Silk Culture— Its Great Future 

 For Women in This State. 



MRS. CARRIE WILL1AHS. 



THAT women can carry on silk production to its fullest extent in Cali- 

 fornia, has been demonstrated beyond all dispute within the past 

 few years. The necessary requirements for this are all to be found 

 in superabundance in our great golden State. 

 Our soil is varied and of the richest character. Its depth in the 

 valleys and its strength in the mountains and foothills is unsurpassed 

 in any clime. 



Silk of the very best quality may be produced in every county in this 

 State with as little, indeed with less labor or expense than is the case in 

 China, Japan, or any of the European countries whence we import this 

 world-wide commodity of every-day use. The silk season in the northern 

 and middle counties of the State can be made as long as in most foreign 

 countries, while in the southern counties, especially in San Diego County, 

 it may be extended to eight or nine months of the year. That silk can be 

 produced during this long period stands recorded as a fact demonstrated 

 for years past. 



By careful pruning, planting of cuttings, cultivation and a moderate 

 amount of irrigation the different kinds of mulberry tree best suited bear 

 foliage for nine months to a year. 



There is no scale or pest indigenous to the mulberry tree and they 

 grow as much in California in one year as they do in Europe or Asia 

 in three. Our virgin soil coupled with the generally diffused scientific 

 knowledge of our people how to suppress that which is not best and supply 

 that which is lacking, gives us a distinct advantage as to the possibilities 

 that may be attained in the development of this grand industry. With 

 all these things and very many more that cannot be presented in one short 

 article the question naturally arises, "Why is not silk-producing a success in 

 this country?" The sole and only reason is because it has never been 

 judged aright. Time and again people wholly unacquainted with the busi- 

 ness, have rushed into it hoping for large returns from small investments, 

 and others with reasonable investments have been disappointed in not 

 reaping unreasonable profits. 



Within the last decade the number of silk factories in the United 

 States has multiplied fifty per cent, so that while less than thirty years 

 ago, we as a nation, manufactured only fifteen per cent of our own silks, 

 now we send out from these many looms eighty-seven per cent of all the 

 silk worn in the United States. And, these manufacturers pay to their 

 employes twice as much as they do in England, three times what they do in 

 France, three and a quarter what they do in Italy, and probably twenty 

 times as much as they do in China and Japan. 



There is no special advantage in this country for the manufacture 

 of silk and yet the silk manufacturers accumulate and retire on as ample 

 fortunes and in as short or even shorter time, than any class of business 

 mmn in this country. Why is this? What is the cause underlying effect? 

 To keep these factories going there is every year imported $50,000,000 

 worth of what is invoiced as raw silk though it is not raw but twenty-five 

 per cent manufactured. There is no duty on raw material. On manufac- 

 tured silks there is a duty of sixty per cent. Upon reeled silk there should 

 be about one-fourth of this duty. It is not difficult to see that fifteen per 

 eont of $50,000,000 is lost to the revenue of the country and added to the 

 profits of the silk manufacturers. The government officials seem to wink at 

 this fact and pass on to other matters year after year, while the general 

 public do not stop to think or to investigate where the wrong lies. 



The government through the Agricultural Department has been for 

 many years making a grave mistake in not taking the proper steps to 

 educate the people in this industry. There is not one school or college 



Or THF J 



UNIVERSH 



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