The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-10-22

Jour Age and its Progress
ADDRESS OF HON. y. WYATT AIKEN
BEFORE THE NINETY.SIX LIT.
ERARY CLUB.
Some Striking Statistics - Why the
Country is Poor-Unequal Distribu'
ton of the Nations Currency
Chapter OH National Banks.
M. President, Laliesand Gentlemen,
Aninvitation TO address Il literary clup, suG
gcStS, by implication, accomplishments, no
possessed by your humble orator. l am no
adept at word painting. and hence clhIoi ti
tcrtain you with tropcs and figures ana How,
ers of rlictoric; but will eildeaVor 10 hnterGS'
and instruct You by at advancing u Few thoughts
upon the peculiar characteristics OF inc aHe
In which we live.
/ am told this is your second anniversary
but | have not been advised OF the purposes
" NOulo lEdIib tto "
however, the mutual Improvement OF lS
membership. Ii my presumption Is correct
let me ask each member OF the "Nincly-SlN
Literary Club to review the past two years
and answer me. has your connection WIFI
this club Improved you In any MANNER
If sou reply thnt it has not, then l war;
you, that you are not by your connection WILL
this club, lmbibing the spirit OF the presch'
age which beyond all question Is p~re'einlneht
~ characterized by its progress and improve
mcnt.
Every age, and almost every nation has had
some distinguishing feature. Away DaGk in
the distant past, when the pyramids or Egypt
were built, and when Gods chosen niyrlad>
suLsistcd themselves within the confines Oh
Palestine, We had the age OF miracles. hoine,
and Virgil by verse, II Delnosthenes anu
Cicero by forensic clo1uence, left thclrllnpress
upon Greece and Rome no less than dlu INC
numbcrless conqucsts Of their embattied
hosts. The life Of Peter the Hermit, anu the
chivnlry of the crusaders arc !nSeparaoly con,
nectcd with the Middle Ages. The history OF
England would be incomplete were none OF
It's pages devoted to the lives of Henry Tue
| Eighth and his behcadCu wives. France
would not be France, without Napoleon, anu
all Europe Is to-day what 1t Is because he
lived when he did. But my friends, the age
In which we live, this, the latter half or thG
10Th century, varies In It's distinction from al
those which have preceded 1t. we TOO. nave
our monumental piles, our poets ana our ora
tors, our wars and our conquests, our chivnl'
siimction is our progress we are living In AN
are. practical, material and utilitarian, but
eininently and emphatically progressive'
~pERFECTIN INVENTIONS.
Other ages may claim, for instance, the as
covcry OF gu~n-powder. the Invention Oh tlle
printing press, and the utilization OF steam
butt it was left for our day to perfect these dis
~coveries and Inventions. Anterior 10 our
late war rifle cannon were unknown, and q
$40 Doth bore was not effective beyond a thou'
sand yards. To-day ritled siege guns have q
point blanc range of three miles, and VIII
throw shells OF several hundred pounds
weight O distance of fifteen miles.
Tie old printing press upon when Ben.
Franklin labored assiduously that he mlsnt!
turn off one hundred sheets of paper, printed
on ONLY one side, In an hour is to-day an Oh.
ject of curiosity In the patent office at WASH
l%ington. In that same city there Is a double
cylinder Bullock press, propelled by steam,
that will print In an hour both sides OF N,ooO
COPIES OF the largest newspaper in America:
Fulton saw the boiling water throwing the
top of the kettle up and down., and applied
this same power TO propelllng IL, Small
steamer three knots IN hour through calm
waters. To-Day, majestic steamers propelled
by engines Of m hundred horse power, pillow
the surface of the bOistcrous sca ut the rrte Oh
twenty knots an h0ur.
To our age, too. belongs tho invention and
the development OF the telegraph, which In
its circuituround the earth bearing messages
from nation to nation, so completely out.
strips the sun. that 1t announces daily Ensllsn
news to American readers many hours before
the momentof their occurrence beyond Tie
More wonderful still. the telephone dispatch.
es words and sounds upon tclcgrapnls wires
and the phonogrnph bottles them TOT lu-
ture use. Truly. We are living Ill pfosress'
i've age. -
Butin all the realm Of science and art, no
where has progress been more apparent IMAM
in that noble vocation In which we arc gu
Al.~ fn,nn ftn nrf Tim
vitality Understanding science the art tme
Within the memory of many OF us the great
father of waters was the dividing line be-
tween civilized and savage life. To-day, Two
thirds the area OF ms srelt nh.o o ~ o |eH ~
the Mississippi river. and the Oh
that vast domain Is due TO
PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.
When I was a school boy. the great Amcrl-
can desert was but q sen Of arid and sterile
land to. day it lies within the States Of Ne
br.lskn. Kansas and Colorado, and comprises
some OF the most productive ana reinunera-
tive farming lands In the United States:
Where the red man tWenty years ago cnn asei
comfortable farm houses are dotted all over
magnificent ~prairies. Cattle are there upon Il
thousand hills, awaiting the butcher, VINO by
the progress of the age Is enabled TO supply
British and European consumers Win fresh
rousts from our western Deeres.
What blessings should be heaped upon those
Northwestern farmers q! Pouring into our Eals-
tern ports from foreign lands, imbibingA Amer
lean energy by association, they nay eo mi
annum, and pushing their frontier huts en-
tirely across the continent they have bcauti.
fed the prairie. irrigated the desert, sealed
the SierrilS, and Ch~ristianized the Plcifc
slope, until to-day the happicst homes of our
frnral farmers are ava yOnder where the
balmy breezes of that placid ocean rustic
through the waving grain In the sunset re-
WanV of ms remember when Minnesota and
Iowa were wild uncultlvated territories. To-
day they are States and will this year export
over 5,OO,O W bushels Of wheat. Minnesota
flour is unsurpassed In the United states, ana
to low were awarded several premiums ut
the Centennial exhibition for her superior
'I Of course the development of that country
did not result from an Increased immigration
alone, new and progressive ideas must have
accompanied those people. Had the armer
carried with him only his horse plow ana
the hoe, and the reaper been dependent upon
his cradle ut harvest time, many milllohs OF
those cultivated acres would today be I'M
productive. Invention has kept abreast with
thIs westward tide Of emigration, so that the
centre Of mechanical manufactures. which
nestled for half a century among The bleak
hills of New England has long SINCE moved
States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are rap
idly m~onopolizing the manufacturing OF az
ricultural implements. and besides supplying
the Northwest, the Southwest, and large ror-
lions of the South, they are actually shipping
their manufactures eastward.
The Northwestern farmcr no longer meas
urcs his cultivated area by the number OF
hands he can employ, but he calculates every
thing by his horse power. Neither tie
area. nor the number of hands are the impor-
tantf factors in estimating the result of his
ycar'slabor, but 1t Is simply
HOW MANY HORSES
has he employed. One man and q boy with
two good horses will plant and cultivate sixty
acres OF corn, and SOW and harvest forty acres
of small grain. Fifty bushels OF corn, and
twenty bushels OF wheat, or nifty bushels OF
oats are fair crops. Oltener tnan ooaer~ise
It stands in the field, netting perhaps but ten
dollars per acre, no great income truly, but
when we remember, plowing begins
in April, the seed are planted In May and
a speedy and profitable return for expended
labor. One man and a team OF four horses
will turn over ten acres OF corn land, anu
seed 1t in wheat in a single day with the Chi
cago Screw Harrow, and In the same time
wifi one mum driving four horses, aided oy a
acres of grain. The selfbinder cuts the grain
binds the sheaf with small wire, and throws
it far enough TO one side TO prevent Its Inter.
fering with the team In their next circuit
around the field. Then again their Immense
thrcshers are compassionate with the extent
OF the crop and frequently turn out from wv
10 1000 bushels OF sacked wheat rs u days
work.
MECHANICAL INVENTIONS.
AS I'm agriculture, so in every department
Of life. the American artisan has unlurled the
banner OF progress, and excelsior is engraVen
upon most of his mechanical inventions. All
the clothes we wear are maze 6n Dy machinery,