Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-02-07
REcoLLEcTIoNs OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

New YORK, JANUARY 81 1852.
SIR: 1t to be general impression that though
certain inventions from the United States to the E
hbiton achieved for the country the products Of
industry whole, did not compare well with those
of other nations Many persons congratulate themselves
that the reaper and the revolvers and the Palmer Leg
found their way London if without these our part
in the Exhibition would have been unworthy of notice.
while Others confoundng dates and facts ascrbe the
main part of the triumph of the yacht
America in the great at Cowes Now without de-
tracing in the least from the credit received from these
inventions depreciatng title from the honor the
famous yacht for upon the waters it bs safely
stated to be fact beyond dispute that had the Anne
RIGA come across the waters the revoers reaper
ever entered the field of competition the general products
OF our handiwork as exhibited in the Crystal Palace
would have placed industrial condition no whit below
that of any European nation 1t is that we were not
fully represented. What took England was not
fair exponent of what left home. There is not
workshop in New England plantation in the South
States the log hut Of settler.on the Western
prairies which could turn out upon emergency
curious tool apt contrvance ingenious homey i'm
pement invented under the spur of necessity which would
have excited the attention Of the intelligent vsers at the
Exhibition And yet none next to none Of these best
induces Of the ingenuity Of people, to be found
among the articles we sent Without these however and
without of the famous articles of American hand
craft the great body of contributions was of cha
racter to place upon full equality in oil really useful
industry with any people in the world
There characteristic difference between the
suits of American and European labor which was very
striking The remark Of intelligent English lady, after
repeated visits DIVISION that every thing made
the United States seemed be after new pattern con-
veys my meaning exactly. The workman in the old
tries perects the pattern Of his fathers The workman
here invents Harness is made in England now
just as it was fifty years ago; carriage wheels
are poughs harrows scyhes and other agricultural
implements, while in the United States the fashion of
every thing in common use is continually changing
Nothing surprised English people more than the slight
structure OF our carriage wheels They could be made
to believe that they would hold together when driven
Upon being assured that such wheels in
among they attributed it our better roads, and upon
the further assurance that English roads ncompar
ably smoother than ours they resolved the difficulty in
the stronger timber grown in American forests II was
the same thing with harness it would never hold
English horse They said ploughs would never
Tor English soi-a strong team would pull them in pieces
and 1t was not until the trial repeatedly made under
their eyes, with their heaviest CATTLE in their stes
soil, that they would bate jot Of John Bull prejudice
against our new patterns The truth was that the very
improvements had been making for years which ought
10 nave Deen anu which were at tire last the solid
groundwork in favor became in the outset our great
est hndrance. invention was one thing. hut An
old invention thing in worldwide use since the DAVIS of
Noah homestead utensl whose very was rendered
sacred by the of centuries to twist this into new
shapes and convert it to purposes seemed like ir
| reverence to the dead.
There were OF course other marked differences 10 be
observed between the products OF American and
handcraft favorable to the one TO the other
In the results Of toll upon single branch
Of industry such produces the costly lace the rich
pesresn the peculiar and graceful indications of mr.
sc taste in patterns which beautiful even to those
who maynot be able to recognise the in the rare
excellence Of the objects Of minute the successful
application Of philosophy to manufacturing chemistry
and in other points of higher lower grade the indus
trial SCALE the difference in favor Of foreign labor
But in the production of articles Of ordinary cha
racter and extensive demand, whether ingenuity utility
cheapness considered the scale our favor
Our wood pals wood bowls Connecticut clocks and other
Yankee notions objects Of constant wondermen not
more from their cheapness than from their adnptabv
to the wants Of life. These together with our
handled axes, hay-rakes, grain cradles scythes and
sncaths constructed that the latter is adjusted to suit
the worker trectined hayorks, solid steel hoes road
scrapers posthole auger fan mills, mills sausage
cutters sausage suffers nmans TOOLS Formulation locks
wheel cutvators carpenters tools, currycombs corn
brooms portmanteaus and trunks ce-cream freozers
axetrees paint mills and many other things of universal
here but the shape and conycncnces which We have