ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 151 



ments in regard to it were the most contradictory and im- 

 politic that can well be imagined. The importation of 

 foreign manufactured silks was prohibited under the sever- 

 est penalties ; but the advantage that this prohibition was 

 so erroneously believed to confei' upon the manufacturer, 

 would, under any circumstances, have been more than 

 neutralized by the imposition of oppressive duties on the 

 raw material. This mistaken policy was productive of 

 great injury, because, owing to the exorbitant duties on the 

 raw material, and the want of improvement in the manu- 

 facture, the price of silks was maintained so high as to re- 

 strict the demand for them within comparatively narrow 

 limits. In 1825, however, a more reasonable policy was 

 adopted, which was soon productive of great change in this 

 department of business. The duties on the raw material 

 were greatly lowered, at the same time that foreign silk 

 goods were allowed as imports on the payment of a duty 

 of 30 per cent, ad valorem. This new tariiF was vehement- 

 ly opposed at the outset, and it was confidently predicted 

 that it would occasion the ruin of the manufacture; but 

 the result has shown the soundness of the principle on 

 which it was based. The manufacturers were now for the 

 first time compelled to call in all the resources of science 

 and ingenuity to their aid, and the result has been that the 

 manufacture of silks has been improved more during the 

 last twenty-five years than it had been during the whole 

 previous century, and that it has continued progressively to 

 increase. The total quantity of raw silk imported for home 

 consumption in 1838 was 3,595,816 lbs. The total num- 

 ber of individuals directly engaged in its manufacture has 

 been estimated at upward of 207,000, and the value of the 

 silks annually manufactured may be estimated at from fifty 

 to sixty million dollars. For full particulars as to the his- 

 tory and manufacture of silk the reader is referred to Por- 

 ter's treatise on tliis subject in Lnrdnp.r's Cydopcedia. 



