No. 124.] 305 



As to the mulberry leaf for paper, or the bark for purposes speci- 

 fied in the Circular, I have made no experiments. 



In regard to manufacturing silk, I would remark: 



(1.) I have been acquainted with the business as carried on in 

 Mansfield, in a domestic way, from a child. In 1829 myself and ano- 

 ther man commenced manufacturing sewings by machinery in Mans- 

 field, which was, I believe, the first attempt in this country in that 

 way; and I have been engaged in the business ever since. 



(2.) I have made sewings, twist, some ladies' dresses, vestings and 

 handkerchiefs. 



(3.) Have used from one to four thousand pounds of raw silk annu- 

 ally, chiefly for sewings, and at a cost varying from $3.50 to $6.00 

 per lb. 



(4.) Have now from $3,000 to $4,000 invested in buildings, &c., 

 connected with the business. 



(5.) Employ 10 to 12 hands, male and female, chiefly females. 



(6.) I have no hestitation in saying as a manufacturer that Amer- 

 ican silk, properly reeled, is equal to any in the known world. For 

 strength and lustre, it is superior to any foreign silk I have ever seen. 



(7.) As to silk made from the white mulberry, multicaulis, Canton, 

 Asiatic and Alpine, I know of no difference. 



(8.) In regard to the present tariff, I concur entirely in the views 

 expressed by Mr. Murray and other manufacturers, now before the 

 convention. 



(9.) " What do you think of the whole silk business, as a business 

 of this country *?" This question I cannot at present answer as I wish. 

 I will however say, in brief, that I feel entire confidence in the opi- 

 nion, that it will ultimately become an important branch of business, 

 employing an amount of industry, and diffusing wealth to an extent 

 scarcely equalled by any other. Had I time, I could give you many 

 good and sufficient reasons for the opinion here expressed. 



John Fox, Senior, Ml. Pleasant^ Jefferson Co., Ohio. — I will an- 

 swer your nine interrogatories as concisely as possible. 



1. I have been wholly in the manufacture of silk, 35 years in Lon- 

 don and 10 years in America. I was born in London; my predeces- 

 sors were weavers of the old school. I was brought up to the busi- 

 ness young, and never went out of it. While engaged in it in Lon- 

 don, I superintended for the following gentlemen: — Messrs. Hopkins 

 & Cowper, Friday-street, Cheapside, — 30 looms; Mr. Wm. Prater, 

 Wood-street, Cheapside, — 100 looms; Mr. Rugg, Spitalfields, — 40 

 looms; Mr. Frebout, Finsbury, — 50 looms: besides being, after that, 

 in business for myself, in Church-street, Spitalfields, and Basinghall 

 Street, City, five years, with twenty looms. During the period of 

 fifteen years, I had from 250 to 300 lbs. of silk of every grade and 

 name, pass through my hands weekly. 



2. There is no article of silk goods that I have not manufactured, 

 or caused to be done, during the above forty-five years. 



[Senate No. 124. J Oo 



