The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-01-01
A Century of Inventions.


The present century will be memorable
in history as pre- eminently the age of in
ventions. In no other century of the world
has the inventive genius of man been so
alert or it's efforts been so signalIy rewarded
as in this. In 1901 steam was successfully
applied in navigation in Scotland; in 1907
Robert Fulton made his trial trip up the
Hudson in the Clermont, and, eleven years
after. the Savannah reached England from
America after a voyage of twenty six days.
From that day to this the time between Eng
land and America has been steadily decreas-
ing, until now it is less than week. Pro
portiOnal advance has also been made in
other directions. What the Savannah of
1916 would be to a Ocean greyhound" of
to- day. the scythe and the pruning hook of
1918 would be to the reaper and mower
with which the farmer in 1890 rode around
his fields and harvested his crops with ease.
The streets of Birmingham, England, were
first lighted with gas in 1902. and those of
London in 1914. The first cable railway
was patented in 1908. and electric and ele-
vated steam railways have since been added
in large cities to secure rapid transit. Lith-
ographic and steel engraving. printing by
steam and electricity. stereOtyping and ma,
chlDeS for making paper, and other inven-
tlOnS have made the press one of the great
est-if not the greatest-agents of civiliza-
tiOn. In 1926 the first railroad in the
United States was built. and to day Europe
and America are traverSed in every drec-
ton with railroad lines. In 1885 Professor
Morse transmitted messages by telegraph.
and now Europe and America are next door
aeigifbors and exchange gossip and news
everyday. Telephones. monographs, sew
ing. knitting, and weaving machines, and
thousands of other devices for shortening
distance, making work easier, and life more
comfortable, are to day in operation. and
still invention goes on. Instead of the
Oriental habit of accepting things as they
are, and living as his father did. every
American and European seems to ask
whether he cannot improve upon old meth
DDS and old appliances. This restless spirit
of improvement has not stopped with mere
material successes. whose chief value seems
to lie in making the conditions of physical
life better. The material advance and the
conquests of science and invention have re-
acted upon the moral. intellectual, and spir-
itual environment. and despite the asser-
tiOns of peSsmiSts the world is growing bet.
ter. SerfdOm in Russia slavery in the
United States and i'm the British posses
siOns have been abolished. RepublicaniSm
has been established on the continent of Eu-
rope, and the last monarchy of the New
World has given place to government of
the people. for the people. and by the peO-
pie. In matters moral and religious the ad-
vance has been scarcely less marked. Big
Otry and fanatcsm have given way to
broader conceptions of human duties and
relations. Poverty and crime have not been
abolished. but clearer conception of their
causes has led to more intelligent means of
relieving the one and preventing the other.
LIZ the labor world the advance has been so
great as almost to constitute a revolution.
In all the thousands of years of recorded
history labor scarcely made the advance it
has achieved in the present century. Not
only in hours of work. but also in remuner
alton, social position, and political power the
labOrer of to-day is on plane immeasurably
above that occupied by the masses in the
past. For this great result America and
Australia are entitled to the greatest credit.
Responsibility and power educate, and with
this enlightenment of the masses the reign
Of the heretofore privileged classes has
ceased. Ignorance can be to its detriment
under the influence of catch words and false
issues. but the voters of America. England
France, and Australia have now passed that
stage. Enlightenment means freedom. and
by means Of the press, free schools. the tel
egraph. and rapid transit. this enlIghten-
ment takes place on great questions with a
rapidity which party leaders themselves
scarcely realize, as was so cOnvincingly
shown in the recent battle of the ballots. in
which the party that had espOused the cause
of monopoists and trusts as against the in
forests of the people met such an unex-
pected and overwhelming defeat. But
great as has been the progress of the world
in recent years, the future will witness
grander triumphs. Chicago Times.