Chapter XIV: Enginery in the Development of the Human Race

The energy of a nation may be expressed by its horse power. It is not numbers, or intellect, or character, or beliefs that indicate the progress of a people in a material sense.

It is curious how closely related enginery is with the advancement of a people. Nothing can be more striking to illustrate this than railroads as a feature of development in any country.

Power in Transportation.--Without the construction and maintenance of mechanical power, railroads would be impossible. To be able to quickly and cheaply move from place to place, is the most important factor in human life. The ability of people to interchange commodities, and to associate with others who are not in their own intimate community, are the greatest civilizing agencies in the world.

Power vs. Education and the Arts.--Education, the cultivation of the fine arts, and the desire for luxuries, without the capacity for quickly interchanging commodities and to intermingle with each other, are ineffectual to advance the interests of any nation, or to maintain its prosperity.

Lack of Power in the Ancient World.--The Greeks and the Romans had a civilization which is a wonder even to the people of our day. They had the arts and architecture which are now regarded as superb and incomparable. They had schools of philosophy and academies of learning; their sculpture excites the admiration of the world; and they laid the foundation theories of government from which we have obtained the basis of our laws.

The Early Days of the Republic.--When our forefathers established the Republic there were many misgivings as to the wisdom of including within its scope such a large area as the entire Atlantic seacoast. From Maine to Florida the distance is 1250 miles; and from New York to the Mississippi 900 miles, comprising an area of 1,200,000 square miles.

How could such an immense country ever hold itself together? It was an area nearly as large as that controlled by Rome when at the height of her power. If it was impossible for the force of Roman arms to hold such a region within its control, how much more difficult it would be for the Colonies to expect cohesion among their scattered peoples.

Lack of Cohesiveness in a Country Without Power.--Those arguments were based on the knowledge that every country in ancient times broke apart because there was no unity of interest established, and because the different parts of the same empire did not become acquainted or associated with each other.

The Railroad as a Factor in Civilization.--The introduction of railroads, by virtue of motive power, changed the whole philosophy of history in this respect. Even in our own country an example of the value of railroads was shown in the binding effect which they produced between the East and the West prior to the Civil War.

All railroads, before that period, ran east and west. Few extended north and south. It is popularly assumed that the antagonism between the North and the South grew out of the question of slavery. This is, no doubt, largely so, as an immediate cause, but it was the direct cause which prevented the building of railroads between the two sections.

It simply reënforces the argument that the motor, the great power of enginery, was not brought into play to unite people who were antagonistic, and who could not, due to imperfect communication, understand each other.

To-day the United States contains an area nearly as great as the whole of Europe, including Russia, with their twenty, or more, different governments. Here we have a united country, with similar laws, habits, customs and religions throughout. In many of those foreign countries the people of adjoining provinces are totally unlike in their characteristics.

It has been shown that wherever this is the case it is due to lack of quick and cheap intercommunication.

The Wonderful Effects of Power.--This remarkable similarity in the conditions of the people throughout the United States is due to the railroads, that great personification of power, notwithstanding the diverse customs and habits of the people which daily come to our shores and spread out over our vast country.

It has unified the people. It has made San Francisco nearer to New York than Berlin was to Paris in the time of Napoleon. The people in Maine and Texas are neighbors. The results have been so far reaching that it has given stability to the government greater than any other force.

But there is another lesson just as wonderful to contemplate. England has an area of only about 58,000 square miles, about the same size as either Florida, Illinois, or Wisconsin.

England as a User of Power.--The enginery within her borders is greater than the combined energy of all the people on the globe. Through the wonderful force thus set in motion by her remarkable industries she has become the great manufacturing empire of the world, and has called into existence a carrying fleet of vessels, also controlled by motors, so stupendous as to be beyond belief.

We may well contemplate the great changes which have been brought about by the fact that man has developed and is using power in every line of work which engages his activities.

The Automobile.--He does not, in progressive countries, depend on the muscle of the man, or on the sinews of animals. These are too weak and too slow for his needs. Look at the changes brought about by the automobile industry within the past ten years. What will the next century bring forth?

Artificial power, if we may so term it, is a late development. It is very young when compared with the history of man.

High Character of Motor Study.--The study of motors requires intellect of a high order. It is a theme which is not only interesting and attractive to the boy, but the mastery of the subject in only one of its many details, opens up a field of profit and emoluments.

The Unlimited Field of Power.--It is a field which is ever broadening. The student need not fear that competition will be too great, or the opportunities too limited, and if these pages will succeed, in only a small measure, in teaching the fundamental ideas, we shall be repaid for the efforts in bringing together the facts presented.