The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1921-01-29
THE ROMANCE OF SILK

was decreed for the crime of sending
or taking the silk worm, its eggs or
the seeds OF the white mulberry tree
out of China.
All vent well with the Chinese silk
industry until about $50 b. C. when
a prince OF India visited China and
o the love Of a demure Chinese
princess who accompanied him to In
dia, via the elopement and caravan
route, taking, hidden In her sandals.
the eggs Of silk worms and seeds of
the white mulberry tree. Within three
moons of the arrival In India of the
runaway princess, she disappeared
mysteriously between suns, but II was
to late to save the secret. She had
not only delivered to her lover the
eggs and the seeds but had taught
him all that she had learned of silk
in the royal palace In China.
Alexander the Great learned the Sc
cret during a visit to India In 323 b.
C., and through him silk became
known throughout many parts Of Eu-
rope only to be lost again after com-
p~aratively a few years. The knowl-
edge Of silk was not regained in Eu-
rope until the reign of julius Caesar
in about 81 d. c., when in Rome 1t
became the specified court dress and
sold for its weight in gold.
The Emperor Tiberius forbade the
men of Rome to wear garments of
silk because he considered the Gus
tom effeminate, and many Romans
denounced the wearing of silks from
the Island Of Cos by women. 1t was
claimed that the extreme t~ranspar-
ency Of the fine fabric made such cos
tunes indecent. 1t was the first dress
reform movement in history. The
first standard price fixed for silk was
set by the Emperor Justinian In 52S
A. D., when he decided that the mer-
chants should not exact more than
eight pieces Of gold (about $50 for
a pound of silk as sold ready for the
tailor. The price ruined the silk
merchants.
The silk of that day, although Of
more gauzy texture, would not COM
pare ~favorably with the good silks of
to-day In the beauty of coloring,
weave or durability. 1t excelled it
only in price.
BY the year 1851 silken garments
we're common in English court circles
although ii was not until the close of
the following century that England
took up the silk industry during the
reign of Edward III. While France
engaged in the industry in the early
part OF the thirteenth century 1t was
not until almost 800 years later that
the trade became well established
there through the efforts of Henry of
Navarro who spent more than $780,
600 of his own funds in experiments.
Wherever silk was introduced It
depended upon the favor of women
who were its chief users then as they
are to-day when 1t virtually is i'm
possible for a woman to dress her
self without DOMINIC many things
into which silk enters largely in man
u~facture. Even a man wears silk
from head to foot. His clothing is
sewed with silk.
The economy of silk in many ways
was soon recognized when the supply
became great enough to lower the
price sufficiently to enable others
than royalty and the very wealthy
citizenry to buy it.
The United States to-day leads the
world as the greatest manufacturer
of silk with the center of the indus
try located In Paterson, N. j.. al
though the first silk mill was built In
1910 in Mansfield, Conn. Raw silk
produced in America as early as
1881 when Cortez took silk worm
eggs and mulberry tree seeds to Mex
and later to Virginia and other
colonies about 1919. but has been
abandoned because this country can
not compete with the wage scales OF
China. Japan. India and Italy,