The Imperial press., 1905-09-09
The Era of Invention

inventive erd has yet scarcely begun and that the inventions UI Jne tulute WHI InnniueIY surpaoo those Oi Lne past. Iuis may prJNe Lrue but tner6 IS dOdUJ. It seems that nIao must be aDlt to benenC himself IL some hIanner by ills inventions Jo induce, ham UO uoe uls powers III bringing them IOrCn.
 We judge IOm anclenJ history that the progress OI man was Very oiOW ill those edly periods DuJ nothing Is more natural tucu that speed 3uOdIu De UD- tuned as kuCwle5e was accuHUlated just sts d uuuuer which ls small beIhS dOuOied and the result dUuDieQ over and oyer agaln seems tO take oil size slowly at nrst but once d cOnsldoiab4e start Is made the results ot doubling Is astonishing. SU tJo, we can look back and point out that tuere Was no InE6n- t,nu Ill Uue past worthy of cOusluera- ton.
 me principles once discovered which ale ua5u iu ali Inventions. IL becomes all even easier matter. One ancient and very Important discovery was the lever; another tine screw, stIiI another the bully. No discovery of modern times has Yet equaled these III lln-
 
 things must preC6de the invention Ut means tO> use them. in the earliest history Ui man We hld nO inventions ol any character, not even the bow and arrow. It had to be discovered that the spring in wood could be utilized before one c0sId invent means to use 1t. Many discoveries were made and many ways invented to use them while 4 (4n nFtA. ian tribal lie.
 inc race grew and the tribes pressing upon each other Tor more room brought ou tHe tribal wars which Iaterieu lo the discovery that a man who had been captured iu mar would produce more food for the captors Ii kept slave then if ue were killed ana eaten as formerly. Slavery was introduced and labor be- came a disgrace. Free men would not labor. Slaves had no interest III theIr product because whether they produced much or little their reward was the same, and the masters found 1t easier, or more convenient at least, to add to their slave force than to invent devices to save labor which they knew nothing about doing.
 So with tGe coming of human slavery closed an era of invention and for nearly 5000 years, history does not record the invention of any labo: say ing devices and the only advances that were made during all that time by the inventive genius was in the instruments Of warfare.
 The passing of slavery and the coming Oi Feudalisn made no difference for the serf had no more interest in his pro- duct then had the slave and the same general conditions prevailed. Advances were made in the implements of war because those engaged i'll it had an in- terest in its outcome. The develop ment of arms finally caused the break ing up of the Feudal estates and the wages sy stem came to be tie dominant method of production.
 In it's early stages, however, there, were no great factories wherein thou sands of workers were employed, but instead, men employed themselves as best they could with the simple hand tools handed down to them from bar barrie times.
 The new environment gave the work CTS an interest in their product for they could readily, by making some little labor saving device, successfully com pete with others engaged in the same industry. The new ''era of invention" was started and each succeeding decade has seen more discoveries and many invt ntions to utilize them, each one suggesting greater one.
 But let us not conclude that it was the wages system that has produced this activity in inventions, but rather that they came together as the result of another cause. As time passed and each succeeding device became greater being suggested by the several smaller ones made before, one man could no longer operate single machine, then he employed others, less fortunate than himself to assist him in retaining the whole product and paying his employees a wage for their services.
 Out of th's have grown the huge factories and the hands have about the same interest in the output as did the slave or serf and while these huge establishments employ men who do nothing but invent for wages, the workers who actually do the work make but few inventions any more.
 close look will disclose how the hired inventor like the hired artist or the hired statesman will soon cease to be of value in making discoveries or devIclng means to use them. We see from the foregoing that progress in invention depends upon the workers having an interest in the amount of