482 [Senate 



tic industry annually calculated to give employment and subsistence 

 to great numbers of our population, and to become, in its full devel- 

 opment, a source of vast national wealth. It would give to females 

 and children, to the aged and the poor, the opportunity of earning for 

 themselves, and saving for their country the twenty, fifty, and an 

 hundred millions of dollars which must otherwise be annually drawn 

 from it. 



Resolved, That the granting of State bounties for the encourage- 

 ment of the silk culture, is a matter of sinnple justice to those who in 

 its incipient stages embark their labor and capital in a great national 

 enterprise, whose benefits will be shared by all, and descend in an in- 

 creasing stream upon a countless posterity — and of obvious necessity, 

 as that without which the enterprise must struggle with continued 

 difficulties, and its success be indefinitely postponed. All classes of 

 citizens are interested in the success, and the pioneers in it are entitled 

 to the benefits of their co-operation. The nation will reap the har- 

 vest, and should not grudge to the plowman and tiller of the seed 

 that shall yield to its sickle an hundred fold measure. 



Resolved, That the friends of the enterprise in the several States of 

 the Union be respectfully recommended to prepare and present me- 

 morials to their respective Legislatures, praying that such encourage- 

 ment, in the form of bounties or otherwise, may be granted to silk 

 growers, as in their wisdom they may judge expedient ; and that ex- 

 perience testifies that such encouragement should be continued at least 

 ten years. 



Resolved, That this convention respectfully commend this subject 

 to the enlightened consideration of the executive officers of the several 

 States, earnestly requesting that it may be presented to their respec- 

 tive Legislatures, as a subject of such immediate and liberal legisla- 

 tion as may correspond with the present exigencies and future welfare 

 of the people and country. 



Resolved, That a copy of the above resolutions, together with the 

 reports of the proceedings of this convention, be sent to the executive 

 and legislative officers of the General Government, the Governors and 

 Secretaries of the several States, with copies for distribution among 

 the members of the several State Legislatures. 



ADDRESS OF THE BUSINESS COMMITTEE. 



In giving expression to the views of this convention, instead of ex- 

 pressing them in a set of resolutions, as is customary, your committee 

 have deemed it advisable to embody them in a brief 



Jiddress to the People of the United States. 



At the call, and under the patronage of the American Institute, we 

 have met as the friends and advocates of a great national enterprise — 

 •tn enterprise destined at no distant day to become one of the most 

 powerful tributaries to national independence, and auxiliary to the 

 happiness and industry of our people. A national convention of 

 practical silk culturists and manufacturers, from different and remote 



