THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



In the meantime Riley resigned in the spring o£ 1879, and 

 Professor Comstock was put in his place. Before leaving the 

 Department, however, Riley had me write a manual of silk 

 culture, which was published over his signature before he left. 



Riley returned to the Department in 1881, and after a year 

 or two took up the subject of silk culture rather vigorously. He 

 realized that the success of the industry in this country would 

 depend largely on our ability economically to reel the cocoons, 

 and he had heard of an electric reel invented by General Serrell, 

 an American then living in France. He was fortunately able to 

 secure the services of Philip Walker, a nephew of General 

 Serrell's, a young man of much ability and charm. He brought 

 him to Washington, established a Serrell reel, sent out silkworm 

 eggs to correspondents, and helped two or three local associa- 

 tions interested in the matter, notably a California organization, 

 one in Louisiana, and a rather pretentious "Women's Silk Cul- 

 ture Association" that had its headquarters for some time in 

 Philadelphia. Congress made small special appropriations for 

 this work, which were repeated for several years. 



At the expiration of this time Mr. Walker became convinced 

 that the industry could not succeed in the absence of an import 

 duty on raw silk, and he stated this frankly to committees of 

 the House of Representatives. 



At that time the McKinley Tariff Bill was being prepared 

 in the House, and a ten per cent duty on raw silk was proposed. 

 This was naturally strongly opposed by the Silk Manufacturers' 

 Association and failed, and the matter of silk culture was 

 dropped by the government for the time being. 



In 1898 James Wilson of Iowa was appointed Secretary of 

 Agriculture. He had been prominently connected with the Iowa 

 State Agricultural College and Experiment Station and had also 

 been a member of Congress. Very justly wishing to familiarize 



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