The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-11-20

| uOIS. III bnlS year IedCuSu IOuI-
teen years OF age. More than one
fourth of a million persons are now
engaged in the railway service in the
United States. What a vast develop
ment of industry, with what vast re-
suits, has accrued in less than three
score years and tenl
MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
The marvellous improvement of
means OF transportation, both in speed
and effectiveness, has resulted, not
merely in the greater distribution of
population, but in the vast increase
Of trade and commerce, and in the
readiness of communication among
the nations. These offices have been
vastly reinforced by the invention of
the magnetic telegraph, which be-
came practical fact in 1874, on a
line from Baltimore to Washington.
was then twenty-seven. The length
of lines in the United States at the
present time is said to exceed 10000
miles. The problem of rapid trans
mission of intelligence across the
seas was solved by the laying of the
Atlantic Caole, stupendous triumph
of science, faith and skill, in 1858;
but defects of insulation developed,
and it was not until 1866 that new
and perfect cable was successfully
laid. What with steam and wire and
cable, the newer generation can hard
ly realize the changed conditions. 1t
is authoritatively stated that, in the
year of my birth, the arrival of a
vessel was heralded as bringing news
forty days later from Europe; and a
Havre packet arrived, whose latest
date was fifty nine days old. These
facts do not merely indicate the
length Of packet ship transit across
the Atlantic, bat the want of postal
organization, and the lack of trading
vessels. The treaty of Client between
the United States and Great Britain
was concluded December "a, 1914
ten days before the battle of New
| Orleans. With present facilities the
news would have prevented the
b tile. 1t did not reach the United
States until the 18th of February
following: lapse of forty-nine days.
In cases of difficulty among the ma
tions of the earth, it may readily be
seen how much broader are now the
opportunities of diplomacy. The
ambassador or envoy at London, at
Paris, at Berlin, at Madrid, at Rome,
at st. Petersburg, at Stockholm, at
Constantinople, at Pekin, at Tokyo,
can report within an hour or two of
actual time, or seek and receive in
struction, in any important emer-
g9ncy: whereas in the olden time it
might require three or even six
months to determine his duty in the
issue. And the more rapid commun-
ication between the merchants of
either or all the continents results in
more frequent and more rapid ex-
changes and the reduced cost of
supplies.
TELEPHONE.
The means of conveying intelligence
and facilitating personal intercourse
are still further enforced by the tele-
phone, an invention dating but
twenty years back, whereby CONVEX
sation can be carried on at distance
of thousand miles, if needful, as if
the parties were in the same room:
recalling the imaginary wonders of
the Arabian Nights. And merchants
and traders would be 10th to part
With the instrument, as a necessity
of business. The telephone was an
outcome of the telegraphic system,
and there are now nearly $4,000 in
struments in the hands of licenses of
the American Bell Company, and
over 750,000,000 exchange connec-
tions in year in the United States.
MANUFACTURES.
| The application of steam to trans
portation of travellers and goods ac-
complishes the least of its triumphs,
and not the first of them. 1t had al
ready worked wonders of construc-
ton and utility. The steam engine,
as has been said, was first applied to
cotton manufacture, which at once
received great impetus. 1t had so
increased in the United States as to
use in 1915 twenty-seven million
pounds of new cotton, employing
350,000s pindles: in 1896, nearly 300
100000 pounds were used, employing
nearly 100000 spindles. Similar
progress has been made in other tex
tile manufacture. But within my
fourscore years the steam engine has
been applied to countless forms of
constructive machinery, until almost
all the working forces of present