Middletown transcript., 1876-06-10

those in Massachusetts. Certainly n
nation ever embarked in so gigantic
struggle worse prepared; for Of th
material prosperity whence the sinew
, of wars are drawn. the colonies wer
destitute Canada, refusing TO joiI
them, furnished vantage ground for th,
invader
The Spaniards along the Mississippi
looked with no favor on the rebellion
and the English in Florida wert
actively hostile Thus on the 10th O
May. 1776, just one hundred years
before the opening day of the Centen
Dial. the few but rcsolute inhabitants o
the thirteen colonies found themselve:
hemmed around with foes, bankrupt il
money and in industries wherewith tc
gain it, menaced by an uprising among
the Indians on the border wilderness,
disunited in thought and feeling among
themselves; and to crown all, British
army was preparing to attack New
York, while all the seaboard cities
seemed doomed to certain and swift
destruction Yet. ip the face of these
terrible odds, Independence was pro-
claimed, and the nation was born
1t is our purpose to present here some
brief account of what Americans have
accomplished in science and invention
since the bell pealed forth "liberty
throughout the land" Much must
necessarily be omitted; of nothing can
we take more than passing glance, SO
vast and varied are the achievements
which, beyond all else. have combined
to create great aud powerful nation
in the shortest period known to history
To the same ancestry that asserted their
rights as freeboru men. an ancestry
from the skillful workers Of all coun-
tries. are due the frugal and Industrious
habits, the facility of adopting means
to ends, and the iudomitable persever-
ence and energy which characterize the
American people; and it is well to re-
member that in the very restrictions
placed upon their efforts toward pro-.
gress were found the impelling causes
Of the war Of independence.
The industries of the country being
practically ruined when the war began.
the record of invention and scientific
progress up to the close of the conflict
is meagre in the extreme. The dis
coveries of franklin, the FIRST great
contributions to the New World to
Science, had all been made; it was in
| 1852 that be demonstrated the identity
of lightning with the electric spark.
and drew electricity from the clouds
Early in ITS be left England, where
be had been honored and courted, and
returned to bide his fortunes with his
native country; but even the eugross-
ing labors imposed upon him as a mem
Der of the Constitutional Congress and
framer of the Declaration were not
sufficient to distract his attention from
science and when sent as Commis-
sioner to Paris, he took advantage of
the voyage to make observations of the
Gulf Stream and to plot chart of that
great current. which still forms basis
of our maps
After peace had been declared, the
country found itself exhausted in re-
sources and in men as well, and saddled
with debt Of over forty million dol
lars. with no system Of public revenue
wherewith to provide for it. Financial
disaster followed, and private conf
dence fell in the wreck of public faith
1t was no time to await the slow devel-
opment Of events, and the people re-
cognized the fact. 1t seemed as if every
one worked with a will. The whir of
the spinning wheel and the creak of the
loom we're heard all over the land.
Every family became a manufacturing
society. In 1884 New Jersey alone
had forty-one fulling mills for wooden
fabrics and not woolen factory in the
State In two counties 10. Virginia.
315. 900 yards of Aaxen cloth, 45 900
yards Of wooden, 30, 900 yards Of cotton,
and $4,000 of linsey woolsey were
made in one year by household labor.
One family completed 1855 pair of
shoes in year The inventors skill
was quickly called into action.
In 1885 Oliver Evans. of Philadel-
phia, first applied steam machinery to
the grinding Of plaster and saving of
stone, and to -four mills Then he
invented the elevator or bucket chain to
raise grain, the conveyor to take it
from place to place, the hopper-boy to
spread it, the drill to carry it by rakes
instead of buckets. and the kiln-dryer.
In 1899 he attempted to build a steam
carriage. and in SO doing invented and
constructed the first high pressure steam
engine In 1885 John Fitch built the
first steamboat, and ran it on the Della
ware river. 1t had reoiprocating pad
dies, and steamed at the rate of eighty
miles per day. During the succeeding
year James Rumsey propelled boat
on the Potomac by stream Of water
driven out through the stern by steam
engine In 1890 Jacob Perkins. of
Massachusetts. invented machine for
cutting and heading nails, which pro-
duced those useful articles at the un-
precedented rate of 900, 900 day. On
the 3lst Of July. 1890, the first United
States patent was issued, the patent
and copyright laws being both first
enacted in that year; and thereafter a
marked increase in the number of in
ventions becomes visible
At this period the growing cotton in
dustry of the country seemed to have
encountered ap obstacle, which bid fair
to be serious one. Hand cleaning Of
cotton was slow and costly; and unless
mechanical means could be devised,
the new staple could never become
source Of wealth. 1t so happened that
there came to the house Of Mrs Gen
eral Greene poor student. from Yale
College. named Eli Whitney. who. in