The St. Johns herald., 1893-08-17
AMERICAN INVENTOR.
what He Has Done to Help Hu-
 manity.
His Invention Eventually Becomes a Gift to the Masses, and the Producing Power Of the World Is In-
 creased by His Genins.

creased by His Genios.
 Of all the countries in the world, none is so prolific in inventions aS America. There are several reasons for this. The ease of obtaining patents, and their cheapness, holds out to every man the chance of creat- ing for himself piece of property by the exercise of his brains. The high rate of wages insures the inventor of a labor-saving appliance a patient hear ing from capitalists, while the inde- pendence of thought and feeling which pervades all classes leads to original views and to bold attacks on difficult subjects Hence every one is potential inventor, especially if he have an acquaintance with science or manufacture Whatever Q mans oc- cupation, he must daily find himself called upon to do or to suffer many things from which he would gladly emancipate himself The proverb says: "There is . remedy for every i'll but death,'' and, seeing how many ills there are, the opportunities for devis- ing remedies are not only numberless, but they are present to all. The un- zenterprising bear with patience the inconvenience that surround them, but those of active mind busy them selves in devising expedients ro tighten the burden of life, and look for their reward under the provisions of the patent law. The inventor is the greatest benefactor of the human race, and especially of that part of it which is indigent; he is the real friend of the poor man, and indeed almost his only friend.
 It is, according to London Engineer ing, when we compare the condition of the poor to-day with that of pre- vious ages that we see how much the inventor has done for humanity. To know how hard life must have been before the advent of machinery, we have only to imagine a family set down on an island, and called upon to pro- vide all their food and clothing, with out the aid of modern mechanical ap- pliances-to blow and reap; to thrash, winnow, and grind; to raise cattle, kill and dress them; to shear, card, spin, and weave their wool; to make and mend their clothes; to provide soap, candles, tools, cutlery, earthenware, paper, pencils, nails, medicines, leather, boots, ropes, and the thousand and one things that are neede1 in home. Evidently it could not be done, even if labor were continued from dawn to eve, and then extended far into the night. And this under the favorable conditions of a yoeman's family with out rent to pay. How much worse must it have been under the exaetions' of a feudal landlord! Two-thirds of what we consider necessaries must have been omitted from the list of that day, and to sore toll must have been added scanty fare and insufficient clothing.
 During the term of his patent the in- ventor, or his assignee, may make money out of it, but when it expires it practically becomes a gift to the masses. The producing power of the world has been increased manifold, without any corresponding increase in the consuming power of the upper classes. The wealthy do not eat more bread and meat to-day than they did years ago. Yet the output of these commodities has been vastly aug mented, and they are consumed in large quantities by section of the population which once seldom got flesh food and often went short of bread. And so of nearly every other industry; the working classes take the bulk of what is produced, for the very good reason that they are able, by the aid of machinery, to turn out several times as much work in a day as could their forefathers. At the same time that their production has increased, their actual labor has diminished. A man with heavy job in foot lathe not only worked slowly, but painfully. When his long day was ended every faculty was exhausted, and he tramped home to rest, expended both in body and mind Now he looks on while the lathe does the work, and in the even ing discusses the provisions of the em- ployers' liability act. His hours, too, are shorter than they were, while the appreciation of gold which has taken place has enormously increased his wages by augnenting their purchasing power.