The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-24

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOIuTToN
Ii one were to summarize the yari-
GUS causes of the Widespread social
dlscontent which pervades all civilized
countries and shows itself in Industrial
as well as political fields, leaving out
that healthy, natural discomfort of all
rhe progressive races which impels to
effort to better the conditions of life.
the principal cause would be found in
the immense Industrial disturbance
wrought by the introduction Of the rail-
way and its complement, the telegraph.
II one were to seek for the cause which
Will eventually soothe the unrest thus
excited, he will find it chiefly, not in
legislation, not in extension Of the
functions of the state, but in that dis
position Of men, borrowed from or be-
slowed by nature to adjust themselves
10 changes in environment wrought by
disturbance in preceding conditions.
Nature everywhere thus works. Drive
a plow through virgin soil, or cash the
II
railway, and Immediately nature sets
her forces at work to restore and adj
Just. Let some Of the accidents of
life, fire, failure of enterprise death,
throw man out of the accustomed ruts
of routine, and he at once begins the
same process of readjustment, adapt
ing himself to the new, and putting
himself in accord with the changed en-.
vironment.
One can only grasp the Industrial
revolution wrought by the railways
by comparative methods. Consider
what this country was prior to their
advent. Settlement and development Of
the interior were limited to fringes
along the waterways whose depth was
positively determined by the cost of
wagon transportation. When that
eoualed the cost of production, when
the thing made was eaten up In it's
carriage to market, the limit of profit
able occupation of land was reached.
Under exceptional conditions, as when,
of wheat made it's cultivation profita-
BILE at points as remote from the Mis-
.sissippi as the western borders Of
Mower county. such a fringe would not
exceed one hundred miles. Trace on a.
map Of the United States a border Of
that depth along all it's navigable wa
tiers and you will have what the agri-
culture Of the country would be today
had no Stephenson ever come to an
ply steam to wagons running on iron
rails. At the base Of all other indus
tries is agriculture, and their devel-
opment would have been limited by the
demands of these limits of profitable
farming.
Emerson's remark, Beware when
God let's loose a great thinker on the
planet, for then all things are at risk
is as true if the word inventor be
substituted for thinker" Stephen
son and his successors put all previous
conditions of industry at risk when his
fateful locomotive made it's trial trip.
possible occupation of land for farms
widened out to embrace every acre of
arabic land on every continent of the
globe. The surcharged population Of
the old world rushed to avail Them
selves Of the opportunities thus open
ed. The dependent and allied indus
tries sprang into phenomenal devel-
opment under the impulse thus given.
War never wrought so tremendous a
revolution as did this peaceful inva.
sion Of the locomotive. Everything ex,
listing was put at risk. 1t destroyed
as well as constructed No industry but
felt it and it's related effects. Inven-
ton spread into every field to meet
the new demands upon it. Everywhere
| the old order was broken up, old voca,
lions disappeared and new ones re-
placed Them men were thrown out Of
accustomed employments and obliged
to find new ones; capital was either
wiped out or obliged to adapt itself 10
new enterprises. The world has seen
no such revolution as We who have
lived in the last half of this century
have witnessed of which we have been
either the victims or the beneficiaries
or both.
AS no mans life has been exemp,
from the disturbance thus caused it
was inevitable that there should come
unrest, discomfort, conflict in the in
dustrial field spreading, as legislation
" as used to help solve the new prob
lens, to the political field. In the i'm
mense opportunities for enrichment il
is not surprising that great fortunes
were accumulated in utilizing them,
even when legitimately done, nor that
the rapacious and INSCRIPTIONS gath,
cred gear" by wiles not justified by
honor. Men are not usually consid>
crate of the rights or interests of 9TH
ers when observance Of them inter-
feres with their own profits Wrong
inflicted worked reprisals, and the an
tagonisms of capital and labor de,
veloped. But amid all the noise of
conflict one can see the process Of ad-
justment going steadily on, naturally,
impeded more than aided by Iegisla-
ton. Time here, as in natures