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GENERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF GROUP IX. products of St. Etienne. In trimmings, even with their infinite diver sity, there is no article made abroad which is not or may not be repro duced here. In broad silks, each of the last five years has seen the achievement of some new fabric, advancing from millinery to dress silks, overcoming all the difficulties of Jacquard weaving, and thence to brocade and damask silks. Our manufacturers have in the last year seen accomplished, on a large scale, the fabrication of colored and black gros-grain dress-silks, which are pronounced, not by the makers, but by rival manufacturers, to be absolutely equal in quality, while cheaper in price, to the very best imported silks. We are still, however, far from the position in the silk-manufacture to which we should aspire. In the higher fabrics, we are wanting in originality and a national character of design. The widest field for artistic work, that of the fabrication of upholstery stuffs, is almost wholly un explored. We have made no bolting-cloths, have done nothing in velvets, and still allow the silk plushes for hats (so enormously con sumed here) to be made abroad. With all the excellences of our machinery, we are too dependent upon foreign workmen for skill in manipulation. Technical and art schools, which shall develop native taste and skill, can alone give a national character to the higher fabrics of this industry. These general observations cannot be more appropriately closed than by a summary of the American production, as furnished by that model industrial institution, the Silk Association of America: VALUE OF PRODUCTS, CLASSIFIED BY ARTICLES, MANUFACTURED IN THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1876. Pounds. Value. Tram 369,132 $2,768,490 Organzine .......... 184,567 1,614,961 Spun silk 140,000 805,000 Fringe-silk 33,862 203,172 Floss-silk 5,488 35,428 Sewing-silk 82,895 95 *>■460 Machine-twist ......... 468,916 6,301,059 Dress goods I ,35°,535 Millinery and tie silks ...... 1,679,166 Women’s and men’s scarfs 119,946 Handkerchiefs 927,000 Foulards ........ 472,000 Ribbons 4,526,556 Laces 220,000 Coach laces ....... 24,500 Veils and veiling ...... 16,518 Silk hose 3>2°° Braids and bindings 315,000