Enough has now been said, we think, to give a good idea of silk
reeling, as usually practiced, and to show how much it is behind other
textile arts from a mechanical point of view. To any one at all
familiar with industrial work, or possessing the least power of
analysis or calculation, it is evident that a process carried on in
so primitive a manner is entirely unsuitable for use in any country in
which the conditions of labor are such as to demand its most
advantageous employment. In the United States, for instance, or in
England, silk reeling, as a great national industry, would be out of
the question unless more mechanical means for doing it could be
devised. The English climate is not suitable for the raising of
cocoons, and in consequence the matter has not attracted very much
attention in this country. But America is very differently situated.
Previous to 1876 it had been abundantly demonstrated that cocoons
could be raised to great advantage in many parts of that country. The
only question was whether they could be reeled. In fact, it was stated
at the time that the question of reeling silk presented a striking
analogy to the question of cotton before the invention of the "gin."
It will be remembered that cotton raising was several times tried in
the United States, and abandoned because the fiber could not be
profitably prepared for the market. The impossibility of competing
with India and other cheap labor countries in this work became at
least a fact fully demonstrated, and any hope that cotton would ever
be produced in America was confined to the breasts of a few
enthusiasts.

As soon, however, as it was shown that the machine invented by Eli
Whitney would make it possible to do this work mechanically, the
conditions were changed; cotton raising become not only possible, but
the staple industry of a great part of the country; the population was