Evening star., 1927-11-05
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

for iron could never have been made
into swords. The Damascus sword
was SO highly tempered that skilled
swordsman could cut with it a bar of
iron without dulling it's edge. So
called iron workers made (of steeD
great scythes more than a yard in
length, that cannot he done with iron.
Terra Gotta utensils and house dec
orations-ages and ages ago.
Glass was used for building houses
and decorations $500 years Be, and
at the age of Christ glass was used in
Rome for a greater number of things
than it is today anywhere
The art of weaving was learned from
spiders ages ago.
Copper dates back into the Neolithic
age. though it was not very useful
until alloys. made of it bronze. 1000
years BIC.
The preacher said in the Bible, "Of
the making of books there is no end"
but paper has not been supposed to
have been made until the Chinese
produced it century after Christ.
Yet, in 1877. there was found in
Egypt library of 100. 900 documents
made in 400 Be, ali on paper.
These are but illustrations Of the
antiquity of some of the things we
Americans dream were our own in.
VentlOns or were modern discoveries.
On the other hand, the ancients
missed many devices and inventions
which have revolutionized civilization.
Ihey had their great aqueducts for
leveiing the stream of water and car.
rylns 1t from mountain springs across
valleys to cities. But they knew moth
ing of water running up hill, under
pressure IN pipes. Not until the six
teenth century dn London) was water
conveyed in pipes. and century later
the same principle was adopted In
Boston,
So the world made little progress
In production during its boasted pc.
RODS of Grecian and Roman SUI
pren1acy. or throughout the thousand
years of the Dark Ages, or even in
the Renaissance or the Golden Age
of Louis XIV or the Victorian Age
i. waited for our Franklin To link
lightning with electricity. for our
Howe to sew the unending seams of
clothing and leather, for our Yankee
whitney to produce, the cotton gin
an make the cotton plantations pros
porous. for our Edison TO harness the
Franklin electricity and lit ally zen.
1ghten the world with it's inca ndes-
cence. 1t waited for our Mccormick
to harvest grain bv machinery in place
or the sickle of Boaz. and for other
iabor-saving farm inventions which
now enable farm population of half
the percentage of our forefathers feed
the Nation and export surpluses.
when virgin soil lost its fertility,
science reached up into the unfathom-
able and ineXhaustible ether and ex-
tracted nitrates. or hammered upon
the door of rocks and found pfos.
phate, ard, by selecting seed, learned
to produce two ears of corn where but
one grew before. And in recent years.
now the sciences have advanced with
their chemistry and medical discover
les.
Are we skeptical of the even dis
tribution of the benefits of modern
progress? Look into the average
home and note that it is lighted by
tie pressing of button, rather than
by smoky candle; that it has hot
and cold water under pressure-un-
known to ancient emperors. Note
that it has electric power for sweep
inc, for sewing. for laundering. The
ancient kings stood in jogging char
lots pulled by horses or by human
captives; today the day laborer goes
to his job in an automobile. and in
the evening turns knob upon a box
and listens in to n concert thousands
Of miles away. or a speech in Euro
pean parliament.
A quarter of a, century ago. the
average insurance carried by Ameri-
cans was Sill per capita of all the
people; today the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
people who are foresighted enough to
carry insurance at all-have increased
their holdings from $3.50 each to
S1.333. They could hardly do that If
they were not increasing in pros
perity 6
A quarter of a century ago, Amer.
ica was the greatest debtor nation In
the world; European investors owned
S. 900. .000,0 600 of the property Of the
United States. including its industries.
Now these alien investments here
to only onehalf that sum.
while American investments abroad
exceed s12. 900 900. 900. fee
The distribution of the products OF
our industries? In 1909 labor received
6S.7 per cent of the gross. while man.
agement received 31.2 per cent. Now
labor gets 77.3 per cent and manage
ment gets only 22.7.
The millennium has not yet arrived.
but it's on its way.
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