Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-05
THE ORIGIN AND USES OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS.

THE ORIGIN AND USES OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Industrial organizations are Of much later
date than political or governmental organiza
lions. The latter, in some form, had an ex
istence and have history almost coeval viii
the existence of man. Man seems to have
learned to some extent the necessity of organ
ization for self protection at very early day
Of his existence. Families and tribes unitec
to protect their members against the en-
oroachments of other families and tribes
but the idea of organization or concert of &C
tion for the purpose of advancing industrial
occupations, or of improving the modes Of
cultivating the soil, or of gaining iyeli
hood, is of very late origin. About all we
know of the agriculture of ancient Egypt is
obtained from rude representations OF few
implements bearing resemblance to modern
agricultural implements, and of few
animals now classed as domestic animals, or
the pyramids of that country, which time has
failed to destroy. Among the first represen-
tations of these implements is that of one re-
senbling a pick, which was used as pillow to
prepare the soil for seed. The historic ma
lions of Greece and Rome are the only ones
that have handed down TO US any records in
detail of the agriculture of ancient countries
and times, though it is believed that much OF
the agricultural knowledge and agricultural
practices of these nations was obtained from
the surrounding nations From the Works
and Days of Hesiod we learn that one thou.
sand years before Christ agriculture existed
in Greece in a tolerably fioufishing condition.
At this time the pillow was known in as good
state of perfection as we have
any knowledge of its attaining till the
beginning of the eighteenth century. AS
an illustration of the slow progress man made
in the arts and sciences until the intrOduc.
ton of industrial organizations, we will here
mention the fact that the pillow used by the
old mission fathers in California in 1880 was
identical in all its parts with that used by the
ancient Greeks one thousand years before the
Christian era. The mission fathers were iso-
lated from the rest of the world and shut out
from the stimulating influences to improve
uent brought to bear upon the minds of men
by association and organization. Indeed
there was but little improvement in the plow
or any other agricultural implement from the
days in which ancient Greece was in her glory
down to the time when the first agri-
CllIuLdl oOOtCbJ vi NiilCh WO AK y
any knowledge was organized in South
Carolina. This Society was organized in
1874. a similar Society was established In
Philadelphia in the same year, and the New
York Society dates from 1871, and that OF
Massachusetts, from 1892. The first agri-
cultural organization in Great Britain was
brought into existence a year later than the
Massachusetts, Society and nine years later
than that of South Carolina and Pennsyl-
vania. These associations all had their origin
in the conviction of practical men that but
little advancement could be made in the in
dustries by which men obtained living and
by which alone civilization and refinement
could be accelerated without some organiza-
lions or associations having for their direct
purpose such advancement. Centuries
after centuries had passed away with
out any material progress, because no
cooperation or associated effort had
been made to bring about that progress. Agri-
culture, manufactures and other useful arts
were at that day in the same condition in
which they were known to have existed three
thousand years ago, and something should
be done by which new departure in the
practical industries could be effected. Hence
the origin of industrial organizations as we
now have them in every State and in most
every county in the United States. Having
traced the origin Of these organizations, let
us for moment examine into their uses, or
inquire whether they have been of any prac-
teal benefit to mankind. At the time
of their origin the world did not pos
eess an iron pillow. A moving or reaping
machine, header or thrashing ma
chine, even in their rudest forms, had ne
existence. The soil was stirred up on the
surface with wooden contriyances, the seed
was brushed in with branches of trees instead
of harrows, and the grain was gathered by
the hand of man, with a crooked knilt
called sickle. 1t was thrashed out with
the fail or tramped out by the fee
of animals, and the chatf win
moved out of it by the winds Of heaven
Now let us see what followed the association
of man into industrial organizations. Ii
1877, just thirteen years after the first agri
cultural organization in the United States
there was issued the first patent for an iror
pillow to New Jersey mechanic, and a
This date, while there are still living
among us many men who were boys
at that date, there is not a coun
try on earth in which the land is titled
at all where there are not plows adapted t.
.cultivating the soil for every conceivable
purpose and capable of doing fifty tirnet
The work with one-tenth part of the labor
OF man or beast and the world is producing
thousands of bushels of wheat where it wa
then producing one bushel. To-day one mar
with the aid of horses and header will Gu
more grain in day than a hundred coult
with the sickle, and few men with ;
modern threshing machine will thrash on
more grain in season than the same mum
Ter with fails could thrash in a life time
The truth is that to industrial organiza
tons we are indebted for nearly all tht
advancement that has been made il
Che arts and sciences within tn,
last three quarters of century
individuals, it is true, have been the invent
ors and immediate instruments by which
these improvements have been to great ex
tent brought about, but these Individual
have in nearly all cases received their inspira
ton, and have been stimulated to the accom-
plishment of their undertakings, by the as
sociations The differences between man in a
savage state and in a civilized state arr
mostly due to associations to organizations
and particularly to industrial organizations
Hence it is that those nations and thos
States that most encourage the associated
effort of their citizens make the greatest pro
eress in all that contributes to individual ant
national wealth and prosperity Californi.
L. to-day better organized in an industrial
sense than at any time since her exist
ence as a State. Her industrial organiza
tons are by the wisdom of the people oil
as firm a foundation as are her political O
municipal organizations and If properly con
Quoted by those to whom their management
has been intrusted, these organizations vii
prove as important and necessary as thu
State Government itself. 1t was the old ide
that governments were necessary to protec
the citizen in his personal property rights. 1
is the modern and more rational idea tina
governments answer their purpose more per
fectly when they assist their citizens in tn
accumulation of property as well as in it
protection. Such are the uses of industria
associations.
THE NORTH WIND.
We haar Soma cnmrlaint that the late 81