The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-05-17
SELECT LITERATURE.
by CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN.

BY CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN.
| Fran tie itIontic Nonthin
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.
The withdrawal of such a large number o
farm laborerS in this country and in Europe
and the rise of wages, stimulated inventor,
To supply their place with machinery that
should do the work of human hands upon
! the farm. In the harvest field Il man Will
a cradle, in 1890 could cut from one to tive
acres per day,-quite as much as could b,
raked into "gavelS y and bound by tive
other laborerS. Mr. Ohed Hussey, as early
as 1883, patented a machine for reaping but
50 crude the invention, so rude the machine
that it did not come into uSc before 1871
and in 1852 a committee of the New York
Agricultural Society doubted if the ma
chimes would supersede the Scythe III the
hay field, or the cradle i'll the harvesting OF
grain: hut invention has gone on, till now
the sclt-binding harvester diSpenseS alto
gethcr with human muscles in harvest.
| Never again will BoaZ marshal his reaperS
or 4 fair Ruth CLEAN behind them: and those
rural scenes of white-shirted harveSters
bending TO their work are all of the past
! Now the farmer drives his team atield rid
ing i'll his seat, cutting and binding the
| grain,-tifteen acres day.
The development OF the selt-binding reaper
is one of the marvcls of the age. 1t was
| brought into use in 1874, when fifty tons of
wire We're manufactured for binding sheaves;
i'll 1879, three hundred tons: 1876, twenty
eight hundred tons: 1877, siXty-tive hun
bred tons 1873, fourteen Ho"sond TOMS This
last amount is quite as much as the total
tons of wire manufactured in this country
| in 1860
Besides the sclf-binding reaper, there is
the California harvester, Il machine that, on
account of the ranleSs seasons in the State
can be used to advantage, propelled by SIX
teen mules, cutting off the heads of grain;
moving Il swarth twenty feet wide: thrcSh-
ing, winnowing, and feeding into bags, three
men cutting and threshing and basging fifty
acres day.
Before these inventions, the Western farm
er, during harvest, was preyed upon by Il
class of men known as bindcrS,' who be-
gan in June in Tennessee and Missouri, and
moved northward to Minnesota as the grain
ripened, making the farmers necessity their
opportunity, demanding and obtaining from
three to five dollars day with board, mate
rally reducing the profit of the crop to the
,,,-,.r Ia. fn and his wifi warn yrS
during the harvest season, and in conSe-
quence of this emancipation there was the
spectacle last season, in some of the grain
growing States, of the burning of farm ma
chinery by the men who complain that, by
its use, they have been thrown ont of en-
ployment.
Now, does not the use of the self-bnding
reaper prevent those men from doing what
they have been accustomed to do? Let us
take another look before We settle down upon
an ultimate COM Did Mr.. McCor-
mick, or Mr.. Osborne, or Mr.. Wood, indi-
vidually manufacture the reaperS? On the
contrary, they did not lift Il chisel, or place
their hand to Il saw. They called upon the
lumberman to supply them with lumber;
the iron-maSter to supply them with iron:
the miner to furnish coal They set the en-
tire brotherhood of mechanics to work; gave
Il stimulus to every branch of industry, and
Ell. ploymcnt to hundreds of men, before the
machines We're sent to the harvest field.
Their capital was scattered broadcast, like
seed from the hands of the Sower, over the
entire field of industries. Is it not mani
fest that while one class of laborerS are
forced to do something besides binding
wheat in the two months of harvest. another
class of skilled laborrrs are employed, the
wear round, in manufacturing the machines
Do we not see that the ultimate benefit is
beyond all calculation? Cheap bread has
ever been regarded one of the greatest of
blessings. The farmer, by dispensing with
human muscles, by using 4 machine that
will do the work of ten or twelve men, can
afford to sell his grain more cheaply. He
can still have Il good margin Of profit. and
at the same time reduce the cost 10 the con-
sumner. So it comes about that morning.
noon, and night, millions are Sharers of the
nestimable blessing of cheap bread. Is it
the farmer who is thus rheapcning orr daily
loaves? Shall We say that healone brought
S1Sa, OOO, 900 from England to this country
last year for breadstuifS? Let lis give honor
and credit where they are due; let lis not
fail to see that had it not been for the brain
labor of Hussey, Mccormick, Wood, Os-
borne, and the great host of men whose
names are enrolled i'll the archives of the
patent office, but who are otherwise I'M
known, it would not have been possible for
this country to have harvested more than
one-Qllarter or onc-tiirl of the 800. 000, 200
bushels of wheat produced last year
Through their brain labor the world to-day
has cheap bread. Harder than now would
he the times, had they not brought the reap
ing machines to their present degree of per-
lection; sharper would be the distress III
England if they had not thus devoted their
lives and employed their capital. 1t is NOT
sentiment, but literal truth, to say that
whenever the impoverished ilillions of Great
Britain behold the sun sinking i'll the west,
they think of it throwing its departing
beams over Il land wide and fair, where
there is an abundance of food fo- the fam
shing of the world and only through fail
ure of crop will bread ever be dear.
GEN ERIC INVENTIONS.
Tclegraphy and photography were discov-
cries but with those discoveries there fol-
lowed a class of inventions that were generic
in their nature The Morse telegraph was
brought into practical Use in 1871, and had
Il rapid development. We have seen that up
to 1880 a letter could I've carried about sever
ty-tive miles 4 day, and that the locomotive
transmitted correspondence five hundred
miles i'll twenty-fuur hours; but with the
invention of the telegraph time WAS annihi-
lated. The telephone has now come 10 our
aid, and we may converse with our friends
far away as freely as if they We're present.
The construction of telegraph lines, and
the establishment of an office in every vii
lagc, brought about another levy upon the
labor of men and women who We're doing
something else: but far beyond this has been
the effect of MorSe'S invention. 1t has reyo-
lutionized methods in business. The mcr-
chant, broker. manufacturer. is not now
compelled IL wait weeks or months before
deciding upon Il course "f action III trade,
forced to wait mouths. nr may br 4 year.
before he can turn over hi, capital and count
mp lis gains; he may do it in an hour. 1t