Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-06-24

shared. This is neither the time nor
the place to give extended statistics
relating to the commerce of our coun-
try, either foreign or domestic, but a
few figures may be used to indicate
the enormous amount of our sales to
foreign nations and their increase dur
ing the memory of this generation. In
many other avenues of industry might
the illustration be found but it now
sutfices the purpose to speak of some
exported products.
Exports. 1885 1900
Machinery, agricul-
tural implements,
instruments and
apparatus, $14,S93,OOO $l4,6Sl,0Oo
Other manufac-
tured metals, 100000 4l,SSl,oOo
Crude iron and
steel in tons), 1900 l4I, 09o
Copper, ss1.o75.sss $55,772, 1G6
1898. 1900
Refined petroleum.,
$51,242 1913 $67, 40, 100
| Such figures as these, to the
thoughtless mind are as empty sounds,
meaning nothing, but to the student
of events. to the intelligent business
man they speak volumes. They rep
! resent thousands upon thousands OF
| men employed at honest, profitable
labor, they represent hundreds upon
hundreds of happy homes on which
there is no mortgage and for the occu-
patton of which no rent falls due, they
| represent cities and towns newly
sprung into existence and the life of
many municipalities which celebrate
an anniversary, they mean education
and refinement for the masses, luxuries
| for those who are possessed of only
moderate means and large fortunes for
| the wealthy and in short every ma
terial blessing to which man is heir.
Great as the advance has been in the
realm OF invention and commerce, yet
an equal forward movement has been
! made along the lines of science. Only
| the most passing alluSiOn can be given
| to this advance. nor indeed is there
great need or particularizinS in the
presence of an audience composed of
those who are so wei verSed. as this
| one is, in the development of the times.
Some reference is due however, to the
great strides taken in the science and
practice of medicine and surgery. I'M
agining. if you please, Il patient in the
| full possession of his senses and with
every nerve of feeling alert, bound
| firmly to an operating table, about to
| feel the knife and the saw, follow his
agony through the necessary amputa-
ton of Il limb or the opening OF a cav
| ity watch the life-blood follow the
Gcalpel. listen to his cries of anguish,
see him sWoon with pain and then say
| how great 4 blessing the nineteenth
century conferred on humanity when
an American doctor. either Morton,
jackson or Wells in 1916, discovered
that by the mere inhalation of pure
SulphuTic ether, the most dreaded OF
surgical operations may be performed
during the happy unconsciousness of
| the patient. For screaming and StruG-
| giles and intense sufferings under the
surgeons knife. etherization substi-
| tuted complete exemption from pain,
| associated in some with the quietude,
mental and bodily of deep sleep; in
others, with pleasing dreams, i'm
aginary scenes and sweet music. And
| for this great boon the modest physi-
| elan who first made it possible asked
| of the world no recompense, no reward.
| II was simply 4 gift to mankind, a tro-
| the nineteenth century, a garland
whose perfume filled the air with
| sweetness for the comfort of all men.
| IN like manner, and with equal large
ness has the members of that splendid
profession given ungrudgingly the
| beneficial results arising from the dis
| coVeIy of the functions of the blood
| corpuscleS, the germ theory of disease
and the use of the Roentgen rays.
| Boldly let it be said that the century's
| achievement in invention, commerce
| and science out number like results of
all previous centuries of historic time.
| I;ut when all is said neither the
| achievements of invention, the growth
| of commerce, nor the progress OF
| science is at all comparable with those
deeds of philanthropy which the sons
of Columbia have made the browning
glory of the century. Their altruism
| has not been confined to the household
| Of their own faith. nor even to the
stranger within their gates, but has
been extended to those beyond the
seas: has blessed not only the Anglo
Saxon but has thrown its arm about
the starving jewellers on the Emerald
soil. the dusky sons of Africa and
those who live upon the islands of the
tropics. In 1886 Ireland was afflicted
with one of the most dreaded famines
known to modern times. Destitution,
pestilence and death was seen on every
hand. No tongue could tell the sad
story of the time, no pen could chroni-
Gle the awful record of the hour. Then
it was that America won her first
great victory of peace and challenged
. the admiration of the world. Scarce
thirty years had passed since the
smoking guns of our warshipS had
humbled the proud flag of George I'LL,
and yet the same generation which
manned those guns now sailed toward
England in one of those same warships
laden with food for the starving sub
jects of the British king. 1t was not
an event of passing Importance, but
was the forerunner of the policy of our
country through the years which were
10 follow. Two decades passed by and
we We're able to show the world the
proud record at home Of race of
slaves made free from bondage, even
? at the cost of hundreds of thousands
of human lives and thousands of mill
I lions of dollars. To be sure the ques-
: ton of the stability of the union is
| said to have been the cause of the Civil