Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-09-14
Americas msehaaIelaas.


Hiram s. Maxim, a world famed son
Of Maine. who is himself an excellent
specimen OF the inventive Anglo
Saxon. attributes the triumph Of the
American navy In Manila bay and on
Santiago to superior skill in mechanic
arts In the Engineering Magazine he
points out that the modern warship is
full OF complicated machinery. that
Americans understand how to make
and manage such things. and that the
Spaniards do not. Had Cervera's YES
sells been in the hands OF German,
English or Yankee engineers. they
would. in Mr.. Maxim's judgment, have
developed the full speed with which
they were credited In Spanish hands,
on the contrary. everything was neg
lected. The hulls became foul, the
boilers got out Of order, the stokers
could not keep up the steam pressure,
and SO only IA knots or Is knots We're
made instead of 20 knots. "Hand-to-
hand sea-fighting is a thing Of the
past" says Mr.. Maxim. Naval ba.-
ties are engineering conflicts between
machines, and the man who under
to win" The Spaniard is pronounced
brave. honest and gifted in art ana
literature by this critic, but he finds
him deficient in that passionate love
Of mechanics which animates a multi
tude of Americans. The undeniab.e
truth that is here expounded has been
recognized and expressed before. In
the Introduction to his Outlines OF the
Earth's History the geologist Shaler
remarks: "All science had its origin.
and almost all it's development, among
the peoples belonging to the Aryan
race. - Thus, while the spirit of
science in general is limited to the
Aryan folk, the particular part of the
motive which leads to the invention Of
tools is restricted to western aud
northern Europe, to the people to
whom we give the name of Teutonic."
Professor Shaler does not amplify the
idea, but the most casual retrospect
justifies his assertion. The Greeks, the
chief representatives of the Aryan
stock in Southern Europe 20 and 70
centuries ago. conceived that the earth
was globe. Pythagoras was the real
author of the Copernican theory of the
planetary system; Euclid taught the
world practically all it knows of
geometry, and Archimedes gave us the
lever and other valuable mechanical
devices. Coming down to more recen.
times, and regarding only the philo-
sophical side of the subject, one notes
that it was Newton who developed the
law of gravitation. Faraday who gave
us the fundamental principles of mag
netism that are embodied in the
dynamo. Maxwell who originated the
electromagnetic theory of light long
before Hertz confirmed it, and Joule
who first formulated the great fact
that force is changeable in manifesto
ton. but indestructible.
Then, in the field of practical in
vention. Watts leads off with the
steam-engine. and Cartwright with the
power loom. Germany contributed the
printing press and spectroscope to the
worlds stock of useful apparatus. The
birthplaces Of the microscope and tele-
scope are obscure. Holland seems to
have been foremost in the use OF the
former, and Denmark in the manufac-
ture of the latter. But England did
more than any other country to perfect
them both. Young as it is, America
has already achieved the telegraph,
telephone, photograph, threshing and
sewing machines, and numberless
minor mechanical triumphs. The per-
fecting of the dynamo and electric
motor was carried on Jointly by
America, England and Germany.
This talk Of Maxim, and Shaler, how
ever, has a still wider application to
American success in peace than in war.
1t will aid us greatly to realize our
ambition for Industrial development
and commercial expansion if we studi-
ously cultivate mechanical and inven-
tive skill, and keep a watchful eye on
the two countries which, because of
their kinship to us, are most likely to
prove our formidable competitors in
foreign markets.
To appreciate the significance of the
demonstration made at the British
military manoeuvres, last week. when
the American flag was raised beside
the Union Jack and the royal standard,
we must do something more than
imagine Such a procedure at similar