10 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



gir.K. — Of the prodigious value of foreign silk 

 goods imported into the United States, the people 

 of this country generally seem not to have heen 

 fully aware. The aggregate amount of this trade 

 for the year 1834, has been estimated at about 

 twelve millions of dollars — which included all 

 the imports from abroad, both from Europe and 

 India. But we have now before us an official 

 document, for which we are indebted to our 

 attentive representative in Congress, Mr Reed, 

 which discloses the astonishing fact, that during* 

 the year 1835, there were imported into the United 

 States, from France alone, silks to the value of 

 $12,129,640 — being nearly double the amount of 

 importations for any preceding year, and upwards 

 of three times that of the year 1830 ! The value 

 of imported silks from England, Germany, Italy, 

 Turkey, Ciiina, and other countries, during the 

 last year, we have not at present the means of 

 ascertaining. If this be estimated at only one 

 half the above sum, we then have an aggregate 

 of upwards of eighteen millions of dollars! 



Is it not high time that the American people 

 should realize the important fact, that the enor- 

 mous amount of money thus annually drawn from 

 their purses, is paid for articles which may be as 

 abundantly produced, and as successfully fabrica- 

 ted, to say the least, in this, as in any other nation 

 on the face of the globe ? Has not the time 

 arrived, when legislators, political economists, and 

 patriotic citizens of every class should look deeply 

 into this subject, so obviously momentous ? It 

 strikes us that there is no branch of domestic in- 

 dusti'y, which, at this moment, so imperiously 

 demands not only the attention, but the fostering 

 aid and generous j)atronage of government. 



Individuals, scattered here and there — and 

 small associations, with liniited means — may 

 toil through a course of years, and by slow and 

 gradual advances finally bring to perfection the 

 culture and manufacture of this precious material. 

 Private enterprise and ingenuity may also facili- 

 tate the progress of these undertakings ; and cap- 

 italists may engage therein to a certain extent. 

 But the paramount protection and encouragement 

 of the national and state authorities, even if buc 

 partially extended, will accomplish the object 

 almost instantaneously. In view of the iuunense 

 results to be reasonably anticipated from the in- 

 troduction and establishment of the silk manufac- 

 ture — promising such advantageous changes in 

 our foreign and domestic relations — it becomes 

 evidently the duty of those who are entrusted with 

 the management of our public interests to provide 

 liberally for its speedy promotion. 



From the document before mentioned we learn 

 one remarkable fact relative to the silk trade be- 

 tween France and the United States, which shows 

 that, after all, we have been no great gainers, as a 



nation, by the payment — or the agreement io 

 pay — the indemnity of five millions. The 

 amendments made in 1832, to the tariff act of 

 1828, in regard to the duties on imported silks 

 and wines from French ports, must have served 

 as a stimulus, if indeed they were not intended as 

 a bribe to the government of France, in the way 

 of inducing a seeming act of justice on their part. 

 It appears that we have actually more than de- 

 frayed the whole amount out of our own pockets, 

 by means of the reduced duties on silks alone, 

 within the last three years. France, or those 

 engaged in the silk trade with that country, saved, 

 in consequence of the diminished impost on siiks, 

 in 1833, $1,061,579 ; in 1834, $1,582,063 ; and in 

 1835, $2,627,184 : in all, no less than $5,270,826. 

 Upon wines, the saving to France from the same 

 cause, amounted to $695,031. So that, for the 

 boasted five millions indemnity, we have granted 

 far more than an equivalent — the French trade 

 having been benefitted to the amount of nearly sii 

 millions — of which sum our treasury has been 

 deprived, through the operations of the act of 

 1832 — an act authorising the reduction of our 

 own revenue for the exclusive benefit of France. 

 Well might such a measure tempt the rulers of 

 that nation to the discharge of a portion of our 

 claims — a portion covered entirely by a remission 

 of the customary duties on a single article of com- 

 merce ! — JVan. Inq. 



Silk Company. — It is with much pleasure that 

 we state to the friends of the cultivation of silk, 

 that the Chester county Silk Company is thorough- 

 ly organized, and proceeding with great dilligence 

 in the object of their corporation. From the zeal 

 and intelligence of the President and managers, it 

 will commence under the best auspices. 



The company have purchased 12 acres of the 

 Matlack estates within the limits of the borough 

 Two acres are already ploughed, and one thousand 

 trees of several years growth will be planted in a 

 few days. The company have also sent to Balti- 

 more for a quantity of the Chinese mulberry. — 

 West Chester Record. 



Cure for the Big Head. — Big Head is essen- 

 tially a scrofulous ditiease. Take an ounce of 

 corrosive sublimat«!, and dissolve it in one pint of 

 alcohol, or one quart of fourth proof brandy. 

 Wash the part affected thrice, or oftener in a day, 

 until it is well blistered. Cure up the wound 

 with elder bark and lard salvo, or any other appli- 

 cation. A few blisterifigs will effect a cure. 



Railroad from New York to Philadelphia. 

 It is rumored that the Joint Companies have de- 

 termined to make their branch Railroad from New 

 Brunswick through Trenton. 



