468 [Senate 



could be proposed for the advantage of the community. I therefore 

 offer your society $100 a year for ten years, to be distributed in pre- 

 miums, or to be awarded in one premium yearly, for the best piece of 

 silk stuff, twenty-seven inches wide and sixty yards in length, manu- 

 factured in the United States, from native silk produced from worms 

 of our own breeding. It may be alleged that the absolute certainty 

 of our soil and climate are suitable for the production of the best kinds 

 of silk, and that our own country furnishes a market adequate to the 

 consumption of the fabrics that may be supplied for many years to 

 come, at reasonable prices, furnish all the inducements which can be 

 required to impel our wonderfully active and industrious people to 

 undertake the culture and manufacture of this important article of 

 trade. But the facilities for exhibition, and the premiums for skill, 

 which your society propose to furnish, are necessary to enable exhibi- 

 tors to compare their fabrics, and to stimulate them to the manufacture 

 of the best description of goods. The opinions which were entertained 

 by several gentlemen in this State, possessing great experience and 

 ability, may be found in a report which I had the honor to make to 

 the House of Assembly, on March J, 1832, Document No. 176. It 

 is therein stated that — " It has been ascertained by actual experience, 

 both in France and England, that American silk, if not superior, is at 

 least equal to the silk of any other country. The cocoons yield 

 more than those of France and Italy, and their produce is of as fine 

 a texture and equal in nerve to the silk of any other country, and 

 ■when well reeled, it loses less than the Italian in wastage." The 

 important and conclusive facts establishing the superior quality of 

 American silk were communicated to me by the Hon. Ambrose Spen- 

 cer, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of this State, whose 

 investigations of the subject had been extensive and thorough, and 

 were related with all the clearness and force which distinguish his 

 mind. 



It is also stated in the same Document, that " the treasury reports 

 present the astonishing fact, that in some years the importation and 

 consumption of silk fabrics in the United States, have been of greater 

 value than the whole amount of bread stuffs exported ; so the indus- 

 try and labor of the farmers of the United States have been appropri- 

 ated to the purchase and introduction of a luxury with which the 

 country could, with the greatest facility, supply itself, and in a few 

 years produce a staple which would not fail to become a source of 

 wealth." The ability of this country to furnish itself with silks was 

 confidently asserted by Le Ray De Chaumont, who, at the period re- 

 ferred to, was an agriculturist of high repute^ in Jefferson county, 

 and perfectly conversant with the culture of silk in the United States. 

 At the same time that the facts contained in those paragraphs encou- 

 rage the culture of silk, from the consideration of the certainty of the 

 crop or product, they also furnish an assurance of a suitable remune- 

 ration to all those families or culturists who are able to supply the 

 demand at prices not higher than the foreign article is sold for in this 

 market. But it should be inculcated on all who undertake this business 

 that permanent success is only to be achieved by economy and indus- 



