The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-25
WHOLE NO.. 2S2.

at the slightest touch of science. The
Age of Aluminium is retarded by that
caprice of the civilized life which leads
it into unexpected places and holds it
back for a century from the anticipated
and longed foi goal.
The whole system Of locomotion is
threatened with imminent revolution.
The two horses, one Of flesh and one
Of iron one eating oats and the other
coal, find their vocations going away
together. Science threatens to burn
their carcasses on the same pyre. Elec-
tricity offers itself as locomotive force
for the nations. The steam locomotive,
vaunted emblem aud token Of the great
est of the centuries, finds itself at the
close about to be relegated to the great
ash heap of curiosties before which civ
ilization stands laughing. But the thing
is not yet certain. We ecannot make haste
to dig grave for the locomotive. 1t
may be that the twentieth century will
still demand that heavy, clumsy, but
very efficient brute whose office it has
been for two generations to carry man
and his products TO the ends of the
earth. The substitution Of electricity
for steam as motive force on the great
/ railways Of the United States, which
now seems so imminent, will be, if it
! come, the most marvellous single change
that has ever occurred among the phys
les of the civilized life of man.
| Oddly enough, the event is held back
| by one of the caprices of progress. The
strength of the locomotive is in it's i'm
! perfection. The application of steam to
enginery is accompanied with an error
which has cost civilization more dearly
than any other flaw in her apparatus
| The acceptance Of electricity as the one
great motive force is strongly impeded
by circumstance which, according to
all logical deduction, ought long since
to have been obviated. This circum-
stance lies in the application of heat, or
rather in the evolution Of heat and its
economy in the production Of power
! Fully four-fifths Of all the fuel of the
world are thrown away The 20, 600, 900
Of people in the United States are burn
ing mp their own most precious re-
sources with an absolute waste Of more
than so per cent Of the whole Victor
Hugo chided the Parisians for sending
annually through the sewers 5000, 900
Of francs into the sea. What shall we
say of the whole world shoveling coal
into the roaring throats Of 100, 900, 900
furnaces! There is not an engine any
WHEREOF ever was-that economies
more than 20 per cent of the fuel which
it devOurs.
Sometimes progress performs the act
| Of ha fol 1alc J.,
its scaly tail and stings itself to death.
This act, not altogether rare III modern
times, may be called the suicide Of prog
ress. The historian is greatly perplexed,
sometimes discouraged, with this phe-
nomenon. At intervals the beneficent
forces of civilization gather volume and
run on till they become organic in some
great result, and then the hinder part of
the movement, bending over, plants
deadly dart in its own vitals.
The discovery Of the coal oil fields
within the present generation has pow
erfully affecred the industrial life and
somewhat modified the domestic life of
the American people. Our institutions
have given opportunity for monopoly to
fix itself Oh the basis Of this vast sub
terranean sea of wealth. The crust of
the earth has been bored through i'll
10, 900 places in order that the artesian
streams might spring up for the lubrica-
tion and lighting and heating of the
world. The several monopolies of the
great industry combine themselves into
one. Over this a single figure rises as
the Emperor of Oil. He becomes the
owner not only Of man, but of nature
He makes geology his superintendent
and has God for his silent partner By
and by he has 5000, 600, 600 of wealth.
All the other milIionaires are below
him. The princes and monarchs of all
Christendom are delighted with the
honor Of his acquaintance. And he is
philanthropist. He wishes we'll to his
kind. Perhaps he can afford to give
away little.
Glancing around the horizon of the
world, the Emperor of Oil sees Chicago,
that marvel Of the century. There he
will build monument for the good OF
man. There he will endOw great uni
versity. Being modest, he will not ac-
cept its name, but he will furnish tho
resources for the highest development Of
| eho iAtCAIcCtual pDW6IS Vi
the people. By aud by friend of his,
by cruelty depressing and wronging his
thousands Of workmen, produces an in
surrection by which the peace Of the ma.
tion is disturbed. The under man,
ground down, rises at last in revolt and
shakes a clenched fist at the monopoly
which for 80 years has double charged
every passenger for his berth. Chicago
is shaken with the tumult. In the phil
anthropic university the professor of
economies. faithful to duty and truth,
offers a modest word of criticism. He
shows that there is gas monopoly in
the city, and that it is better policy for
a city to supply its own people with gas
and water. All the monopoles are at
one when they are assailed. Chicago
Gas looked over at the Emperor of Oil
and said: "You have produced an in
stitution which supports a man who
has criticised me and Pullman Put hin.
out.
Presto! The thing is DONE Professor
Bemis is notified that while his services
are appreciated the environment is not
conQenial to his work and to himself