iSILK CULTURE. 305 



It is difficult to see in what way these balances may be lesseued. 

 Tbat the National Government will need large revenues to meet the in- 

 terest on our public debt, and that duties, lor many years to come, on 

 foreign importations, will remain high, is very certain. That some of 

 them, especially our luxuries, will be increased is more than probable. 

 But to secure the industrial independence of our country, by producing 

 commodities we now purchase from abroad, and for which our climates 

 and soils are favorable, and by enlarging our manufacturing industries, 

 so that much uow imported may be i^roduced at home, is the only way 

 by which we may hope to have our foreign commerce permanently i3laced 

 on a favorable basis, and some part, at least, of the products of our gold 

 and silver mines retained at home. 



Among the imports which have created this large balance of trade 

 against us, is that of silk manufactures. In the last fiscal year it amounted 

 to $30,448,618. Duties, freights, profits, and other charges will make 

 the purchasing cost of this importation to our citizens not less than 

 $66,000,000. This large importation, connected with the facts above 

 stated, has acted most favorably upon the silk manufactures of the 

 United States. According to the statement of a committee of silk manu- 

 facturers and operatives, to the Finance Committee of the United States 

 Senate, the capital invested in them has increased from three to twenty- 

 five millions of dollars, and the amount of raw silk imported in 1871 

 was 1,330,000 iDounds. Such a development of the silk manufacturing 

 industry secures a ready and permanent home-market to everj^ pound of 

 raw silk that may be grown in this country. 



That the extent and progress of this manufacturing industry may be 

 better seen, we take the following partial notice of it from the fourth 

 annual report of Charles V. Eiley, State Entomologist of Missouri : 



Half a dozen years ago, -svitliin a radius of fifty miles of New York, there were not 

 fifty looms running on brog,d silks and serges, where uow there are nearer five hundred. 

 In and around Boston there are nearly as many ; and Philadelphia boasts of about 

 thirty. Last fall I visited Paterson, New Jersey, and spent some time in the surround- 

 ing country for the purpose of inquiring into this new industiy. 



At that place he found the largest establishments in the country man- 

 ufacturing ribbons, dress-goods, trimmings, braids, &c. 



In Connecticut $5,000,000 of capital are invested. But significant ol 

 the extent and excellence of their products is the large advertisement 

 of the heaviest importer of the United States, Mr. A. T. Stewart, of New 

 York. He advertises them as "American silks, manufactured by Che- 

 ney Brothers, Hartford and South Manchester, Connecticut, and sold 

 wholesale by A. T. Stewart & Co., New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, 

 and retailed at all first-class dry-good stores." Heretofore American 

 silks have been sold as imported goods, but now their superiority is so 

 clearly established that such concealment is not necessary. 



The total value of American silks manufactured in 187i was 830,000,- 

 000, and of the imported raw silk about $8,000,000. In 1873 the cus- 

 tom-house valuation of the raw silk imported Avas $o,625,020 ; other 

 charges would make it equal to that of 1871. 



Such a development of the silk manufacturing industry secures a 

 ready and permanent home-market to every pound of raw silk gTown 

 here. Herein, then, is one of the favorable conditions to which we have 

 referred, for heretofore our silk, like the wool of the Cashmere goat now, 

 havhig no home-demand could not be sold, and hence not profitably 

 grown. But there is another matter, in this connection, that requires a 

 careful examination, namely, 

 20 A, 



