The Butler weekly times., 1891-03-11
INVENTIONS OF The AGE.
What Brsi"s and Enterprise Have Accom-
pltshsd In the IIast Csutury,


The present century will be memor
able in history as pre-eminentlv the
age OF inventions In no other century
ot the worId has the inventive genius OF
man been SO alert or its efforts been so
o gnally rewarded as in this In 1901
steam was succe ssfully applied in navi- |
gat.on In Scotland: in 1907 Robert Full |
ton rnade his trial trip up the Hud son
In the Clermont and eleven years after
the Savannah reached England from
America after voyage OF t~enty-six
days From that dav to this the time
between England and America has been
steadily decreasing, until now it is less
than week. Proportional advance
has also been made in other directions.
What the Savannah OF 1916 would be to
an ocean greyhound' of to-day, the
scythe and pruning-hOok OF 1873 would
be 10 the reaper and mower with which
the farmer OF 1890 rode around his
fields and harvested his crops with
ease.
The streets Of birmingham, England,
were first lighted with gas in leU2, and
those of London in 1914 The first
cable railway was patented in 1s0S,
and electric and elevated steam railways
have since been added in large cities to
secure RAPID transit. Lithographic
and steel engraving, printed By steam
and electricity. stereotyping and ma
chimes for making paper, and other in
ventions have made the press one OF the
greatest-If not the greatest-agents OF
clv,liZ tion. In 1926 the first railroad
In the United States was built, and to-
day Europe and America are traversed
in every direction with railroad lines
In 1888 Prof. Morse transmitted mes
sages by telegraph. and now Europe
and America are next door neigh bors,
and exchange gossip and news every day.
Telephones, monographs. sewing,
knitting and weaving machines and
thousands OF other devices for shorten
ing distance. making work easier and
! fe more comfortable are to-day in op-
GRAFTON. and still invention goes on. In.
stead OF the Oriental habit Of accepting
things as they are and living as his
fathers did. every American and every
European seems to ask whether he can
not improve upon Old methods and old
appliances. This restless spirit Of i'm
provement 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
moral. intellectual and spiritual envir-
onments and despite the assertions Of
pessimsts. the word is growing better.
Serfdom In Russia, slavery IN the
United States and n the British pos
sessions have been abolished. Repub-
licanism been established on the
continent OF Europe and the last mon
archy of the New World has given place
to government of the people. for the
people, and by the people. In matters
moral and rel gious the advance has
been scarcely less marked Blgotry and
fanaticism have gwen way to broader
conceptions OF human duties and rela-
tions Poverty and crime have not been
abolished. but a clearer conception Of
their causes has led to more intelligent
means of relieving the ono and prevent
ing the other. In the labor world the
advance has been 80 great as to almost
constitute 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 re-
muneration, social position and pol t.
ical power the laborer OF to-day is on a
plane immoasurably above that occu-
pied by the masses in the past.
For this great result America and Au-
| It, ~. A.
it. Responsibility and power educate,
and with this enlightenment OF the
masses the reign OF the here tofore privi-
legged classes has ceased. Ignorance can
| be misled to its detrj ment under the
| influence of catch-words and false is
sues, but the voters OF America, En-
gland, France and Australia have now
passed that stage. Enlightenment
means freedom, and by means of the
press, free schools, the telegraph and
rapid transit, tn enlightenment takes
place on great quest ons with rapidity
which party leaders themselves scarcely
realize.
But great as has been the progress OF
the world in recent years, the future
will witness grander triumphs. Every
material advance will, sooner or later,
bring its moral equivalent. The more
perfect and rap d the interchange oi
thought and sympathy between the ma
tions OF the world, the greater will be
the advance. Pess ,mists and dotards
sh ould be relegated to the rear Hops
and knowledge the energy and the
will Ito strive. to seek. and not te
} yield" are the watchwords Of the future