The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-05-07

said that the Association solemnly debated
StephensOn's proposition that a locomotive
could be constructed that could make speed
of twelve miles an hour. Their conclusion was
that the feat was an imp0ssibility as any mass
of matter moving so rapidly upon the earth's
surface must necessarily fly off into space and
that there would be no possible way of holding
the locomotive on the track. At the death of
George Stephenson what remained to be in.
vented of the locomotive was left to his son
Robert.
In 1923 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin,
machine by which to separate the cotton from
the seed. After the machine was completed it
was presented to some friends who saw with
establishment and delight that more cotton
could be separated from the seed in one day. by
the labor of single hand, than could be done
in the usual manner in the space of many
months
Mr.. Whitney might now have INDUCED in
bright reveries of fortune and of fame. AL
though urged to secure a patent and devote
himself to the manufacture and Introduction of
his machine he cOolly replied that great trouble
and expense always attended the introduction
of a new invention; that there was much diff
Guilty in enforcing law in favor of patentees
in opposition to the individual interests of so
large number of persons as would be concern
ed in the culture of this article, and that it was
with great reluctance that he would consent to
relinquish the hopes of a lucrative profession
to which he had been destined. While Mr.
Whitney did finally obtain patent he realized
personally very little from his invention 1t
was pirated by the wholesale and soon became
q common market article. The total addition
to the wealth OF America made possible by the
invention of the cotton gin is absolutely beyond
calculation.
Samuel F. B. Morse was the son of great
American geographer and was educated at Yale
College. Having a great love for art he decid-
ed on becoming a painter and with this view
he went 10 London in ISL On his return to
America he founded the National Academy of
Design in New York, and was annually elected
its president for many years. On voyage in
1852 he conceived and made drawings of the
electric telegraph which bears his name. From
this time till his death he wss occupied with
this invention. In 1885. in his rooms in the
university, he set up his rude Geographic sp-
paratus, but it was not till 1874 that he was en-
abled to bring his invention fully before the
world. After repeated discouragements that
NOulu dlulgSlu6T nave ulsutdTleDeu MOSl n6ut
by the aid of the American government he
established a telegraphic line between Wash
ingtOn and Baltimore, distance of forty miles.
Over this line, on May "a, 1874. Prof. Morse put
TO test the greatest experiment on which his
mind had been laboring for many anxious,
weary years From the rooms of the L. s.
Supreme Court this message was sent to Balti-
more. instantsneously received ami immediate
ly answered: What hath God Wrought"
From this moment the triumph of Morse was
complete. He passed at once into honors and
riches.
II would be interesting to trace the labOrs of
other noted men connected with this era of
foundation building;-the story of Goodyear
and the rubber industry, of Bessemer and his
earlier work which ultimately developed the
Bessemer process OF steel making and of James
Nasmyth and his steam hammer We might
well doubt whether a large part of the material
progress of the present half-centu ~ would not
have been impossible without the work of Bes-
Semer and Nasmyth.
By dlnt of energy and Industry, genius and
skill these men became the designers and sup
erintendents Of great public works and If
Peace hath her victories no less than War
surely such great triumphs as theirs may well
be ranked among the glorious conquests of
mankind.
THE HALF CENTURY; A GENERAL VIEW.