252 [Assembly 



the hands that wrought them, and the soil that produced the raw 

 material from which they were fabricated. 



We will find there the cocoon, the reeled silk, and in almost every 

 variety, satins, silks, and silk velvets; not perhaps so well finished 

 as some we may have seen from other countries, and far inferior to 

 what we shall ere long produce, but nevertheless beautiful and ser- 

 viceable, and such as any American citizen should feel proud to wear. 



Of the ultimate success of the silk culture, your committee enter- 

 tain no doubt; but at the same time there are obstacles which have 

 long borne heavily upon our progress, and which, unless obviated, 

 must continue to embarrass us for many years to come, preventing 

 our success, until hundreds of millions more of gold and silver are 

 drained from our own resources to enrich those who oppress and de- 

 grade the unhappy operatives of other lands. 



We wish to say emphatically that we believe no other country or 

 people so v.'cll calculated to perfect the whole silk business, as our 

 own. 



The obstacles to which we refer are altogether artificial. 



They are, unwise legislation on the part of the general govern- 

 ment, and the want of suitable encouragement from both national and 

 state authorities. 



Your committee would here adopt resolutions No. 3, 5 and 6, of 

 the New-England Silk Convention, and offer the following addition- 

 al, viz.: 



Resolvt.d, That we most earnestly urge upon the approaching Con- 

 gress, the importance of so correcting the duties upon both raw and 

 manufactured silks, as to give such protection for us as to place us 

 beyond the possibility of injury from foreign competition. 



Resolvedf That the establishment by Congress of a nationnl fila- 

 ture, nursery, plantation and cocoonery in or near the District of 

 Columbia, under the superintendence of a competent and experienced 

 person, where individuals can obtain all the information necessary 

 for prosecuting the reeling of filk, the cultivation of the mulberry 

 tree, and the successful nurture of the silk worm, would be a measure 

 of the utmost importance to every section of the Union, and calcu- 



