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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



INTERIOR VIEW OF ONE OE THE LARGE SILK MIEES AT WIEKES-BARRE 



A pound of raw silk often contains enough unspun thread to reach 181 miles. To con- 

 vert this into a pound of organzine, or warp threads, requires 264,000,000 turns of a spindle — 

 10,000 a minute for two months' working time. 



by an abundance of artificial stone as 

 hard as any adamant made in the labora- 

 tory of Nature. 



THE ROMANCE OE SIEK 



It is a long step from cement to silk, 

 and yet, as showing the remarkable versa- 

 tility of the industrial situation in the 

 Keystone State, a step worth the taking 

 here. There are several good reasons 

 why Pennsylvania produces one-third of 

 all the silk made in America. In the first 

 place, silk manufacture is essentially a 

 woman's industry. A woman can attend 

 a loom as well as a man, or look after 

 spindles, or supervise the quilling of 

 thread. 



Nowhere else can such an abundance 

 of women workers be found as in the 

 coal regions and the heavy manufactur- 

 ing districts. Such industries are largely 

 closed to women, and hence the wives 



and daughters of the miners and factory 

 workers welcome employment in silk 

 mills. 



Then, again, the silk that milady wears 

 may seem filmy and its sheen may be 

 charming, but the process of manufacture 

 demands a surprising amount of power. 

 Especially is this true of the spinning, 

 or "throwing," as it is technically known. 

 Raw silk is too thin to be woven directly. 

 The spun silk that constitutes the warp, 

 or threads that run lengthwise of the 

 goods, is known as organzine. 



THE POWER REQUIRED IN MAKING SIEK 



A pound of good quality raw silk will 

 yield enough unspun thread to reach from 

 Philadelphia to New York and return— 

 181 miles; yet in making organzine, or 

 warp thread, every inch of that must be 

 twisted some sixteen turns, after which it 

 is doubled and twisted about fourteen 



