The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1899-07-15
WHAT SPAIN NEEDS.
IMPROVED MACHINERY SAYS
J. T. BRAMHALL. T,
Modernized Mechanical Labor savors
Would Mako . New Nation-sad De-
generation Of . Fruitful Landau
Opportunity for Men Of Brains. v

Would Make . New Nation-ssd Do.
generation Of . Fruitful Land-An
Opportunity for Men of Brain. v
To what should be attributed the
wonderful success of America and the
equally unexpected collapse of SPANS
military and naval power in the war
lately closed is the problem which is
now absorbing the attention Of the
military critics and statesmen of two
h~emispheres. The secret may be said
to lie in modern machinery, using the
term in its widest sense, as including
the genius to create and use, as we'll as
the mechanism itself. For machinery
must be considered as the direct out
growth OF mans ingenuity; the ex-
ponent of his creative skill. He ar
ranges a cunning continuance Of
wheels and levers, Of cranks and
springs, and 10! he multiplies the eff
fectiveness Of his hands ten fold-a
hundred fold. But the skill of the me
chanic must ever go with the machine.
GIVE 1t to a savage and the life goes
out OF 1t at once. 1t becomes a clumsy,
inert mass of bands and rods and cast
1ngs. The modern gun is a machine,
loaded, sighted and fired by a touch
OF the hand, controlling powers Of elec-
trlclty or compressed air. But 1t is
the man behind the gum" no less
than the gun itself, that wins the VIC
tory. Spain had a navy which Euro
pean experts classed as superior to that
OF America. Her guns were as power
ful as ours, and more numerous, her
ships were as new, as stoutly armored
and more feet, while her men were
thought to be better trained than the
Americans. But modern machinery is
a complex idea, and the "Dons'' over
looked the vital fact that it includes
not only the shining brass and steel
but the brain. which constantly directs
and animates. Like China, in her re-
cent war with Japan. Spain had her
war machines, but she lacked the
trained men to run them. They were
Ignorant of the proper care and han
ding Of the complicated mechanisms,
and were unable to make a quick re-
pair or improvise a required move
ment. They did not even comprehend
it sufficiently to make it perform its
scheduled duty, and generally neglect
ed its proper care, SO that, to take an
example, a vessel capable of making
twenty-five knots on her trial trip
would in actual service be able to per-
form no more than sixteen or eighteen.
Technical schools and machine shops
are few and far between in Spain, and
manufacturers Of machinery of any
kind are not common. A glance at
Michel's European commercial direc-
tory shows the truth of this statement
very graphically. While whole col
umns are devoted to manufacturers of
various kinds of machinery in Great
Britain, Germany and the United
States a very meager list sufices for
In the department of machin-
cry at the Chicago worlds fair Spain
had eleven exhibits, against 81 from
Great Britain, her Anglo-Saxon neigh
Dor, and some 600 from the United
In manufactured goods Spain
way behind Japan, with 1856 en-
tries against 2,0S9 from the sunrise
empire. SPANS two entries in the
ordnance class are interesting in the
light of recent events; "a special APP
for aiming and firing drill of
great guns" which was probably never
used, and, a compressed bronze cannon
from rs. M. ell Rey de Espana, D. AL
'onso Kill" In naval armament Spain
had no exhibits at all, again falling be-
hind Japan.
In the catalogues of the great
%expositions, at Philadelphia,
Paris. Berlin, Vienna and
Chicago, may be read the story; that
while all the world has been moving
Onward to the steady rhythm Of ma
constantly undergoing i'm
by the, genius of civiliza-
ion. Spain has fallen to the rear,
lmong the wielders of primitive hand
ools. The machinery of Spain today
s scarcely more modern than the full
water mill and the wind mill Of
Jon Quixote's day, and the modern
Dom and press are as much a solecism
n the land of bull-fghting as the mod
I'm battle-ships proved to be in the
var just closed.
Why. should we not send mission
Iries to. spainf Not of the religious
ind, but missionaries Of modern ma
hinery? The spaniard is. after all. no
lunce. Indolent he undoubtedly is.
which may be largely attributed to cli-
nate, but he loves the reward Of la
,or, and when his pockets are empty
le learns the hard lesson OF necessity {
md gets out and hustles with. the rest.
The Spaniard is proud, but he has had
! grievous fall, and the Castilian and
he Catalan are not above learning, the
,etter that wisdom comes with tears. /
rhe Mexican has experienced a refor-
nation and; is now marching in the van
4 progress and enlightenment: and
....,- <horo q hnno for thu or.nSo~a