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
rapidly increased, the value of real estate multiplied, and within a
comparatively short time the United States became the leading cotton
country of the world. For many years much more cotton has been grown
in America than in all the other countries of the world combined; and
it is interesting to note that both the immense agricultural wealth of
America and the supply required for the cotton industry of England
flow directly from the invention of the cotton gin.

Attention was turned in 1876 to silk raising, and it was found that
all the conditions for producing cocoons of good quality and at low
cost were most favorable. It was, however, useless to raise cocoons
unless they could be utilized; in a word, it was seen that the country
needed silk-reeling machinery in 1876, as it had needed cotton-ginning
machinery in 1790. Under these conditions, Mr. Edward W. Serrell, Jr.,
an engineer of New York, undertook the study of the matter, and soon
became convinced that the production of such machinery