The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-09-05

SDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 49,
work, and necessity set them to thinking,
and the divine spark of inventive genius
that God had given them was lit up and
trained to service by the skill of the mas
ter mechanic until the whole world blazes
with Edisons illumination, and the great
republic responds with triumphant peans Of
acclaim to the roar of the guns of the Ore
gon in defense of the flag that came from
the Pacific to the Atlantic, around the Horn
-defying every portland announced our
indissoluble union in the assertion of our
dominion of the oceans that wash our
eastern and western coasts and fill the
grand estuary of the Gulf of Mexico.
Edison's Great Work
IT am proud to say that have lived to
know both these great Americans, and, in
some small way, to have encouraged their
earlier labors. Edison was scarcely en-
tered on his manhood and was a sort of
tramp telegraph operator, employed at OBJ
scure points, when he discovered the du-
pick and quadruplex method of sending
messages on the same wire at the same
time, apparently, and in opposite directions.
This and other discoveries startled his en-
ployers-a railroad company-into knowl-
edge of his powers, and they at once bought
his time and appropriated all his inventive
genius for period of years. Here the pow
er of capital was apparently supreme to
load him with the chains of intellectual
slavery But he was mechanic, and they
could not purchase the skill which his mas
ter workman had freely taught him.
His skill refused to serve his genius I'M
til he was freeman, and the worlds high
law of necessity for both his skill and
his genius emancipated Edison from the
bondage of poverty and the whole human
family from its bo'
First lmpret sion of Edison
when 1 first saw Edison he came as a
modest applicant, almost timid, to ask the
senate committee on patents, of which
was member, to recommend some change
in the patent laws, which he thought were
unjust, and the change was made. On that
occasion he had with him, and exhibited to
the committee Il think this was its first
public exhibition), machine that he said
was an electric toy, with a mysterious
Greek name. In showing off his toy he
sang and whistled to it, and made little
speeches to it that were quite amusing
some of them absurd; one especially, in
which an Irishman was made to stutter In
the most rugged brogue. l never supposed
that an 1rishman or an Irishwoman could
be made to stutter, and took it for one of
Edison's inventions. Our establishment was
| like that of children when he reversed the
machine and the photograph began to talk
back at us. Now it has brokene even the
cerements of the tomb, and our beloved
| dead, long since resolved to dust, speak to
| us in their accustomed tones
Edison's toy has become the only true
historian and his methods of generating
and distributing electrical forces is rapidly
becoming the transporting power of COM
merce. 1t has a still better and more well
come significance to the mechanic.
Necessity for Power
ut is the necessity for power, as an aid
to skill, that compels the skilled artizan
to hire himself to the capitalist, as a
wage-worker
Steam power, or water power, Is costly
and must be used at the place where 1t IS
created 1t cannot be distributed over any
appreciate distances. If II is used, 1t must
be on the spot, and the mechanic can only
use it as a hireling. Electrical power can
be transmitted over wide distances and
carried to the homes and work-benches of
the mechanics, to the looms of the weav-
ers; the shops of the shoe-makerS and hat
tiers; the lathes of the metal workers, and
to all the great and varied employments of
the people At home, with his family
around him; his power taken from wire
in such quantity as he may need, and
used without the interference of an over
seer; with the help of his children, appren-
tees and employees; skilled mechanic
ought to be a very prosperous independent
and happy man; and he will be, very soon,
i trust In that time, happily, now coming
to pass, you will not need labor unions to
protect you against the power of capital,
concentrated in enormous plants for the
monopoly of manufacturing You will need
them for moral and social good, and as ed
ucators in the highest skill in mechanic
arts, but in other matters you can protect
yourselves. This is no prophecy. 1t is a
reality, already in successful operation.
Iryi M.'co
II turn with pride to the other mechanic
have named-Irving M. Scott
HE was an apprentice in Baltimore at a
machine shop, and went to San Francisco
when half-grown youth, and was made,
first, time-keeper at the Union iron
works. then located in the heart of San
Francisco. The works were owned by five
multi millionaires.
"Scott had been promoted by his skill to
the superintendency of the works. He had
travelled all over Europe and Asia, examin-
ing the improvements in machinery and
had sold out the old site of the works and
had cut off the point of a mountain that
tetted into the bay three miles from San
Francisco, and had built on the foundation
thus laid in the sea the new Union iron
works and a ship yard.
at was not the largest, but 1t was the
most complete establishment in America.
'Steel golfers and other steamships he
had built, We're moored in the bay and he
was, when I first saw him, at work on a
great steel caison, for Mare Island navy
| yard. had never heard of him, and had
| heard but little of the Union Iron works
| until I went to San Francisco, under a
| resolution of the senate, which had the
| honor of proposing, to enquire into the
subject OF warships and other ordnance
| The resolution required an investigation
under oath, into everything relating to the
| subject, from ores and fuel up to furnaces
| mills and all machinery. I put Mr.. Scott
| under oath and examined him. I also ex-
| amined Mr.. Pat Mobiles, who was making
| st<cl, on an adjoining lot from California
| Bessemer ores, and with charcoal. Tha,
| steel Mr.. Scott was building into his ships
| I was astonished and more than gratifed
| at what I learned from them, and was
| especially proud of the fact that they
| were both southern men-Scott from Mary
| land and Noble from South Carolina-the
| son of a former governor.
scott's Examination
| I'm the course of Mr.. Scott's examina
| ton, 1 asked him why he had not put ii
| bids for the warships for the Pacific, thai
| We were then beginning to build on he At