Rock Island Argus., 1919-11-22
LET MACHINERY DO THE

LET MACHINERY DO THE
WORK.
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.
Especial Correspondence Of The Argus).
Washington, d. c., Nov. 20-sWe are doing
With our hands thousands Of things that ma
chinery could do better. We are ven1taxing
| our brains With simple processes which think
| ing machines could do more< accurately In Tar
less time"
This IL the statement Of scientist In gov
ernment employ who wal asked to discuss the
question whether man 10 making adequate use
Of machinery In doing his work. His answer
was an emphatic mo" and It ID an answer
which can be corroborated in hundreds OF
ways.
| We are accustomed to think that We have
made wonderful advances in the use Of ma
chinefy. We are accustomed to boast Of our
labor saving Inventions and to regard them
as something marvellous. Al matter OF fact,
the basic principles Of machinery having been.
worked out, the invention of new devices is
merely . matter Of the systematic application
Of well known principles The present state
of our industrial arts il not . thing Of marvel
ous perfection; 1t IL almost incredibly incom-
plete. The wonder 10 not that We do 30 many
things by machinery. The wonder is that We
squander our energy in doing by hand thou
sands Of things that machinery might do for us.
estimate - a,day. Thes amount Of cleo
trical energy-one manpower for eight hours
I 1ts worth about cent. Wherever man Is
doing work that could be done by machinery,
human society is suffering 800 per cent waste
Of energy.
bitches, cut our wood. Mining could be far
more mechanical process than 1t is There
Is no real excuse for stenographers to pound
typewriter when they can be pounded far
better by electricity. Bookkeeping can be re-
| duced to IN almost wholly mechanical process.
requiring only little supervision from the
human brain. All record keeping, all statisti.
Ecal work, of which such an enormous amount
is done in all branches Of business and science
fcan be done by machinery, and machinery can
not only record, but can also to great ex-
tent interpret these> statistics.
ut would be possible to 60 on multiplying
examples almost eudlessly," said the scientist.
THE proposition can be stated technically by
saying that any repeat process may be done
by machinery. This may not be true without
Exception, but It IL very nearly So"
It takes imagination to realize the full pos:
sibilities which this statement suggests, but
there is nothing Incredible about the statement
Itself. The doing of all repeat processes" by
machinery calls for nothing more wonderful
than the phonograph, for instance. which re-
produces every tone and modulation Of the hu-
man voice SO perfectly that even the human
ear cannot tell the difference. It calls for
no.h;n. ,no-e vonda-fuI th.n The tnot-tvin.
mschine. of tho TEXTILE mills which tie l95
Knots a minnie with nnfailinr precision. unit
linz tro ~reat un6nfshed fairies. and which
will .ton n Ito own accord if n makes mis-
tare and then trv again, II asks for nothing
moro vonderfu, than the electrical tvnevriter
which wi1I make anv number Of tvnewritfen
comics of n letter
with such achievements as these before
Inc - :. .nrelv not a;fHcult tn imarina mechan.
10, st,sot swaanars and ditch d;1oer. and
4 ,vooa nhnrnars ard coal ,rinare T1cent so,
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- ..a1ssa th.t .n.ohi,o-,, +; c.n.hIe ~ doir.
nsarIv aII the ordinarv nrodnctivs wof[ of tn
wnr,d vhsre.. - - now doinv narban.
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90 .hav M ;rvsr,sdep
1scE - coonerstior and -. .oorar. +,or
l,.ct ~ entornrisa S,roctad word nros-e..
rather than rnetelv toward rrst;nr r,oney and uod
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nasr ,1ho -o,,.a 80 he,iera sra reer - .-s,
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