Year Pounds 1897 259,153,251 1898 266,720,684 1899 272,191,330 1900 288,636,621 1901 302,502,382 1902 316,341,032 1903 287,450,000 1904 291,783,032 1905 295,488,438 1906 298,715,130 1907 298,294,750 1908 311,138,321 1909 328,110,749 1910 321,362,750 1911 318,547,900 1912 304,043,400 1913 296,175,300 1914 290,192,000 1915 288,777,000 1916 288,498,600 1917 285,573,000 1918 299,921,000 1919 298,258,000 1920 277,905,000 1921 273,546,000 1922 261,095,000 IMPORTS OF WOOL INTO THE UNITED STATES [Sidenote: _U. S. Imports_] Year Pounds 1897 350,852,026 1898 132,795,302 1899 76,736,209 1900 155,918,455 1901 103,583,505 1902 166,576,966 1903 177,137,796 1904 173,742,834 1905 249,135,746 1906 201,688,668 1907 203,847,545 1908 125,980,524 1909 266,409,304 1910 263,928,232 1911 137,647,641 1912 193,400,713 1913 195,293,255 1914 247,648,869 1915 308,083,429 1916 534,828,022 1917 372,372,218 1918 422,414,985 1919 414,506,891 1920 419,394,201 1921 314,624,288 1922 250,840,752 THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC. AND THE WOOL TRADE THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., opens commercial letters of credit in South America, Australia, and South Africa for the importation of raw WOOL. It is particularly well equipped to handle this business because of its intimate connection with THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON, which is not only the leading wool bank of the country, but also maintains a branch in Buenos Aires. THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON is one of the most important stockholders of THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC. By reason of its having as shareholders Messrs. N. M. ROTHSCHILD & SONS and THE NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK LTD., LONDON, as well as many other correspondents in that city, THE INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC., is able to finance imports of wool by means of Sterling credits as well as through its own Dollar facilities. PART THREE SILK By BENJAMIN STRONG, JR. of the INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE BANK, INC. Photographs by courtesy of William Skinner & Sons and the Keystone View Co. [Illustration: _Picking Mulberry Leaves_] CHAPTER I THE RAW MATERIAL 1. HISTORY [Sidenote: _Early Sericulture_] Silk owes its position as one of the three leading textiles to its qualities of strength, elasticity and beauty—in which respects it surpasses all other fabrics. Its production dates far into antiquity; for centuries China was the seat of the industry, guarding the secret methods and processes with the utmost care. During the sixth and seventh centuries A. D. the secret began to leak out and sericulture gradually found root in the Near East and the Levant, whence it spread to Greece, Italy, France and Spain. Japan also took it up and developed it to a very high point. [Sidenote: _Industry in America_]