The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-06-25
MAN AMI MACHINERY.
Graduating Speech Of Mr.. Howard Wis
wall at the A.. & NJ. College,
Iune Il, 1905.


One Of the dominant principles of
mans nature is ambition. From the
earliest times he has been striving for
power, and if ambition is the sin by
which angels fell, it is nevertheless the
inspiration by which men rise. With
out it, dullness grovels, mediocrity
plods, and even genius dies unfruit-
full.
From the establishment of govern
rments men have been led by this pas
sion to try to make themselves more
powerful than their fellows. In early
times ambitious men sought power
and mastery only over their fellowmen.
This was sought in two ways: First,
by outwitting them; then, second, by
>out-fghting them. But at last q day
came when man could no longer obtain
much mastery over his contempora-
,ries, so he had to seek dominion in
other fields. Hence, he turned to the
inanimate world and sought to rule it.
To do this he must first discover the
laws which the forces of nature obey,
and second, he must invent mechan
isms to make these laws his obedlent
ministers. This principle accounts for
1ateness with which the mechan-
rical age comes. 1t can come only
when men are comparatively equal,
and when the poWer-seekers, having
found this out, seek no longer to sub
ject their brethren, but try to bend
these laws to give them their coveted
power. The mechanical engineer sees
"a pile of lumber and iron, but this
rough material needs a master to
rtransform it into a useful shape. The
engineer is its master, he thinks, plans,
directs, and trained hands directed by
a trained head, of the rough material
make q Brooklyn bridge. The cleo
trical engineer sees a wasted amount
of power at Niagara. He longs to
control it, so he, too, thinks and de-
signs, and the mighty Niagara is made
to turn thousands of spindles in dis
tant cities. The physicist becomes
impatient at sloWness. The result of
lis dA4O4g4OA 40 UAu1 GCAOPhOAO0 OOOy
his will and put him in instant com.
m~unication with those at a distance.
The chemist grows restless at the
amount of food required by man
therefore, he studies and experiments,
and from his laboratories comes con
densed food. The age may not be far
distant when we shall live on the pro
products of the chemists. Mans SUR
rounding r prescribed only to the
extent to which his mechanical inge-
nuity is limited. Man creates the
machine and the machine makes him
the ruler Of the world. Without the
inventions of his brains he is the most
helpless of animals; without his tools
and weapons, he is not a match for the
most stupid brute. Hence, he has
multiplied his sources of power, and
the result is the wonderful, progressive
and manufacturing age in which we
live.
Ambition is eminently an anti social
passion, for generally it can be graft
fed only at somebody's expense. Is
this so in mans attempt to rise above
himself and above law in creating and
using machines to do his wiIl9 Let us
see. Man and machinery have become
ip~sepaFable in working out the dis,
Z.hct end for which both we're created.
The most civilized nation today is the
most progressive in mechanical ap,
pIiances, and yet it has reached such
q pass that labor saving machinery is
being developed faster than the wants
of man are capable of consuming the
manufactured articles, and the I'M
skilled Workmen to-day-throngs of
them-are idle and starving for work.
Some machine is doing their work
cheaper than they can. Can we not
then say that man and machinery
have reached the time when one must
e to be invented or the other must
suffer accordingly The capabilities of
man to use the products of his labor
IS q great question for the mechanic
TO consider. Too much labor saving
machinery under our present civiliza-
ton is a menace to laborers. Sup
pose that this year an effective cotton
picker should be invented. How many
thousands Of dollars it would save to
growers Of Cottoni 1t would make
cotton profitable even at five cents.
But then look at the other side. How
many toll worn, poor hand to, mouth
creatures would be cut out of a good
part of their years money if such q
machine was invented. Who could
blame them if, indignant and feeling