The times., 1901-05-17


tie device which he. has thought out
The adoption of this device will not hell
the inventor, unless it is an invention
on which he can get a patent-and there
are hundred labor-saving ideas which
could not possibly be patented with any
profit. He will have to work Just as
many hours, for no more wages; the
only good which he win reap is the sat
| isfaction of knowing that his brains
make him a more valuable man than he
would otherwise be, and that he and his
fellows are not wasting their time or
any work which could be saved. This
English writer declares that the true
American does not like work where he
has no chance to think; and that he
! does not like work well enough to dc
any that he can avoid.
There is good deaS Of truth in this:
! and it is because there are mechanics
of this type scattered through all our
| shops and factories that we have made
| the industrial progress that we have
| Not all workmen are of an inventive
! turn of mind. and of recent years there
| has come to be rather a general senti-
ment against that sort of thing, dis
position to get through work with the
| least thought rather than the most.
This was perhaps an inevitable conse-
quence of large enterprises. A man
does not naturally take the same inter-
est in his work when he is part of big
machine that he does when he is the
machine and the owner both.
Our democracy was largely economic
and industrial for about seventy-five
years, and it was undoubtedly the cause
of much Of the progress which we
made, particularly in the line of inven-
ton The settlement of this country
threw into new conditions, calling for
the development of both muscle and
br9in, men of all grades of social and
intellectual development. 1t was the
pick Of the Old World which settled the
New-men who had energy and adven-
turous spirit enough to want to better
themselves, and stamina enough to
stand hardships. The English colonies
today are peopled by much the same
sort
When a man who has brains but not
much muscle is thrown into a new
country where he has to do most of the
work himself. he finds very soon that
in mere ability to dig he is not any
where equal to Patrick, of County Ker-
ry. or Hans, of the Oberland; and he
cannot get Patrick and Hans to dig for
him because they have farms of their
own. Consequently the gentlemen is
obliged either to do his own hard work
or think up some plan for having itdone
mechanically. Meanwhile, Patrick and
Hans, who no longer have the landlord
to look to for the thought and planning
incident to making a home, learn to
make their own. The mar of muscle
develops his brains; the gentleman de-
velops his physique: and both are ben
Gifted. The man of thought devises new
ways to save labor, because he cannot
possibly do it all himself. though in
different state of society he would not
think about the matter, because others
would do the work for him. and would
be good for nothing else. The man of
traditions also thinks of
labor saving plans for his own benefit,
as he would not for the benefit of some
other man. When he builds his own
house, which is to be occupied by his
children after him, he is naturally more
careful to have it we'll built and con- |
venient than he would be if all the good |
Of it accrued to somebody else. The in
ventor IS, truly, man who is lazy. He |
is man who does not like to work with |
his hands, or to trouble himself with |
lot of hands who have |
no heads Of their own. Consequently he |
saves his back, his time, and his temper |
oy planning a way by which electricity, |
water. or horsepower will do the work /
lor him.