Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-14

Gently returncd from South America,
where he has been for the purpose of ex-
tending the trade Of his company. lie
also added, ''Wenn America NIGHT den
zolla haette damn wuerde cs auf vielen
gebieten tod gemacht."
These are his very words, and as / took
them down had him spell the words for
me. AS near as can translate it means
thus: Without adequate protection the
industries of America would find speedy
death through many avenues"
With all the technics" and with all the
efforts and with all the energy, there is one
thing lacking in Germany that We possess
in America, and that one thing is coiistruc-
tive genius. They can copy land their
best efforts are in the majority OF cases
copies,) but they are not inventive, The
genius of invention, like tender plant,
can not flourish in darkness. The latter
needs sunshine, the former freedom. Sol
diers and princes are the parasites that de-
YOUR the tender plants of genius before
they have matured.
The hundreds of thousands Of mechanics
and laborers in America who think as they
work--are not to be found here, nor is it
to be wondered at. At home a mechanic
IS induced to think because he is not
hungry, because he has enough to eat,
good food and plenty of it. And he has
good clothes, often "plug hat" his wife
is lady and dresses like one, and his
children are the peers Of the children of
the most favored. But here the man is
first of all 4 soldier land what is 4 soldier
in mouarchyif not sort of compulsory
human butcher?} This is bad enough to
start with. Then again mark day Us
cents, for 4 laborer is not enough to buy
meat or other necessary food with. lie
has TO forego, not alone the plug hat" but
IS compelled to dress in garb that stamps
him as one of tthe lower class" His wife
is not q "lady," but ''dienst frau" or per-
haps "a hod-carrier" And his children
are "lumpen" and only see the children OF
the 'higher class" from distance.
The assertion is often made that food and
clothing is much cheaper in Europe than
In the United States. As n general rule
this statement IS false Where does the
breadstuf, the meat, the wool, and cotton
come from? Do these not come from the
United States? A workipgman lives
cheaper in Europe because he lives on
mush, on vegetable soup, and coarse black
bread, and dresses like a clown. His wife
wears bandana handkerchief in place of
a new spring bonnet. In his house you
will find no piano, nor will his scanty
means permit him to have a bookcase
filed with books.
1t is true that diamonds, silks, porcelain,
meerschaum pipes, parasols, gloves and
canes are cheaper here than at home, but
ha,, J., for. hi j.
family so many things to be looked at
through the shop window, and no more.
If there is any advantage here for the
la5orer at all, it is in this he can get good
beer at a low price and the advantages
stop right there.
The lot of the skilled mechanic is more
tolerable here than that Of the laborer and
in many instances he receives what would
be called at home fair wages. This higher
rate, however, is paid for superior skill.
Work that depends upon correct adjust
ment of mechanical appliances requires
less skill than that which requires the per-
sonal manipulation of the workman, and
while at home it requires a skillfully con-
structed machine which ordinary skill may
direct, here it is the mechanic himself that
has to be skillful. The requirement of
this skill, however, is the end of his ac-
complishment, for his method of labor,
while it tends to develop his power OF
manipulation, dwarfs his capacity in the
direction of original and labor-saving
methods so essential to true progress. In
the United States, however, the case is
just the reverse. A mechanic is set to
work at a newly-patented machine and OBJ
serves that several radical changes were
here introduced which tend to reduce the
price Of production.
A mental survey of the improvements
introduced in the new machine when
compared with the one in use before) dis
closes to him the mode and style of
thought of the inventor. He grasps the
idea, and in turn appreciates the boldness
and originality of thought of the inventor
The thought now occurs to him, Why
can | not also invent an improvement ?"
As soon as this thought comes to him he
is on the highway Of progress. Thousands
have thought thus, and thousands have
succeeded in adding their mite to the gen.
eral fund of human progress-the more so
in the United States than elsewhere, be-
cause our system of labor, our scale of
wages, and our rewards and protection to
inventors are incentives that tend to in
ventive development.
Germany has her master poets, her
master musicians, her immortal philoso-
pliers, but America is alone and above all
lands in constructive ability. Poetry,
music and philosophy are essentials to
progress, but not near rs much so as the
more humble though more practical work
of the inventor, for if the former are the
aesthetics of life the latter is life itself 1t
is real human progress. DAVID LUBIN.