The Detroit times., 1910-11-26
AMERICAN INVENTIONS
IX.-EFFECTS OF INVENTIONS
BY FREDERIC ! HASKIN

ing TO this ratio between manufactur-
ing employees and population. 1t would
require the population OF the entire
globe to give us 100,000,000 work
men In our factories.
Even our dinner tables have been
affected by the inventor. One may
find on the dinner table the products
Of the whole world-grapes from New
York, bananas from Central America,
oranges from Florida, raisins from
California, nuts from Europe, hgs
from Asia. linen from England, ivory
from Africa-most of 1t made possible
by improved methods OF transporta-
ton. Not only this, but summers
delicacies may be served in winter,
and the winters good things kept
over for summer. The cold storage
warehouses of the United States are
said to contain $3,000,000,000 worth
OF products every year, great pro-
portion of which are food products
awaiting the demands of the Ameri-
can kitchen.
Railroad transportation probably
has done more to influence the hab-
its OF life of the American people
than any other one thing. 1t not only
has been a great agency in the de-
velopment OF the nation, but for pur-
poses OF commerce 1t has made every
man In this vast empire next-doof
neighbor TO every other man. The
Washingtonian may buy pair or
shoes from Brockton as cheaply as If
he walked across the street TO the
factory. A New Yorker may buy
bag Of -four from q Minneapolis mill
as advantageously as II he went to
Minneapolis and held his fiour-bag
under the spout. The American trans
portation system has been worked our
so thoroughly that the cost of the
transportation rarely enters into the
price which the consumer pays for
the things he buys at retail. For his
clothes he pays the same price wheth.
er he buys them 10 the town where
they are manufactured or thousand
miles away. His steak and his bread
cost no more at the point where he
buys them than they cost in Chicago
and Minneapolis. His books are the
same price In the city where they are
printed as at the other side OF the
continent.
The rates OF transportation prevail
ing today may be higher than Is justi-
fed. but when compared with rates
which prevailed before the existence
OF the railroads they seem very low.
In the early history Of the country II
was no unusual thing to pay from 20
to 80 cents ton per mile for the
transportation Of freight. Today the
average ton OF freight In the United
States is hauled full mile for less
than one cent.
Labor was at one time bitterly op-
posed TO the labor-saving machine.
The inventor was looked upon as an
enemy who would take from the la
borer's children the very bread which
they ate. The textile workers In the
days OF Kay and Arkwright would
have destroyed every machine such
men brought out Even in our own
country the dawning OF the age or
agricultural machinery aroused the
agricultural laborer to q high pitch
OF Indignation. He saw IN IL a move
ment TO deny him a part In the har-
vest operations, or a chance to earn
a few dollars at seed time. Some
times his opposition took the form OF
sullen mutterings. Sometimes II went
SO far as an attempt TO destroy the
machine. In those days he got so
cents a day and his board, swung a
cradle all day, mauled rails, or ripped
new ground. Today he does not work
so hard and gets from two to four
times as much fer his labor. Former
" his family ate old-time middling
meat and corn bread with coffee as a
special Sunday treat Today his
table would put TO shame the rations
OF the mansion house of the early
days.
Man can scarcely turn but he
finds something for which TO thank
the American inventor. Whenever he
buys anything. from house to pen
ell, he finds that the inventor has low
cred It's cost Every time he steps on
a street car he must pay mental trib-
ute TO the inventors who enabled him
to ride so cheaply. so comfortably. and
so quickly. The elevator that carries
him To the nth story Of the apart
ment house and to the tenth story or
rtLe ONCE building has made those