The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-05-16
RY ISAAC /. IoTTEN.

Hand, horse, water, wind, steam,
electrical, gasoline and oil-that may
not be the exact order in the evolution
of power yet it is near enough to
show the marvellous advance in the
power agencies that have aided man in
his forward progress.
1t is long cry back to the time
when man scratched the earth with
crooked stick in order that he might
prepare a seed bed for the golden
grain.
Wonderful are the things we read
about in ancient history-not so very
ancient either-that men accomplished
by hand power
Hand power, of course, will always
be with us, and it will always have its
field; but each decade finds that field
considerably narrowed.
With the modern farm implements
one man is enabled to accomplish the
work of many.
Most of the mechanical agencies,
which are emancipating man from
drudgery, are not in the power class,
yet they have played most wonder
full role in the evolution of power.
There are two general classes of
machinery-one to assist the fingers;
the other to eliminate hand assistance.
The former Is termed driven machin-
cry and requires the push or pull of
power not of it's own generation.
1.-THE elements of skill and human
intelligence being eliminated, unskill-
ed men, horses, wind mills or water
wheels may be substituted, thus prac-
tically freeing the intelligent man
from gross labor and allowing that
freer play of his thinking facilities
that is possible only when relieved of
bodily fatigue"
Man early learned to use the power
of the horse, the OK, the camel, the
dog, the reindeer, ct cetera.
Later he harnessed the streams,
and the falling water assisted him in
his daily toll.
Water power was and is only of val
ue to those who are so located that
they can utilize 1t.
This source of power, as we are all
aware, is still in use, and is made to
do much which is impossible for hui
man agents to do.
In instance, We have the marvellous
water power plant at Niagara which
develops the electrical power for use
in Buffalo.
Hand power and horse power were
inadequate to meet the demands that
came with the increasing population
and the consequent food and clothing
requirements.
The substitution of the energy of ma
ture is one of it's forms-falling water,
wind, fuels intended to entirely eli
inmate hand and horse power; that is
in the sense of applying it to machin-
cry of the driven class.
John Edward Buck has said:
There is a close kinship between
the spirit which combats the arbitrary
authority of man over man. and the
| spirit which seeks to establish the
mastery of man over material agents.
Free institutions do not quench mans
| intuitive ambition for power; they
rather tend to substitute different
object for that ambition-power to
serve the race instead of power to OPP
|
agents instead of power to enthrall
human agents-conquest over nature
rather than conquest over mankind"
Wind power which is more generally
available than water power, but not as
reliable or usually available than wa
ter power, but not as reliable or usu.
ally as powerful as water, was and is
now doing goodly share of the work
which man and horse were once com.
PEELED to do.
OF the power energies of nature,
fuel is the most generally available.
Wood, coal, oil, gasoline-these fu,
els-these natural resources-are now
the power agencies which man com
pels to do the drudgery while he uses
his brain.
Very little wood is now used as fuel
for power development, and it is, be
cause of it's scarcity, fast becoming
unavailable as a building material.
Coal is now, no doubt, the most
generally used fuel; but it must be
used in connection with water to de
velop power In the gas producer, OF
course, the coal is converted into q
gas and this in turn heats the water
producing the steam which drives the
| gigantic engine or turbin which lr
| turn cot in unotion tho generation