~ have limited that silk should have
a great and noble part in bringing
ABOUT an Americana japanese under
l
not thinking of the Interviewing of the
economic and commercial interests of
the two great peoples of the Pacific
basin. Although that certainly is
vital link, was thinking more of the
appreciation of human qualities of the
one by the other. This is what |
mean: Let the American people see
with their own eyes, or at least through
the eyes of their own nationals and
friends, what an infinite amount of
tender care, what a high quality of
patience, and a lot of it, and of that
sort OF cheerfulness which simply will
not see a rainy day, among other
essential things, enter into the making
OF the successful raiser of silkworms.
Let our American friends then see
that all these qualities do not come
from the cultivation Of intellect in
colleges, but they spring from the
very texture of our peoples tempera-
ments, toned and ironed through CEN
turles and centuries of gentle life
habits and their fundamental good
nature, pure and simple.
More than that, let our American
friends see that an overwhelming ma
Jorlty of the people of Japan are of
that class-ever patient, forever smiI-
ing at their toll. After that | claim
there will be no more Of this fash
ionable poppycock about the bloody
Japan armed to the teeth in the hys-
terra of world conquest. Like every
other country on earth, we have our
milltaiists, of course. But compared
to the mass of the peace loving, patient
working class they are about as rare
as new shoes which don't pinch. Of
course, they make lot of noise-those
mlitarsts--n Japan, as elsewhere.
There is no such thing known as a
non-sounding brass. They are special
lists on the manufacture of noise. That
IS the thing which I hope our Ameri-
can friends would always bear in mind
when they read all sorts of cablcd re-
ports out Of the Far East.
WOrkinr for Retfor OuuI;,x