So true is this, that
even in districts where the work has been largely carried on for many
generations, quite a large proportion of women who try for years find it
impossible to become good reelers.
Now, there is a considerable difference in price between well reeled and
poorly reeled silk--a difference so great that silk not well reeled in
every way is not worth as much as the cocoons from which it is derived.
It is, therefore, quite a hopeless task to reel silk unless the reeler
is skilled. Even if it could be done to advantage--which I do not think
it could--there exists in America no means of training reelers. In
Europe they are taught by degrees in the filatures, working first at
the easier stages of the operations, and afterward being helped forward
under the eyes and guidance of experienced operatives.
Another grave defect in the estimates alluded to is that all the profit
is assumed to be paid to the reeler. This can evidently only be the case
when each reeler runs her own reel, owns and cares for her own cocoons,
sells her own silk, and furnishes her own capital. Now, even supposing
that persons so fortunately placed as to be able to fulfill all these
conditions should wish to engage in silk reeling, which is in the
highest degree improbable, there exists an almost insuperable obstacle
to the production of good silk except by an establishment large enough
to use the cocoons of many producers.
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