Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-12-15

the lightning express outstripping the
fieetest horse or a freight engine with
its interminabIe trail running away
from a wagon train. the motor car
spinning past the old stagecoach, and
the automobile or bicycle leaving the
painting courier in the lurch, but this
conception merely conveys to the intel
Iect Il feeble idea that old style IocOmo-
lion Is not i'll the race with the new.
Secure in the possession of the type
writer and sewing machine. the NAM
moth cylinder press and electric lamp,
the magazine rife and moving ma
chine. the steamship and telegraph.
what fairy power can give to people of
Today the sensation of hopeless de-
pendcnce upon the goose quill and COM
mon needle, the Franklin press and
tallow dip, the hiDtlock musket and
hand scythe, the sailing ship and bea-
con fires signaling alike to friend and
Zoe:
The forest primeval scarcely exists
today, but where it does the log cabin
sheltered by it IS simply a room with
up to date furnishings transplanted
from the town. There are no semi
civilized wiids To be compared with
those OF n hundred years ago. There
nrc still thriving American villages con-
nected only by dirt roads where the
mails are carried as they were in 1901,
but the towns and cities tapped by the
villages have their turnpikes and rail
ways, their telegraphs and telephones,
and. while the village is in n sense isO-
lated and fits life more or less primitive
by comparison, there are no villages
like those of n hundred years back,
when the towns and cities were merely
Overgrown hamlets and only distin-
Cuished from them by mere numbers
of inhabitants. One who wishes TO live
and die n mossback must HE TO the will
derness. if he can find ii, or to a cave
Even the farm and the logging camp
are TOO rapid for him. Crudeness and
imperfectiOn. indeed, yet remain, squa-
Tor and ignorance mOcking at wisdom
and munificence. the blind plodder
numbering the path OF swift footed
progress, conditions ripe for revolution
and certain To be swept away. but
civilizations pioneer work is well nigh
completed for Il period too long to be
calculated. Nature has been explored
and her treasure house opened up. 1t
now remains for the masses to be
served freely at the feast where the
few have reveled in riotous abundance.
After conquest comes division; after
discovery. distribution.
Persistence In Progress.
Chiefly what remains for progress TO
do is the removal of limitations. Man
at his best dare not sigh for faster
light. but all mankind asks for a pace
equal to the fIeetest. The tourist who
travels co miles an hour on one road
feels cheated IL he cannot make the
same speed on every other road. One
five day ship 10 Europe means vast
fleets OF five day ships, just rs the ar
Inored vessels and rapid fire guns Of
one nation set all the powers to re-
building and rearminG their navIes.
This Is progress. and. whether born of
the spirit OF vanity or envy, il persists
until things are eveued up 10 the top
notch. For Il time men may make
glass do the duty OF diamonds, but dia-
monds never yet yielded the palm TO
glass and never will.
The airShip * only continuance TO
transfer locOmotion TO a sphere where
there is less resistance. Its result can
he no more than Il cheapering of trans
il and may he taken as an example
Of the impTovemenJs-fo they can
scarcely be termed revolutious-the fu-
ture has in store. The wind is a
primitive motor power. The machine
has reached it's limit against resistance
on sea and land ana the flying ma
chine will be n change. but not a revo-
luton. Steam revolutionized the very
face of things. ia a measure annihilat-
ing space for corporal substance. II
sent life forward with a lightning leap
because everything had TO move on TO
keen pace with steam
Science does not promise for the fu-
ture any new methods OF radical
nature. 1t dyes promise new energies