Show SALT LAKE CITY nov editor news mews the ahe culture of the mulberry tree and the product production lon ion of silk in utah are no fable this chisin in austry is not an impracticable theory a devourer of mens time labor and money without promise of reward on the contrary if properly developed it cannot fail fall to enrich our community it will have an influence in consolidating home commercial interests and in regulating and classifying agricultural and mechanical pursuits for it will su supply aply a very reliable and extensive e export x ort either in the raw or manufactured r et state it can be made a leading leading industry bringing competency an and comfort wherever its influence ia is felt throughout our mountain valleys operative cooperative co societies established in all our settlements for the purpose of df producing silk will do more for the masses of our people than all their money combined can possibly do when used to import foreign productions our money supplies are unreliable and meagre to base our hopes on them is is like ilke trusting to a rope of sand when money fails falls us what then will we do for supplies su il es of manufactured goods in the a absence sence of silk we have nothing to spend whereas if silk is produced in great quantities we have an article that is equal to coin in the markets of the world situated as we are far away from the seaboard sea board and from the great navigable streams of the continent our freighting bill has cost us fabulous wealth which we have paid in money or in the best products of our country the great overland railway will likely remedy this great expenditure somewhat still it may be expected that freightage on that road will be lively high arising from its being a monopoly this enormous freight bill alone would cut off an export trade of heavy articles from utah if there existed a demand for them abroad and we had them to sell not so with silk and silk worm eggs their lightness and value make them essentially articles of export for utah one ton of silk say at 5 per pound if well reeled will fetch double that is worth in gold its freightage rate compared with its value is comparatively small the price of labor is an item thought of looked at and feared by many as an effectual barrier to the introduction of the silk industry in utah in regard to this their fears are groundless the kind of labor needed in the tending of the silk slik silkworm vorm will always be in excess of the demand and silk can always be produced in far greater quantities here with the same amount bof labor than in the silk producing localities of the old world owing to the wonderful adaptability of our climate and soil to the growth of the mulberry tree and the health of the silk worm one man or woman with the assistance of children from eight years old and upwards and feeding after ii plan can produce silk in such quantities as to insure good wages undersell the european silk producers in their own marke tand excel them in quality ye fathers of the people think not this subject beneath your notice but cultivate the mulberry tree and thereby lay a foundation for independence for your children and to clothe all israel in the glory of the gentiles and if silk is not the most glorious apparel thel they wear what is the izord lord willing I 1 shall deliver my sixth lecture in mill mili bf III ill creek ward meeting house on sunday next G D WATT SALT LARE lake CITY november 1868 editor deseret news on tho evening of the dinst I 1 delivered my ath lecture in the ath ward assembly room boom which was well lighted and warmed we had a good meeting and the culture of silk was felt to be lae extremely necessary in view yiew of the present and the future the production of grain and vegetables in utah has long since become a settled fact we can produce enough for home consumption and to spare we are satisfied that the country can feed its population but we know that it has not clothed the people that is in a direct way we nave have sold our grain for less than it has cost to raise it and bought inferior goods with it at prices which have enriched the few and impoverished ed the many and this will n never nevor ever cease un until til we produce a light alight and valuable article of export that will purchase what we want in a foreign market in doing this we can clothe and enrich ourselves without impoverishing our grain lands to buy clothing not so much grain need be raised and a share of our rich soils already under cultivation ti can be used for raising grass and ind roots for the proper wintering of sheep and and the production of a good article of wool while we continue to purchase from abroad all we need with grain the wool flax and sugar staples will continue to be neglected we can produce silk in abundance from our unoccupied lands it holds a high position in the commerce of the world and will save us from the impending scourge of poverty and nakedness to which we are fast hastening if we persist in following our past improvident and foolish course after the lecture john T D mcallister was chosen president of the ath ward silk producing operative cooperative co society wm shires secretary and henry W lawrence treasurer G D WATT |