Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-04-10
Daily gnttlligfuttr,
DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL
Il WEALTH. Fzr

DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL
& E y WEALTH. f
Report of Prof. U. H. Brewers Lee
ture before the Teachers Institute, I,
ON "wednesday evening, April 4th.
In the excellent lecture which this Insti-
| tute had the privilege of hearing last even
ing, the subject WAS 1.-THE influence OF Il
we'll ordered school or community" The
subject this evening, is essentially the
same, only is more circumscribed, being
more confined to the influence on the
'materiali interests of community, and
at the same time we will consider the
necessities of society as regards scientific
knowledge and instruction.
Modern society is in its demands very
unlike that which preceded, as by even,
but few years, and new wants have
arisen, Which the conservative ESQ called
element of community does not always
consider. In organizing and maintaining
system of Public schools as complete
aud effective as you are arriving at in your
city, a strong opposition is met froma class
calling itself ''conserudHue," and often con-
tanning many solid men representing an
important element in community, tax
payers, property owners, and successful
men in business, who meet and even
oppose the new and progressive systems
introduced in schools. They curtly ask,
'what is the use2" "Why will not the
schools, which educated US, do for our
children" "Why will not the studies,
which the fathers were content with, be
sufficient for the sons" and similar point
cd queries.
We propose to meet this, to consider
these questions importially, not deal with
new theories or finely spun fancies, but
with facts, stubborn facts, interesting facts.
Let us imagine our fathers met in this
hall to hear lecture at the beginning of
this century, now so years ago. The hall
would have been lighted with tnllow or
oil, and tedious would have been the
process, for neither gas, nor friction
matches for lighting it were known. Be
fore the lecture, they would probably talk
of the difficulties of navigating with wind
and oars the noble river on whose bank
we are, for rs yet no steam vcsselhad been
used; or of the event OF long trip, by
stage to an eastern city, many tedious
days ride, for as yet no rail road nor loco
motive was dreamed of here; the telegraph
was Il thing far in the future-but we
cannot consider all the differences be-
tween that audience and this. y new
era was dawning. Science had begun to
be studied, and during the last % years of
the previous century had made great
studies and many brilliant discoveries had
been made. But they were only brill
| liant when seen in q certain light for
the conservative" and ''practicAl" man
would have ridiculed them. What use in
studying these distractions, they would
say? las many of your "practlca" men
say now,) what good can come from in
vestignting the phenomenal of heat, or the
In n q
legs of dead frog, and of similar Phe.
nomenas? But these were to ripen, and
practical application of these laws were
10 soon follow. The steam engine was in
vented, and for fifty years now, this cle-
ment in modern civilisation has been
growing in Importance, and at the same
| time in its powers. In 1909, n company
was formed in London for lighting streets
with gas; in 1912 it was made in HrovI-
dence, in this country, and now nearly
every village knows its blessings. The
observation by Galvani, on the kicking OF
dead frogs, and of Volta on the action of
acids on metals, and of the host OF OBJ
servers who later investigated these phe-
nomena, led to the telegraph, to the cleo
trotype, and Ahe thousand applications OF
electricity Railroads were constructed,
| locomotives invented, and all the forces OF
Nature were Investigated and applied
anew. .....-
The science of Chemistry led to thous-
ands of new improvements in the arts,
and little do many of this audience trnly
appreciate how much it has done towards
helping to the prosperity of this city
| Your two great items of manufacture are
iron and glass And yet every consdera-
bic Improvement that has been made in
these during the present century, has
been made by the application of chemistry.
| In these and similar facts which might he
indefinitely expanded, may we find the
answers to our original question. Here do
we find the reasons why shoots which
would supply the wants of our fathers
will not be sufficient for us. It requires
not only more intelligence, but more ac-
curate scientific knowledge to manage the
steamer than the fiat boat. The man WHO
guides the locomotive which bears our
goods from distant scaPorts, must be
more intelligent than the one who drove
the team over the mountains with the
merchandise of our fathers. The men
who survey our. railroads require more
mathematical knowledge than those who
constructed our early wagon roads. The
man who makes iron to day for three or
| four cents per pound, requires more Skill
and Knowledge than our fathers did to
make II Tor leNy per P"u"u' AnS me-
chinist who has the construction of steam
engines requires more knowledge of the
laws of mechanics than the machiniSt of
fifty years ago. And so on to the end OF
the list of trades and occupations. The
man who to-day embarks his capital in
any manufacturing enterprise, and uses
only the knowledge which our fathers had,
must of necessity fail. He will be left as
far behind in the race as is the stage coach
left behind by the locomotive.
Even in branches where one naturally
looks for but little scientific knowledge,
we find now necessity for much. If our
fathers needed water wheel to drive Il