) 01 COMMERCE OAK ST. HDSF STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY A Series of Saturday Afternoon Radio Talks Broadcast Over a Coast-to-Coast Hook-up of the Cohimbia^^^^^^i^^s^g.^Systeni UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Hon. DANIEL C. ROPER Secretary UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1937 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. Price 10 cents Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/storiesofamerica01unit 33d,973 r. 1 CONTENTS Secretary Roper’s statement_ Letter from Mr. William S. Paley_ Preface_ The American railway system_ The paint industry_ The iron and steel industry_ The electrical goods industry_ The fisheries industry_ The automobile industry_ The baking industry_ The story of paper___ Office appliances_ The rubber industry_ The textiles industry_ Building construction_ The agricultural implements industry_ The sugar industry and its products_ Industries of tomorrow_ The lumber industry_ Coal mining and coke manufacturing_ The meat-packing industry_ The shipping industry_ The fur industry_ Recreation and sport_ Canning and preserving_•_ The air-conditioning industry_ ill Page IV V VI 1 o 9 13 17 21 25 29 34 39 44 49 53 57 61 65 70 74 78 82 87 91 96 (O 3 SECRETARY ROPER’S STATEMENT The Department of Commerce, under congressional direction, is charged AAuth the duty of developing trade and commerce. This im¬ plies an intimate relationship among manufacturers, distributors of goods, and the consumers thereof. Promotive services of the De¬ partment include investigations, statistical compilations, and current reports for the information of all concerned. ' In line with these objectives, it was decided recently that present endeavors might be supplemented by bringing the public into a more intimate knowledge and appreciation of industry as it affects our social structure. The Department of Commerce has, accordingly, been presenting recently a series of weekly radio broadcasts on the history and de¬ velopment of some American industries, illustrative of the industrial growth of the United States. The response of the public to this educational feature indicates widespread interest, particularly on the part of businessmen, students, and educators. The contributions now being made by American industry, through the adaptation of scientific research and technological development, in the promotion of human happiness, are matters that concern us all. It should be recognized that Ameri¬ can industry, expressed in its many forms, has paved the way for progress and for raising our standards of living to the highest in the world. The object of publishing these educational broadcasts is to create a better understanding between industry and the public in the liope that both may cooperate for the welfare of all. The Department of Commerce acknowledges with pleasure the fine public service rendered by the Columbia Broadcasting S3'stem in bringing these educational talks into millions of homes throughout America. IV Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Coinmerce. LETTER FROM MR. WILLIAM S. PALEY, PRESIDENT COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. Columbia Broadcastixg System, Inc., JiSo Madison Avenue^ New York^ June 21^ 1937. My Dear Mr. Secretary: The Columbia Broadcasting System is gratified to learn of the wide and favorable public response to the series of talks, “The Story of Industry”, broadcast over our network by the Department of Commerce. Your staff’s ability to penetrate beneath the statistics of industry to its human dramas, and the splendid spirit of initiative and of cooperation 'which your people have shown, have made it a very real pleasure for us to work with you in presenting these programs. Sincerely yours, (Signed) William S. Paley, President. The Hon. Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of € ommevce.^ W ashing ton., D. O. V PREFACE So many requests liave been received from the general public for a bound volume of the Department of Commerce radio talks on our great American industries that it has been decided to issue them in their present form. These talks have been broadcast over a coast-to- coast network of the Columbia Broadcasting System by Harry R. Daniel, of the Department of Commerce, who also has edited the script. In assembling the material, generous cooperation has been received from the several industries, and due acknowledgment is made at this time of the assistance given by various trade associations, individuals, and business concerns. Much of the data has been assembled and checked by the Com- moditv Divisions of the Bureau of Foreiam and Domestic Commerce. In all of this work no pains have been spared to make these talks thoroughly accurate. In relating some of the human interest stories, a few slight liberties have been taken here and there in dialogue to fit the form of radio presentation, but nowhere under any circum¬ stances has any statement been inserted in the script that has not been checked com])letelv for accuracv. In the preparation of these stories of industry, the major part of the research work has been done bv A. T. Robertson and Laurence W. Cain, of the Department of Commerce, and praise is due them for the diligence thev have shown in obtaining source material. At the time this volume was sent to press, broadcasts on 23 indus¬ tries had been made. It is ex])ected that the subsequent talks on additional industries will be ])ublished in supplementary form at a later date. VI STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY The American Railway System I want to take vou back for a «/ moment to a scene enacted on an autumn day in the year 1830. Just outside the city of Baltimore a great crowd had gathered along the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Up and down the tracks horses were drawing pas¬ senger and freight cars. But a rival to the horse had appeared on the scene—a tiny, puffing, wood-burning steam en¬ gine about the size of a modern handcar, with an upright boiler. Some called it “The Tom Thumb”, some “The Teakettle.” Biit the builder of the engine, Peter Cooper, of New York, did not mind these jokes. His little loco¬ motive already had pulled a train of passengers at a speed of better than 10 miles an hour. On this particular day, the “Tom Thumb” was to make its supreme effort— it was going to run a race against a race horse along the several miles that lay between Riley’s Tavern and Baltimore. Well, if a horse were going to race a steam locomotive today, there would be no doubt as to the outcome. But in the infant days of American railroading it was different. The little “Tom Thumb” rocked and puffed like a baby volcano. But the engine belt slipped off, and she couldn’t beat that horse. Railroad men of that day— true to the traditions of fortitude that ever have distinguished them—refused to be discouraged because their engine was outdis¬ tanced by a horse. They persist¬ ed in their efforts and within a few months steam engines were hauling freight and passenger cars along the crude tracks of our early railroads. Behind the great American rail¬ way system of today lies a tre¬ mendously important and roman¬ tic story of achievement. The railroad itself was not an American invention. In fact, it was not an invention at all but only the putting together of three things which already had been discovered—the wheel, the rail, and the steam engine. In 1825, to be exact, an Englishman, George Stephenson, first placed a successful steam locomotive on a track where it pulled a train. Five years later little “Tom Thumb” chugged its way into American railroad history. And now let me take you to another historic scene—to a place on the desert near Great Salt Lake 1 2 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE in Utah. Again a great crowd had gathered at the side of a rail¬ road track. This time it was in the spring of 1869. Two railroad engines, with their old-fashioned balloon smoke¬ stacks, puffed toward each other from opposite directions — one coming from the East, one from the West. Their cowcatchers touched, and the engineer of each train broke a bottle of champagne over the other’s locomotive. At last the dream of a trans¬ continental American railroad' had come true. Some critics had said: ‘‘They’ll have to sprout wings to get over those mountains. It can’t be done.” But it was done. Thus was exemplified the cour¬ age and initiative that have char¬ acterized the American railroad industry since the earliest days. In a certain city last spring a devastating flood was raging. The river had overflowed its banks and went swirling through the streets. The city water supply was soon cut off. Evervwhere 4 / there was water, Avater, but none fit to drink. Health authorities were in despair for they knew too well that the city stood face to face with an epidemic of deadly diseases unless pure drink¬ ing Avater could be brought in. Hi gliAvays Avere Avashed out; eA^en the railroad embankments AA’ere threatened bA^ the floods. «/ But OA’er the shak\^ tracks, in V J the face of great danger, a train of tank cars, ansAvering the call of alarm, crept sloAvly into the flooded community — tank cal's filled Avith pure, health-giving Avater. SerA'ice to public needs! This has eA'er been a Avatchword Avith American railroads. In eA^ery roundhouse in this country today, during eA'ery minute of the day and night, stands a SAvift, power¬ ful, emergency engine Avith steam up ready to rush forth on an er¬ rand of mercy and relief. But the annals of American rail¬ roads consist of much more than vaunting heroics. Into their crea¬ tion, deA'elopment, and manage¬ ment obAuously haA'e gone an in- conceh'able amount of good solid common sense and rare business judgment. Let us take the great improA'ement in seiwice in recent years. Such things do not just happen. Back of every improve¬ ment and innoA'ation somebody had to do a lot of sound thinking. Do. you remember Avhat a rail¬ road journev Avas like onh' A'ester- day ? The family lugged its suit¬ cases into a hot stuffA' coach. 4 Somebody Avrestled heroically Avith a AvindoAv latch. At last, re¬ luctantly, the AvindoAv came open. In came a gale of cinders, smoke, and fumes of burnt gas. XoAv, in 1937, perhaps this same family is making a trip by train. The man in the ticket office has planned the entire journey. And AA’hat a train! Perhaps it is a streamlined beauty, flashing Avith bright colors, all one unit from rounded stem to I'ounded stern. As the family enters the train it is like stei)ping into a fresh spring day, for all the coaches are air-conditioned. A porter leads STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 3 them to comfortable, reclining chairs with a reading lamp at each window. He brings pillows for the ladies. “But papa !” cries the youngest of the family, “This must be the parlor car!” No, Junior is mistaken. It is the American day coach, 1937 model, and it actually cost less than it did before. On some of those modern trains we can watch the speedometer, zipping up to 70 or 80 miles an hour. Or we play the radio, or enjoy a bite to eat at the modern lunch counter. If we prefer, we can have our meals served on a little table right at our seats. And should a baby cry on board this cool, beautiful train, there is a trained nurse in attendance to care for it promptly. All over the United States mod¬ ern trains, swift and powerful as a gale, gentle and soothing as a breeze, are binding the Nation closer together. From New York to California, the fastest time has been cut from 5 business days to 2 business days. Speaking of streamlined trains, the principle involved is really not new. Back in 1896, American railways began experimenting with streamlining, according to John J. Pelley, president of the Association of American Rail¬ roads. But it was found at tliat time that streamlining was only effective at 60 miles an hour or better. Trains of those days, of course, could run 100 miles an hour or faster, even without streamlining. As a matter of fact, the world’s speed record, made in 1905 by a railroad train running between New York and Chicago, still stands. For a dis¬ tance of 3 miles that train of 32 years ago clocked a speed of 127 miles an hour. But the railroads were prima¬ rily^ interested in safety first. In the interests of safety and com¬ fort they used heavier and heavier trains—too heavy to be hauled economically at top speed and those big trains did assist the roads in setting a marvelous safety record. In 1 year, 1935, they carried almost 450,000,000 passengers, more than three times the population of the United States, with but a single death among them. Today, though greater speed has been attained there has been no sacrifice of the element of safety. The modern streamlined train is considered bv */ railroad men to be as safe as it is swift and beautiful because railway genius has worked stead¬ ily to combine safety with higher speed. These trains are built of new kinds of alloy steel, very light in weight, but very strong. Some of them weigh less than half as much as an ordinary, heavy steel train of the same capacity. ■ Also engines have been improved, road¬ beds rebuilt, and steel rails made stronger. Speaking of steel rails, I wish I had time to tell you all about the Detector-Car, which with an electric eye automatically discovers the slightest hidden flaw in the steel rails—errors that can¬ not be found bv the human eve. 4 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE And freight trains, too, are pounding across the country at faster speeds than ever before. In recent years the average speed of freight trains has been increased almost 50 percent and many other changes have been made in the handling of the Na¬ tion’s freight. Perhaps you have noticed that noAvadays fresh fruits and vegetables, on sale in the cities, have been alloAA^ed to ripen longer on the vine. Also, a much greater variety of fresh seafood is available the year ’round—all because of faster freight service and refrigerator cars. And as freight speeds have been increased modern freight en¬ gines liaA^e been made to operate more economically. Unbelieva¬ ble as it may seem, modern American freight locomotives Avill haul 1 ton of freight 1 mile, us¬ ing just 1 glass of water and a handful of coal, at an average cost of less than 1 cent. A freight train reaching two- thirds the distance around the world at the Equator—that is something almost too big to im¬ agine. And yet that would be the length of the train if all the freight cars in service on Ameri¬ can railroads Avere coupled be¬ hind one engine. Yet, Avith all the cost of neAv equipment, nearly half of every dollar spent by the railroads goes for the Avages of railroad men. In 1936 it is estimated, 1,080,000 railroad men earned a total of $1,800,000,000. In 1920 the average American traA^eled 500 miles per year. This included travel by train, automo¬ bile, air, and Avater. By 1929 the figure had jumped from 500 miles a year to 2,000 miles per year. In less than 10 years Americans had begun to travel four times as much as before. Railroad men are of the opinion that as time goes on the railroads Avill enjoy their full share of this great and rapidly groAving travel market. Some prophets have predicted that Avithin the next 25 or 50 years at most, most curA^es will be straightened out; heavier rails Avill be laid; and supertrains Avill roar across America at speeds of 250 miles per hour. The great¬ est development of American railroads, many believe, is still in the future. The Paint If it were possible I should like to have you go Avith me this after¬ noon to the little town of Les Eyzies, in southern France. For near this town is a very interest¬ ing and famous cave which it Avould be Avell Avorth our time to visit. Here Ave Avould find evi¬ dence that this cave Avas the home of human beings Avho liA^ed and died there as long as 25,000 years ago. They w'ere men of the Cro- Magnon race AAdio lived in the Reindeer Age. On the Avails of the cave still are to be found paintings of prehistoric animals in bright colors as vhdd as the day the paints Avere applied. Modern critics Avill tell you that these prehistoric AAmrks of art in¬ dicate that some of the men of the Reindeer Age possessed a very high degree of artistic skill. Equally amazing is the fact that these ancient caA^e men kneAA^ the art of making excellent paint b}’ grinding the pigment, or coloring matter, and mixing it Avith oil. To make their paint the Reindeer Men took the simple colors found in the earth—red, broAvn, yelloAv and black—and mixed them AAuth animal fats or oils. Bones of the reindeer of a far-off day luiA^e been found stained Avith colors similar to those found on the Avails of the cave. Thus Ave luiA’e proof that Industry the manufacture of paint is among the oldest discoveries of the hu¬ man race. Every race and tribe of man since that day has used paint to increase the beauty of themselves and their surroundings. But it Avas only Avhen man began to build houses of Avood, that he discovered the great principle, “Save the sur¬ face and you saA^e all.” Father Noah, Ave are told, calked the Ark Avith pitch to make it Avater- proof. And the prehistoric Hopi Indians of Arizona were com¬ pelled by a religious ceremony to paint the Avails of their pueblos every 4 years. By counting the layers of paint, scientists are now able to estimate the ages of these earliest American houses. Behind the fascinating story of paint lie centuries of sIoav, pains¬ taking progress. All paint con¬ sists of pigments, or coloring mat¬ ter, Avhich has been incorporated into the oils or other liquids Avdiich painters call “the vehicle.” One of the greatest artists, scientists, and inventors of all time, Leo¬ nardo da Vinci, Avas not satisfied AAuth the quality of paint available during the Renaissance. So he and his successors AA^orked out formulas AAdiich still form the bases of })ractice among artists. The paint industry has played an important part in America 6 u. s. dp:paktment of commerce since the days of the earliest set¬ tlers. Part of what is claimed to be the first paint mill used in America may be seen still embed¬ ded in the wall of a house in Bos¬ ton. Its traditional name is “The Boston Stone.” This old stone was once part of a paint trough. A large granite ball was rolled back and forth over the tintine: colors, white pigments, and lin¬ seed oil, until the pigments were thoroughly mixed with the other ingTedients. In this way the early painters mixed their own paints, and each man guarded his trade secrets jealously. Perhaps the beginning of the modern age of paint came about 1857, when the first “pat¬ ent paints”, or ready-mixed paints, were sold in cans. The old-time painters objected strenuously. But the American paint manufac¬ turers persevered, and with the aid of modern chemistry they began to make products undreamed of a few years before. Here is a story that illustrates this point. In the early days of the automo¬ bile a certain manufacturer real¬ ized that the paint industry must come to his aid. At that time over 1 month was required to ap¬ ply the complete finish to a car. It was not possible under these conditions for the manufacturer to realize his dream of mass pro¬ duction of automobiles. So one morning he called in his paint ex¬ perts and asked them to produce an automobile finish that would dry in an hour. Impossible some of them claimed. But in due time a durable, quick-drying lacquer was developed to the point where now several coats can be sprayed on within an hour. Today American paints, lac¬ quers, and varnishes are unex¬ celled and are in demand in al¬ most every country on the globe. And, in turn, the people of many foreign lands help to sup¬ ply the American paint industry. In China, the quaint junk-boats are loaded with tung oil. From Manchuria, come soybean oil and perilla oil. Shellac comes from India, and flax seed from South America. Some of these prod¬ ucts, by the way, are also pro¬ duced right here in the United States. The story of paint, say leaders in the business, is really just be¬ ginning. Today is the age of color. And this brings me to some in¬ teresting, almost incredible facts recentlv discovered about colors. For example, modern hospital rooms are being painted in warm, pleasing colors, because physi¬ cians have found that cheerful tints have a beneficial effect upon sick folk. Particular care, too, is taken today in the use of paint for those who are mentally ill, as it is known that certain colors, such as blues and greens have a tendency to subdue and soothe the nervous and irritable. The storv is told that in Lon- don, England, the authorities were once greatly disturbed over the number of persons who committed suicide by jumping from an old bridge into the Thames. Some one suggested painting the dark. STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 7 gloomy bridge with light, cheer¬ ful paint. When this was done, the number of suicides materially decreased, it was reported. Scientists connected with the paint industry tell me that painted houses are easier to heat than un¬ painted ones. Some authorities go so far as to say that light-tinted paint will actually increase the amount of heat given off by radi¬ ators ! As we all know there are many apparent inconsistencies in Na¬ ture, and here is one: While light colors are best for radiators, it also is true that dark colors wdll more readily absorb the heat- producing rays of the sun. Ac¬ cording to one story published re¬ cently, this was proved a few years ago by Professor Picard, the Swiss scientist. When he made his first flight into the stratosphere, the gondola of his balloon was painted black. When he had reached a height of sev¬ eral miles above the earth, al¬ though the temperature outside was 72° below zero, the action of the sun’s rays on the black paint produced a temperature within the gondola that was almost 100° above zero. On Professor Picard’s second trip, the gondola was painted white, with the result tliat the temperature within the carriage remained at close to the freezing point. Thus, a difference of many degrees was caused entirely by the difference in colors. It is for this same reason that light-colored clothes are cooler for summer weather than dark clothes. The amount of money saved by the American public each year through the use of paint has been estimated by some experts to be as much as billion dollars. In this calculation, of course, they include all the lumber and metal which are saved from rust or decay. Nearly 200 million dollars, say the paint experts, are saved in electric light bills, through the use of light-tinted walls and ceil¬ ings. Other savings are in the form of fire protection, for a painted house is not so apt to catch fire. And banks, it is said, will lend an average of 22 percent more money on a painted house, than on one whose surface has been neglected. The paint consumed annually in the United States would cover a fence 500 feet higli entirely en¬ circling the earth. x4nd some un¬ kind statistician very ungallantly and ungenerously has estimated that the amount of lipstick used each year by American women would paint 40,000 barns a bright red color! Incredible! Almost every day a new use for j)aint is discovered. Author¬ ities in several cities are painting the walls of dark alleys and side streets in white, thus making them easier to light and reducing the danger of accident and crime. Stair wells and elevator shafts are being painted in bright colors, to promote safety. The right sort of paint in offices and fac¬ tories saves the eyesight of the workers. American highways use an increasing amount of paint each year for center lines and 8 U. IS. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE warning signals. And in the field of aviation, the Department of Commerce and the AY. P. A. are 1) ainting over 16,000 air naviga¬ tion markers on the roofs of cities and towns throughout the Nation. Each marker uses an average of 5 gallons of paint. The greatest single use for iniint, of course, is the painting of houses, and the future is bri ght for the members of the ancient and honorable trade of house 2 ) ainter. Thousands of homes, neglected during the depression, are again being touched up by the painter’s brush. Government loans, direct or sponsored, have been available for painting and modernization, just as they have been for the thousands of new homes which are going up on every hand. Thus, it is not surprising that last year, 1936, more paint was sold in the United States than during the preceding year of 1935. There are now approximately 7,000 clean-up and paint-up cam¬ paigns conducted throughout the United States each year. It is es¬ timated that there are now about 1,000 American paint factories, employing about 27,000 wage earners. It has been estimated that last year the industry sold more than 400 million dollars worth of i^aint, lacquers, and var¬ nish. There are said to be 30,000 American stores which sell paint; and it would be difficult to say how many thousands of painters and decorators are given employ¬ ment. But perhaps the most impor¬ tant consideration of all is the added happiness—the more cheer¬ ful environment—which bri ght colors and new paint are bring¬ ing to the people of America. The Iron and The iron and steel industry en¬ joys the distinction of being the only one which had its origin among the stars. From other planets millions upon millions of miles away from our little earth came what was probably the first iron used by man. Bushing wdiite-hot through the vast reaches of space, meteorites including iron among their elements crashed to the earth, and were there found by the men of long ago. It is not surprising that some of the ancients believed that the sky was made of iron, and the early Egyp¬ tians, Assyrians and Hebrews had words for it which meant, ‘‘metal from heaven.” It is thought that long ago some primitive man, watching his campfire, first noticed that a chunk of this pure iron, heated by chance in the fire, could be bent or hammered into weapons or tools. And after this discov¬ ery, man learned to smelt the iron ore found abundantly in the earth. Indeed, as long as 5,000 years ago there are said to have been blast forges in Egypt. Strange as it may seem, the larg¬ est single iron casting in exist¬ ence today was made nearly 1,000 years ago. It is the figure of a lion 20 feet high and it is found in an old Chinese city. Warriors of antiquity used chariots of iron, fore-runners of the all-steel bodies of today. Steel Industry The Romans knew the art of refining iron and during the Mid¬ dle Ages the difficult and slow process was gradually improved. But steel remained a rare and precious commodity — something to be possessed only by the rich. Jewelry was made of steel. Magic tales were told of the steel swords possessed by the knights of old, such for example as Ex- calibur, the great sword of King Arthur, which guarded him from death. One of the first modern experi¬ ments conducted for the purpose of discovering the exact nature of steel was made by Citizen Louis Clouet, a French scientist at the time of the French Revolution. Clouet took a diamond and placed it in a small iron crucible over a hot fire. At the end of his experi¬ ment, the diamond had complete¬ ly disappeared. But the iron cru¬ cible now had a surface hard as steel. Thus, was demonstrated the hardening effect of the carbon in the diamond, when it was ab¬ sorbed into the iron. The earliest American settlers realized that in order to conquer the wilderness, they must have iron tools. So the settlers in Vir¬ ginia built a forge in the wilder¬ ness in the year 1619, but unfor¬ tunately these earliest American ironworkers were all massacred by Indians. Twenty-five years later, at Lynn, Mass., was estab- 9 10 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE lishecl the first successful Ameri¬ can ironworks. Its first product, a 3-legged, cast-iron pot, may still be seen. In these early days, by the way, the term “pig iron” originated to describe the standard unit in which iron is sold. The white-hot liquid iron, pouring from the mouth of the furnace, went first into a broad shallow trench called a sow. Opening off the sow at right angles were smaller trenches called pigs. The arrangement suggested a sow with her little })igs and thus we have our ex¬ pression “pig iron.” Iron ore was discovered in many parts of our country and blast furnaces were built by the early settlers. And here is an in¬ teresting fact: It was the custom of these early American ironmas¬ ters to name their furnaces for their sweethearts and wives, and many of these names pei*sist to this very day. In operation to¬ day we find the Carrie furnace, at Rankin, Pa.; the Eliza furnace in Pittsburgh; and the Isabella fur¬ nace of Sharpsburg, and many others. So it is evident that those men of iron, as so often is the case, had their sentimental side. But the age of iron soon gave place to the age of steel, and now we come to the dramatic episode of William Kelly. In the year 1847, Kelly was engaged in the manufacture of wrought iron sugar kettles for the Kentucky farmers. Following the custom of ages past, he covered the molten iron with charcoal in his furnace. But one day, quite by accident, Kelly noticed that the air blast of his furnace was blow¬ ing directly upon the exposed molten iron, and to his utter amazement, the exposed iron, in¬ stead of being cooled off by the blast of air, became white hot! Against all the beliefs of the time, the iron in Kelly’s furnace that day w^as actually being purified by the blast of cold air! After that, Kelly talked so much about his discovery of “making steel without fuel”, that his wife thought he had become mentally unbalanced and sent him to see a doctor. Oddly enough, an Englishman, Henry Bessemer, working quite independently, also discovered the same process of making steel and actually ob¬ tained the first patent on it. But, though the process is commonly called the “Bessemer process”, the United States Patent Office in the year 1857 declared that Kelly was the original inventor. Kelly’s converter was not widely used commercial!}^, however, until 1871. The modern world was clamor¬ ing for steel, which could now be made cheaply and in large quantities. Our American indus¬ try grew by leaps and bounds. By the year 1890 our production of steel had topped that of any other country in the world. Ever since, we have easily held first place. Last year over one-third of the world’s steel production, or close to 50 million gross tons of steel, came from American mills. And here is a surprising fact— more than half of the tremendous quantities of iron ore used to STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 11 make this steel comes from the Mesabi Range, in Minnesota. I want to tell you an interesting story about the discovery and de¬ velopment of this Mesabi Range, which yields more iron ore than any other deposit in the world. A few years before the Civil War, a hardy pioneer family by the name of Merritt settled on a homestead claim in the wilderness of Minnesota. There were eight brothers in this family. One brother, Lewis H. Merritt, be¬ lieved that a great deposit of iron ore lay beneath the comparatiA^ely flat surface of the land. By the vear 1890, the Merritt brothers were prepared to dig for this iron. The story goes that to as¬ sist them, they brought over from England a Cornishman, an expert mining engineer. After looking over the ground, far from any railroad, the Cor¬ nishman told them, “You’ll never be able to sink a shaft! The sides will cave in.” The Merritt brothers went into a huddle. Then, they timidly asked, “Why should you have to sink a shaft? Why not just dig the ore right up vrith shovels?” This was an unheard-of idea, to tlie mining engineer. He re¬ signed, and went home. But the Merritts carried their theory into jjractice and today, the Mesabi Range is the scene of the largest man-made excavation in the face of the earth. I wish I could take vou with me this afternoon to the place where power shovels are digging out the ore in this huge hole wliich rivals even the Grand Canyon in size. It is gaily col¬ ored, too, like the Grand Canyon with the rich reds and browns of different types of iron ore. Scores of little donkey engines haul the ore from the pit to the surface, Avhere bigger trains carry it to the water front at Duluth. From there, lake steamers, loaded and unloaded by machinery, de¬ liver it to the blast furnaces at various lake ports. And here is a fact that seems difficult to believe—the greatest part of the iron ore mined in the United States, from the time it is taken from the ground until it is made into a flnished product, is never touched by the hand of man. Giant ladles carry the mol¬ ten iron from the blast furnace to the “open hearth furnace” where it is “cooked” to exactly the right degree. The converters of Besse¬ mer and Kelly have been largely replaced by these open hearth fur¬ naces, in which most of our steel is made today. But the strangest part of our journey has just begun. The white hot chunks of steel are con¬ veyed to the rolling-mill, which is exactly what the name implies— a series of giant, powerful rollers between wdiich the steel is rolled back and forth, like pie crust. In the marvelous new continuous mills, often extending for a quar¬ ter of a mile or more, the thick chunk of steel passes through one stand of rolls after another until it may come out as thin as a flne sheet of paper. These new rolling-mills, costing millions of dollars, are only part 154556°—37 2 12 U. S. DEPAliTME^T OF COMMERCE of the marvelous development of modern steel, a development that has come lar^elv within the last 10 years. Today’s streamlined trains and airplanes, today’s air- conditioning equipment, even to¬ day’s automobiles, depend upon modern steel. The present-day automobile, with its all-steel body, contains as manv as 125 different kinds of steel, and yet it weighs less than half as much as an auto¬ mobile of 20 years ago! Contrast the modern American kitchen with’its gleaming, stainless steel equipment, with the dark, heavy kitchen equipment of yesterday. Modern concrete highways are bound together with a web of steel. The president of one of our great steel companies made this state¬ ment : “Our modern economic life could not exist if it depended upon the kind of steel available 10 years ago.” Steel springs, household equip¬ ment, steel furniture, even steel houses, contribute to our comfort. And dav bv day the scientists at work in the research laboratories of the American steel industry discover new uses and improve¬ ments. One of the gi^eatest en¬ emies of mankind, rust, is being graduallv eliminated. The aver- age life of steel in America today, it is claimed, is twice as long as it was 50 vears ago! 4/ C? Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent by the steel indus- trv for research and for new 4/ equipment—a total investment, it is estimated, of more than $11,000 for each worker employed I It might seem at first sight that with all this labor-saving machin¬ ery there would be fewer jobs in the steel industry today. But as a matter of fact, the reverse is true. Employment in the indus- tr}^ in December 1936 was at the highest point ever reached, with over half a million men on the payroll—50,000 more than were employed in 1929! And the basic wage rates of the country’s steel employees are on the highest level in the history of the industry. All of these figures are published by the industr^^’s own statistical ex¬ perts. The products turned out by the new machinery are so much cheaper and so much more nearly perfect that the use of steel is tremendously increasing, and with it employment increases also. Steel experts tell me, too, that the steel industry is among the safest of our great employers. Perhaps this may be due partly to the fact that nine out of ten of the executives in the American steel industry are men who have worked their way up from the bottom of the ladder. Many be¬ gan their careers as laborers in the mills, where the Avhite-hot metal blazes. So we see that the iron and steel industry plays a very im 2 )ortant part in the daily lives of each of us. Civilization would have been a long wav back on the road had it not been for iron and steel. And it is not inappropriate that iron is so essential to all of us be¬ cause the world itself is pretty much of an iron ball. The Electrical We are all familiar ^yith the story of Benjamin Franklin and his kite. How, in 1752, he drew electricity from the clouds, charged a Leyden jar, and proved that atmospheric electricity, which causes lightning and fric¬ tional electricity, are one and the same. But Franklin’s experiment, though successful, failed to clear up the eternal mystery of elec¬ tricity. What is electricity? No one has ever been able to answer this question. Over 2,000 years ago, in ancient Greece, philosophers knew that amber, Avhen it was rubbed and thus charged with electricity by friction, had an attraction for other substances. The compass, which guides our ships by elec¬ trical magnetism, was in use thousands of years ago among the ancient Chinese. Except for the compass, liowever, the marvelous power of electricity remained un¬ harnessed for all practical pur¬ poses until less than 100 years ago. In ancient times the patriarch Job asked his friends, “can’st thou send out lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, ‘here we are?’ ” On a spring day in 1844 Job’s question Avas answered. This was when Samuel Morse demonstrated the successful operation of the Goods Industry Avorld’s first telegi’aph line, be- tAveen Baltimore and Washington. A gathering of notables had as¬ sembled in the chambers of the Supreme Court in Washington to listen to the first message. Almost breathlessly they Avaited. At length Morse, solemn faced, sat doAvn at the instrument. Click- click, click-click Avent that first telegraph message ever to be sent. Instantlv IMorse’s assistant in Bal- timore replied Avith the same AA ords: “W hat hath God Avrought!” And true indeed a miracle Avas Avrought that day. A feAv years after that, in a lonely telegraph office in Strat¬ ford, Canada, an American boy named Thomas Edison Avas AA^ork- ing as night operator. During eA^ery spare moment young Edi¬ son Avas busy Avith electrical ex- l^eriments such as all boys like to make. The one thing that both¬ ered him Avas that nobody could explain the telegraph. There Avas an old Scotch lineman Avorking around there and Edison used to talk Avith him about it. But the only explanation of the mystery of the telegraj:)!! Avhich the Scotch¬ man could throAv on the subject Avas this: “If you had a dog long enough to reach from Edinburgh to London, and if you pulled his tail in Edinbui*gh, he’d bark in London.” 14 U. tS. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Edison was not completely sat¬ isfied with this explanation. He continued his experiments, taking the telegraph apart and putting it together again. In the years that followed, Edison helped to per¬ fect the telephone, first invented by Alexander Graham Bell; the dynamo, for producing electric current; and most wonderful of all, the modern incandescent elec¬ tric lamp. In 1882 Edison carried all the incandescent lamps in the world at that time to Xew York City in a market basket. Today the total production of light bulbs each 3 'ear equals about 880 mil¬ lion, or enough to put a band of bright lights entirely around the world. The first electric household ap¬ pliance was the electric iron, which was invented soon after the incandescent bulb. Accidents and fires from those earlv electric «/ irons were of frequent occurrence. Tliere is an interesting storv of how the first automatic thermostat device for the electric iron was discovered. Man}’ years ago a Yankee bv the name of John A. V Spencer was employed in a log¬ ging camp in the deep woods of ^Maine. Part of Spencer’s duty was to watch the stove. Well, something about that stove pipe drew his particular attention. It was an old-fashioned, right an¬ gled stove pipe, with a metal cap covering one side of the joint wliere the pipe turned. At ordi¬ nary tenq)eratures, this cap was always convex in shape, bulging out; but wlien the fire was burn¬ ing hot, the cap would snaj) sud¬ denly to a concave position, sink¬ ing in. Then the fire became low, and the cap snapped back again. Thus, Spencer discovered the prin¬ ciple of the disk type of thermo¬ stat, which automatically snaps off and on according to tempera¬ ture. Behind every improvement in the electrical goods industry lies some such storv of achievement %/ and discovery. Perhaps we best can visualize the vast comforts and conveniences that electricity is bringing to our homes by pay¬ ing an imaginary call to a com¬ pletely electrified home. Electric chimes announce our presence at the front door. We are arriving, say, in time for break¬ fast. Besides a toaster and coffee- maker and other familiar break¬ fast appliances, there is a break¬ fast table which boasts an electric egg boiler. It has 3 holes for as many eggs, and 3 teaspoonfuls of water are poured in the base. The water completes the electric cir¬ cuit, vaporizes and boils the eggs by steam. With the evaporation of the water, the circuit is broken, the electricitv is shut off automati- callv and the eggs are done. Be- sides the customary electric stove, vacuum cleaner, refrigerator, and washing machine, this home is equipped with an electric waste- grinder, located in the drain-pipe of the kitchen sink. Plates are scraped directly into the sink, the current turned on, and all the waste instantly is pulverized and washed awav. Wlien bedtime comes in this electrical home, we sleep comfort- STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 15 ably in our air-conditioned room. A sun lamp over the bed at night or morning will begin to give us a fine healthful tan. We can shave with an electric razor. An electric exerciser, of the belt type, will give us a morning workout. Altogether, this electrified house may have over 100 electric outlets. And this brings me to a very important point. Elec¬ tricity can do almost every kind of work in the home, but only if the electric wiring in the house is adequate to meet the demand for service. There must be a suf¬ ficient size of copper within the wires themselves to carry any re¬ quired volume of current, and, of course, there must also be enough outlets and switches, conveniently placed. All these appliances and many more are within the reach of the average household, if they are purchased one by one. This ac¬ tually has been proved. Some¬ times a family in average circum¬ stances can pay for an electric clothes-washer or an electric re¬ frigerator out of the cash sav¬ ings which these appliances make possible. And when one particu¬ lar appliance is fully j^aid for, the savings continue and can be used for the purchase of still another electrical servant. And while, of course, the monthly bill for electric current will increase, the rate of increase should be less and less, as more current is used. For, in most American cities, a premium is of¬ fered on large volume consump¬ tion of eloctricitv. Almost every day in the year, the American electrical goods in¬ dustry presents a new marvel to American life. One of the new¬ est innovations is the photoelec¬ tric eye. In some American cit¬ ies the photoelectric eye is al¬ ready used to control traffic. At a point, for example, where a bridle path crosses a busy high¬ way, the horse and rider, as they approach the street crossing, au¬ tomatically interrupt the beam of the electric eye. This causes a red light to flash on the street signal, and traffic stops till the horse and rider have gone by. By using the photoelectric eye it is possible for a motorist driv¬ ing home to have his garage doors swing open automatically without the touch of a hand, and to close behind him when he leaves the garage. So far, we have not mentioned the radio. Many of you, I am sure, have listened to the thrill¬ ing accounts of the rescue work during floods; and it is a fact that many lives thus were saved through the radio. And the most wonderful developments of radio are as vet ahead of us. Commer- */ cial television apparently is still some distance down the road, but the Federal Communications Commission tells me that the rate of progress in this field of ex¬ perimentation is rapid. And now for a moment let’s look at the other side of the pic¬ ture. Although over 23,000,000 homes in the United States are wired for electricity, most of these are in the cities. Less than one 16 U. S. DEPARTMENT OP" COMMERCE out of every seven American farm liomes is connected to a power line. But our public utilities and the Rural Electrification Administra¬ tion are Avorking* fast to extend power lines over mountains and ATilleys, out into country places Avliere the blessings of electricity luiA^e not been aATiilable before. Last year, 193G, the construction of rural electric lines was about double that of 1935, and OA^er 100,000 farms Avere provided Avith electricity for the first time. As you might suspect, the tre¬ mendous increase in the use of home appliances, both in city and country, is making busy times for the great electrical goods indus¬ try. Last year the consumption of electricity for the use of home appliances Avas 57 percent ahead of the banner year of 1929 ! Almost 1 billion dollars’ Avorth of the lead¬ ing household appliances Avere sold last year in retail stores throughout the Nation. Last year, too, oA’er 9 million Americans bought radio sets, and over 2 million of our citizens purchased electric refrigerators ! I am told that there are at least 800 con¬ cerns Avhich manufacture house¬ hold appliances, including radios, and 125,000 skilled Avorkers are engaged in making these radios and household appliances Avhich are sold throughout the ciAulized Avorld. I am sorry that I haA^en’t time to discuss still another phase of electrical progress. In other days, factories Avere obliged to locate near some source of j^oAver. But today American industry noAV reaches out its mighty arms OA^er electric Avires into eATry part of our Nation. WhereA’er a poAver line runs, there industrv and em- ployment can make their home. Whether science Avill eATr be able to fathom the mystery of elec¬ tricity is a question no one dare try to ansAver. One theory is that all life is based on this mysterious i)OAver. But, regardless of the truth or falsity of this theory, life Avithout electricity Avould indeed seem gi'eatly restricted, and hoAv AA*e all Avoidd miss the countless comforts and coin^eniences AA'hich tills miracle force makes possible ! The Fisheries Industry If we were able this afternoon to visit the famous old Massa¬ chusetts town of Gloucester we should see all about us a forest of masts silhouetted against the sky. For here the old-time sail¬ ing vessel is making its last stand. No doubt some old sea-captain on the wharves would tell us stories of the great deep. For example, he might tell us some such strange anecdote as that of Isaac Gould, an old-time fisherman in the salt- fish trade. One day, returning to Gloucester from a voyage in the schooner Columhia^ as the story goes, something told old Isaac that the next time he sailed on the Columhia he would be lost at sea. And, true enough, as the dread premonition had indicated, the Columbia on her very next trip sank in a great gale and all on board were lost. Many tales quite as strange as that of Isaac Gould’s presentiment are not uncommon among fisher folk. Perhaps, none of our great American industries has a more colorful background than that of our fisheries. And, regardless of its dangers and hardships, there always is that irresistible call of the sea. This strange lure of the deep, with its treachery and its fascina¬ tion, were never better described, perhaps, than in the lines of Mase¬ field : I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. ^ Hs Hs * I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull’s way and the whale's way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife. From the earliest time to the present, our Nation has played a stirring part in the adventures and the drama of the sea. The Pilgrim Fathers, ancestors of many a New England sailor of today, were great fishermen. It seems well established that the Pilgrims came to New England not onlv for religious freedom, but for fish. For before they sailed, one of their number asked permission of King James for their venture. “What profit might arise?” asked the King. The old Pilgrim answered with one word—“Fishing.” “So God have my soul!” exclaimed the King. “ ‘Tis an honest trade; ’twas the apostles’ own calling.” George Washington operated a commercial fishery on the Poto¬ mac River, as entries in his diary show. And 100 years later Ches¬ apeake Bay was the scene of a thrilling chapter in American his¬ tory, the oyster wars. The oyster business was boom¬ ing in the years from about 1870 to 1890. Hundreds of ovster %/ 17 18 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE dredges sailed up and down the Chesapeake, scooping up the oys¬ ters from the bottom of the bay. Some of these sailboats had law- abiding skippers. But the greater part of the oyster dredgers, sad to relate, paid heed to the laws of neither God nor man. Reck¬ lessly they invaded the shallow river waters, where they were for¬ bidden by law from taking the reserve supply of oysters. And some of the dredge-boat captains shanghaied sailors from the slums of Baltimore. Throughout the oyster season, these prisoners turned the hea^y winches to lift the dredges, like so many galley slaves. In the year 1888 the piratical captains of several oyster boats fired upon a passenger steamer in the Chester River! At this outrage, the whole State of Mainland was aroused. Cap¬ tain Tom Howard, commanding a Maryland police steamer, was ordered to ‘‘Go in there and sink ’em !” Captain Howard borrowed a brass cannon from the United States Xavy and steamed out to meet the foe at Hell Point. A large fleet of oyster boats were waiting, armed with Winchester rifles. After many hours of desperate fighting, Howard ordered “Full speed ahead!” He rammed the steel prow of his steamer right into the middle of the nearest oys¬ ter dredges, cutting them in half, sinking them, and causing great loss of life. And thus ended the bloody oyster wars. It is a far cry from events such as these to the peaceful, law-abid¬ ing oyster industry of today, which employs approximately 60,000 men—or more than any other branch of our fisheries. Many of these men are engaged in oyster cultivation, making sure that in the future there will al¬ ways be a good supply. To which may be added the fact that one female oyster can lay as many as 500 million eggs in one season. Tlie old saying about oysters only being safe to eat when there is an “R” in the name of the month is no longer true. One of the most thrilling and romantic chapters in the whole story of American fisheries, how¬ ever, is the story of the whalers. A hundred years ago, whale oil was a principal source of artifi¬ cial light. From New Bedford and Nantucket, men sailed the seven seas to harpoon the mighty whale. Often the whalers were gone 2 years or more before they returned—if, indeed, they ever returned. It was partly in order to find ports of refuge for our whalers that Commodore Perry of the United States Na^^" succeeded in opening the ports of Japan to foreign commerce for the first time, in the year 1852. Our whalers also sought refuge in the cold northern seas along the coast of Alaska, which in those davs belonged to Russia. In the year 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7,200,- 000. During the present year, 1937, the value of one single prod¬ uct of Alaska—cainned salmon— JSTOKIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 19 is expected to reach $40,000,000, or nearly six times the amount of money the United States once paid for the Territory. And here is a surprising fact about another Pacific coast fish¬ ery. Although over 1 billion pounds of sardines are caught off the California coast each year, most of them are never eaten! They are good eating, too; but the greater part of the catch goes to make paint, linoleum, cooking- fats, and chicken feed—to men¬ tion only a few of their many uses. The products of the sea are found everywhere on land. An American woman, for example, may begin her day by using soaps and cosmetics made with fish oil. Her perfume very likely has a base of ambergris, obtained from the whale. Perhaps she has a tor¬ toise-shell comb, and a toilet set beautifully colored with the pearly essence from fish scales. Even her walking shoes may be of shark-skin, and her buttons, most probably, are of ocean pearl or from mussel shells. This ancient industry constant¬ ly is changing its methods to keep in step with our modern life. Here is one example: Years ago, haddock which were caught on cod-fishermen’s hooks were thrown back into the sea as of no value. Later there was a moder¬ ate demand for them. Then, some Yankee genius thought of cutting the haddock into small, convenient slices, or fillets. The fresh fillets, free from bones and wrapped in parchment paper. caught the taste of the public, and today haddock is one of our most popular ocean fish. And such a delicious food as the swordfish, once a luxury only for the table of the wealthy, is now frozen and widely sold in the form of ready-cut steaks. A most important development in the American fisheries has been the scientific study of the food value of fish. It is now known that sea food contains far more iodine than any other common food—in fact, from 50 to 200 times as much iodine as is found in land foods. In regard to canned fish, it is interesting to note that the bones, which are soft, can and should be eaten for the calcium they contain. The calcium in the fish bones helps to build strong bones and teeth in the human body. Today, Americans are eating more and more fish—over 2i/^ billion pounds, it is estimated, every year ! Whitefish and trout come from the Great Lakes, red- snapper and shrimp from the Gulf. Altogether over 160 kinds of sea food are now sold in American markets, from our coasts, our rivers, and the Great Lakes. And over 100 foreign countries buy American fish — fresh, frozen, salted, or canned. No wonder that today over 200,- 000 Americans earn their living in our fisheries. This total, of course, does not include at least 10 million other Americans who fish for sport—10 million Americans who are will¬ ing to swear always that it was 20 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE the “biggest one that got away! ’’ To help along this greatest Amer¬ ican sport, the State and Federal Governments maintain hundreds of fish hatcheries in every part of our countrv. V Xearlv half of our total harvest of sea food todav is taken from beyond our own territorial waters. A recent development is the mod¬ ern factory ship, which has a com¬ plete refrigerating plant on board, able to quick-freeze the fish the minute they are caught, sealing in all their fresh, delicious flavor. Other factory-ships contain can¬ neries which are operated at sea. Because of such modern equip¬ ment, the factory ships are able to make long voyages, cruising the far corners of the earth and widening the fishing areas. Strange as it may seem, the United States Bureau of Fisheries has made a scientific study of “fisherman’s luck.” In the case of the mackerel, for example, predic¬ tions are issued in advance regard¬ ing the quantity of fish that can be caught during the season! These advance predictions make possible a great saving to the in¬ dustry, as it is said to cost at least half a million dollars to outfit the New England mackerel fleet for the season. And thus our American fisher¬ men carry on the age-old tradi¬ tions of the sea. Modernized and made more efficient it is true, but still, in the background there re¬ mains ever the mighty sea, which changes not with the wings of time. The Automobile Industry Early in the present century, a man, Avhose name happened to be Brown, purchased an automo¬ bile. One afternoon, coming around a bend in the road. Brown met a farmer and his wife, driv¬ ing a wagon. Following the cus¬ tom of those early days, the motorist stopped his car, in order not to frighten the horses, and courteously offered to help the farmer lead the team safely by. “Xo, thank you”, said the farm¬ er. “If you can lead my wife by, I can handle the team.” So Brown escorted the terrified lady safely past that dangerous new machine, the automobile. Perhaps Brown did not realize it, but on that dusty highway that day he was standing at the cross¬ roads of the centuries. Behind him lay thousands of years of people trudging from place to place on foot, of horse-drawn ve¬ hicles. of ox teams, of men on horseback struggling over well- nigh impassable roads. Ahead of ; him lay the great age of the an- ; tomobile, an invention which later ! was to revolutionize life within j the span of one generation, give a new implication to the word “transportation” and create a giant industry employing more than 400,000 workers directly, and indirectly giving work to 5 | million more. I Many centuries ago what would seem to have been a direct proph¬ ecy of the automobile was uttered by the Pro^^het Xahum, who said : The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways; they shall seem like torches; they shall run like light¬ nings. I wish I had time to tell you some of the fantastic stories about the development of the automo¬ bile—of the crude, lumbering con¬ traptions that were the dreams of many men who, even before the first railroad, were experimenting Avith steam carriages. In the citA" of Philadelphia, for example, in 1804, a young American inventor named OlAer EA^ans mounted a steam flatboat upon an ordinary Avagon. He connected the steam engine to the Avagon Avheels and droA^e along Market Street, AAdiile croAvds gazed in utter amazement. One hundred years ago, steam busses Avere carrying passengers in England, running on a regular schedule, like the modern motor- bus. But these early steam cars tore up the roads and frightened animals, so a laAv Avas passed re¬ quiring that a man must Avalk in front of the steam carriage, Avith a red flag or a red lantern. In other countries, especially in France, the roads AA^ere better, and sloAvlv but steadih’ the iiiATiitors 21 22 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE pushed oinvard with their age- old dream. And in the year 1883. a German citizen, Karl Benz, combined two new inventions, the gasoline engine and the bicycle, to create the first motorcycle. Then, he put the gasoline engine on a tricycle, and finally, upon a vehicle with four wheels. If we could turn back time this afternoon by 40 years, to 1896, we would find that there were only about half a dozen gasoline automobiles in the United States ! The Americans who built these first cars were Cliarles E. Duryea, El wood Haynes. Henry Ford, Charles King, and K. E. Olds. Forty years later, in 1936, there were over 28 million cars in America, 1 for every 5 persons in our Nation. Let’s imagine a pa¬ rade of these cars, extending all the way around the country, touching at the four corners. New York, Seattle, San Diego, and Jacksonville. This gigantic loop would be 8,600 miles long with 9 solid lanes of cars packed bumper to bumper. I’ll say that would be a real traffic jam! Al¬ most TYo of these traffic lanes would be filled with passenger cars, while more than V/j of the lanes would be occupied by trucks and busses. Motorbusses, of which more than half are used in transporting children to schools, would make up a single column 455 miles long. Every two blocks along this 8,600-mile road we would find a motor-vehicle dealer, ready, aye, anxious, to sell us more cars, while between every two of these dealers would be one or two service garages. And as for fill¬ ing stations, well, we would find one every 132 feet. Perhaps some of you who are listening to this program were among that gallant band of pio¬ neers who only yesterday, as it might seem, braved mudholes, and break-downs, and even the jeers of credulous spectators. To overcome one of the early obstacles to the automobile, that of frightened horses, an American genius of 30 years ago patented the Horsey Horseless Carriage. This gasoline bugg}" had a wooden model of a horse stuck out in front, in order to fool the horses. In fact, almost every conceivable kind of car was manufactured in those early days, and there were over 1,000 different makes of pio¬ neer American cars! Looking back over some of these names is like thumbing through an old family album. For example, how Avoud you like to take a ride this afternoon in the Kerosene Motor Surrey? Or the Bugg}’car, the Bugmobile, the Ben-Hur, or even the Dodo? Many are the stories told of the days Avhen to ride in a motorcar Avas the great American adven¬ ture. One manufacturer used to advertise, “Nothing to Avatch but the road.” A customer Avrote in to the factory that he Avas tired of Avatching the same piece of road. Another early make of car boasted that it had Avooden AA’heels, AA'ooden axles, and a AA^ooden frame, to AA'hich an unhappy mo¬ torist added: “Wooden run.” STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 23 But in spite of jokes and hard¬ ships, the lusty infant industry grew rapidly. And here is a point worth remembering—the Ameri¬ can automobile industry was created by struggling young men who came in mostly from the farms to work in the shops. They built the first American cars with their own hands, and in spite of every discouragement they kept on tinkering with them until they would run. And in spirit, this giant indus¬ try has stayed young. The same youthful spirit of enterprise has made each year’s car better than the one before. Most of these improvements, by the way, are in parts of the car which you and I never see. For example, some of tlie parts in the modern engine are accurate with¬ in one ten-thousandth of an inch. And to attain such accuracy, pre¬ cision tools are used which can measure within one one-millionth of an inch. Perhaps it wfill help us to imagine what this means, if we suppose that we take a piece of bar steel, 1 foot long and 1 inch square, and that we place this bar of steel in a vise. Now, if a fly should alight on one end of the bar, the weight of the fly will bend the steel one one-millionth of an inch. And today’s car, the product of this precision, is sold at only a fraction of the price that was asked for the puffing “one-lung¬ ers” of a few years ago. Perhaps the story of the auto¬ mobile really begins on the farm. For this industrv is now one of •' our greatest users of farm prod¬ ucts—everything, I am told, from milk and goat’s-hair to cotton, corn, and beeswax. In fact, this modern industrial giant. Atlas¬ like, carries other giants on its shoulders—the great petroleum industry, the rubber industry, and the plate-glass industry, to men¬ tion onlv a few. It is the largest single consumer of steel. The “horseless carriage” of yesterday, in fact, is now the greatest user of raw materials the world has ever known. Every State in the Union and many foreign countries supply these materials, and in turn, America supplies most of the world’s automobiles. One of the most interesting parts of our story lies in the de¬ velopment of our great American liighway system. The first high¬ ways in this country were made by the buffalo and the deer, and these wilderness trails were used also by the Indians and the early pioneers. Slowly the covered wa¬ gon jolted and bounced over these rough, primitive trails. George Washington was among those who urged the people to build good roads, and indeed a start on the work was made. In 1801 the Federal Government gave its first aid to road building through the sale of public lands. But within a few years people be¬ gan to lose interest in roads be¬ cause they had become fascinated with that new marvel—the rail¬ road. So for many generations the roads of America stayed rough. Onlv 33 vears ago, in cr c V “ 24 U. S. DEl’AKTMENT OF COMMERCE 1904, it was said that in the United States there were less than 150 miles of what were called in those da 3 ’S dustless roads. Then the American motorists organized for battle. They were tired of paying to have their cars hauled out of mudholes. They demanded better roads and they got them. Toda}’, there are close to 1,000,000 miles of improved roads in this country, and over 100,000 miles of concrete roads, which cost $35,000 a mile. And engineers tell me that per¬ haps our greatest period of road building has onl}^ begun. The ex¬ perts are planning for divided roadways, to separate opposing streams of traffic. Cloverleaf turns with overpasses and under- ])asses will do away with level crossings. These highways of to¬ morrow should handle large vol¬ umes of traffic safely and smoothly. Roads such as these are expensive to build, it is true, but in some States construction already has started. I am told that Indiana, for example, is planning to build divided roads for all its main arterial routes. Certainly, we shall need still more roads in the future, because last vear the American automo- •/ bile industry turned out over 4,000,000 new cars, besides thou¬ sands of trailers. Today it would be futile to try to forecast the future of the trailer, just as 40 years ago it was not possible to predict the future of the automobile. After all, the house trailer is only the most re¬ cent of many new products and new ideas which the automobile has introduced into our lives. Perhaps, in the future, the motor industrv will usher in still more «/ changes and innovations, as yet undreamed of. One thing at least is certain—increasingly America will continue to roll forward on wheels. The Baking Industry What will people not do for bread? As one answer to this question, let me recall a dramatic scene that Avas enacted in the streets of Paris during the reign of King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette—a stir¬ ring episode AAdiich by only a few years preceded the days Avhen these monarchs were hauled aAvay to the guillotine. In the old city’s narrow streets a noisy mob Avas hurrying angrily from place to place. But the strangest thing about this mob Avas that it AA’as composed largely of mothers— furious, frenzied mothers—many of them carrying their babes in their arms. Through the city from street to street they SAA^armed, brandishing pokers and broom¬ sticks, screaming OA^er and OA^er one word, “Bread! Bread! Bread!” On to the palace of Ver¬ sailles they marched, 8 miles away. There they spent the entire night rioting about the palace grounds demanding bread and threatening the lives of the royal family. In the morning they forced the King and Queen and their children into a carriage. Then back to the city SAvept this mad mothers’ mob, shouting as they pressed close to the royal carriage, “We liaAn got the baker, and the baker’s Avife, and the baker’s little boy. Noav we shall haA^e bread.” For some- hoAv they felt that if only they could get the King and Queen into Paris bread Avould be provided for the people. But this proved to be only a false hope. Bread riots continued. And then one day suddenly the storm broke— the storm that changed the des¬ tiny of nations—the French Kevo- lution. Kecently, a gi*eat American city Avas inundated by the rising waters. The bakeries were flooded. Tliousands of refugees huddled on the hilltops, cold and hungry. Again, the cry Avas for “Bread !” But in this emergency the American Bed Cross Avas in charge. A speedy call Avas made to the bakeries of a city 100 miles aAvay. WTthin 45 minutes air¬ planes carrying hundreds of loaves of bread had reached the flooded city! And before night¬ fall, carloads of bread AA^ere speed¬ ing toward the stricken region from eA^ery part of our country. If we Avere to go this afternoon to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NeAv York City, AA^e should find there a basket containing the oldest bread in the Avorld. This basket of bread Avas discoA^ered in the tomb of an Egyptian Avoman by the name of Ra-Mose and her husband, Hat-Xufer, Avho lived about 3,500 years ago. This an¬ cient bread is Avell preserved, to- 25 26 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE day. One loaf has a hard, glossy crust. Another seems to be a kind of fruit cake which may have been the wedding cake of this married pair. According to the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt, the soul after death required nourishment, just as in life. Thus, bread was often placed in the tombs. Bread found on American tables today comes to us as the heritage of many ages and the gift of many nations. The cakes and cookies molded in the form of ani¬ mals, which we find in modern bake shops today, remind us of still another custom of ancient days when living sacrifices were made upon the altars of the tem¬ ples. It is thought the bakers of antiquity were able to persuade their customers that bread molded in the shape of animals would be acceptable to the gods. And the hot cross bun is the symbol of another tradition. The house¬ wives of the Middle Ages marked their loaves with the sign of the cross, before placing them in the oven, to keep away the evil spirits, which, it was thought, might otherwise cause the loaf to fall. The crescent-shaped roll comes down to us from the time when the Turks were besieging the city of Vienna. During the siege, a baker of Vienna one day heard a faint rattling noise in his cellar. The baker concluded that the Turkish Army was undermining the city, and he told his belief to the Emperor. This discovery saved the city of Vienna. After the war was over, the Emperor sent for the baker and offered him a large reward of money. But the baker asked only to have the privilege for himself and his de¬ scendants of baking his rolls in the shape of the Turkish crescent. And today, we can buy such rolls at almost any corner bakery. Our rye and barley bread comes from Europe, oat bread from Scotland, unleavened bread from Palestine, potato bread from Ire¬ land, and rice bread from China. Cheese cake is the gift of ancient Greece. And over 2,000 years ago a Greek baker named Anxarchus, a friend of Alexander the Great, operated the first bakery along sanitary lines. He required his bakers to wear gloves when they kneaded their dough and gauze over their mouths and nostrils. As far back as the year 1155 there was formed in London the Worshipful Company of Bakers, which even to this day is one of the proudest organizations in that city. Oddly enough, there were once in London two rival com¬ panies of bakers, the White Bak¬ ers and the Brown Bakers. The White Bakers, who used only the fine wheat flour eaten by the nobles and the wealthy classes, would have nothing to do with the Brown Bakers who baked the dark, rye bread which was all the peasants could afford. Throughout parts of Europe to¬ day, this rye bread, sometimes called black bread, is still the food of the great masses of the people, and white bread is considered a luxury for the tables of the well- to-do. Only in America, can all afford a loaf of good, white bread. STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 27 And according to tradition Vienna and French bread gained their popularity in this country from the bakery which was once operated in the basement of the United States Capitol! During the war days of the early sixties, ovens were set up under the Sen¬ ate wing of the Capitol and there 16,000 loaves of bread a day were baked for the Union armies at the front. During the same war Ameri¬ cans formed the habit of eating crackers. Crackers, sealed in tin cans, were first sold in 1850 to supply the gold seekers who were crossing the continent to Cali¬ fornia. They needed bread which would keep during the long, hard journey. For the same reason, crackers, or hardtack, were baked in large quantities for the armies. And here is an interesting fact: From' the time of the Revolution¬ ary War down to the present day, the daily ration of the United States Army has included be¬ tween i and 2 pounds of bread. In fact, the United States Army maintains baking schools, where promising doughboys of high character and ability may learn the baker’s art. And to the bakers, I am told, we ow^e the old Revolutionary War song “Yankee Doodle”, for it was originally an old baker’s chantey. Today, the modern American baking industry represents the last word in sanitary exactions. The loaf of bread which comes to you, wrapped and sliced, you may be assured, has been made under spotless conditions. 154556 °— 37 - 3 In the United States the bak¬ er’s art has reached a high de¬ gree of perfection. Nowhere in the world, it is said, is it possible to find such delicious pies as are baked in our own land. Yes, good old pie is all-American. The same is true of doughnuts, Boston brown bread, raisin bread, and Parker House rolls. Today, it has been estimated by those interested in the baking industry, that the average adult American eats over five slices of bread each day in the year. To supply this tremendous demand, over 30,000 American bakeries, large and small, bake the enor¬ mous total of 1 billion loaves of bread a month. The most interesting thing about this huge quantity of bread is its uniform high quality. Behind this achievement of mod¬ ern baking lies an absorbing story of the triumphs of chem¬ istry and invention. For thousands of years men have used yeast, in one form or another, as a leaven. But follow¬ ing the work of the great French scientist Louis Pasteur, in the last century, a real scientific study was made for the first time of the yeast plant used in making bread. It was found that the tiny yeast plant will grow and multiply un¬ der cultivation. One cell of pure yeast may become the direct an¬ cestor of millions of other cells, all of the same uniform quality. Thus, it became possible to pro¬ duce yeast of standard purity for American bakers. 28 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE With modern discoveries, the formulae used by modern bakers differ in many respects from those of other days. A loaf of baker’s «/ bread toda}" will probably con¬ tain not only flour, yeast, and water, but also milk, malt, sugar, shortening, salt, and other ingre¬ dients. One purpose of modern baking is to produce bread that is appetizing and that contains a healthful balance of different food elements. Some of the larger bakeries use continuous procession ovens. The first continuous oven was patented in 1810 by Sir Isaac Coffin, a Brit¬ ish admiral Avho wanted to speed up the production of biscuits for the hungry sailors. In his inven¬ tion, the biscuit dough was placed on an endless web of wire cloth which was then slowly turned, drawing each row of biscuits closer and closer to the fire and turning them out at the end, per¬ fectly baked. Yet in spite of all the latest labor-saving equipment, such as electrically heated ovens and elec¬ tric mixers, the American baking- industry is the largest employer among our various food indus¬ tries. It employs over 200,000 wage earners, with a pay roll of approximately 250 million dollars annually. And with better hours, better wages, and better working conditions have come greater effi¬ ciency, until today the industry has largely replaced the home¬ made bread of yesterday. Even on isolated country roads, it is a frequent occurrence to meet farm¬ ers who have sold their grain in the market and are carrying home a loaf of “store bread” which was baked the night before in a bakery many miles away. And thus has come out of one of the most ancient of occupations, bread making, this great Ameri¬ can industry — a development which stands as a fitting tribute to our business efficiency and organi¬ zation genius. The Story Tlie great billion dollar paper industry of America owes its modern development to a lowly insect—the wasp. It was the wasp which taught men how to make paper out of wood. Perhaps, sometime, when you are walking in the countryside you may have the impulse (or temerity) to watch a wasp build her nest. First, she tears off a small piece of dry wood such as a sliver from a fence rail. Then, she chews it to a pulp, moistens the pulp and works it into a paste which she spreads out to dry. In the course of time she thus com¬ pletes a cone-shaped nest of real wood-pulp paper. Then she makes paper bands with which she fastens her nest to the over¬ hanging bough of a tree. Although scientists often had observed the wasp making paper, it was not until the middle of the last century that a German named Frederick Keller, after watching the wasp, first produced a successful machine for grind¬ ing wood into pulp. And this was the turning point in the march of the paper industry to its present tremendous propor¬ tions. Behind this invention of less than a hundred years ago, is a fascinating story stretching back of Paper to the very dawn of time.. The early races of mankind tried to express their thoughts on brick or stone. I am told that the cus¬ tom of leaving calling cards orig¬ inated in the stone age, when men lived in caves. If one of these cave men decided to visit the cave next door, he first threw a rock at the mouth of the cave to announce that he was coming. Otherwise, very likely he would have been hit over the head with a club. And, if the neighbor was aiot at home, it was the cave man’s custom to leave the stone with a mark scratched upon it to show that he had called. Later, men began to experi¬ ment with crude picture writing upon bits of pottery or stone. Scholars have discovered whole libraries of ancient books writ¬ ten upon bricks of clay. The people of ancient Egypt were probably the first to find an easier writing material in a plant called the papyrus, and from the name of this plant our modern word paper has come down to us. But the papyrus made only a poor substitute for real paper, and the search for writins^ mate- rial went on. Sometimes books were written on the skins of sheep or goats, and even today this parchment, or vellum, is still used for one purpose—to make col- 29 30 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE lege diplomas. All these ancient writing materials were so expen¬ sive and rare that few people in those days ever saw a book, or learned to read and write. Two thousand years ago in the ancient mysterious land of China, there lived a philosopher and teacher named Ts’ai Lun. He taught the people, among other things, how to rotate their crops and how to improve their fruits and vegetables. One day the Emperor sent for Ts’ai Lun and said to him, “Thou art a useful man Ts’ai Lun, and hast done much for thy people. But what availeth all thy labors if there be no way in which thy learning may be passed on to those who follow?” Ts’ai Lun dwelt deeply upon the Emperor’s words. Yes; un¬ less a good writing material could be found all his knowledge would be lost. And from this incident really began the art of making paper among the ancient Chinese. First, the bark of the mulberry and later rags were used for raw material. And the fundamental process of turning fibers of cellu¬ lose into paper, which Ts’ai Lun discovered 2,000 years ago, is still the basis of practice for the great modern paper industry. The j)rincipal difference, I am told, is tliat the entire process which the Chinese carried on slowly by hand now is done by great ma¬ chines which do all the work in the twinkling of an eve. And to- day, thanks to the wasp, we do not have to depend on rags for mak- ing paper. The Chinese are said to be high¬ ly skilled, also, in the art of keep¬ ing secrets. They kept the secret of making paper to themselves for over 500 years. Perhaps the art of making paper would never have become known to us if it had not been that in the year 751 the Chinese attacked the city of Samarkand, in central Asia, which was then held by the Arabs. The Arabs defeated the Chinese soldiers and took several prison¬ ers, and from these prisoners the Arabs learned the paper-maker’s art. In the old German citv of Mainz, in the year 1453, occurred an event that shook the world. This earth-shaking event was the publishing of the first printed book. The book itself was the Bible and the printer was Johann Gutenberg, who used a fine grade of rag paper. And here is an in¬ teresting fact—the rag paper in this ancient Bible is just as white, as beautiful, and as strong today as it was on the day it first came from the press, 500 years ago! No wonder that copies of this Guten¬ berg Bible are now worth many thousands of dollars, for each one» Several copies of the first printed Bible are to be found in the United States. But, as more and more books were printed, men began to worry about the supply of rags for paper. As early as 1690 the first Ameri¬ can paper mill was established, at Germantown, Pa., and by the year 1807 the shortage of rags was seri¬ ous, indeed. For in that year, a New England paper maker wrote STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 31 these urgent lines to the ladies of his community: Sweet ladies, pray be not offended Nor mind the jest of sneering wags ; No harm, believe us, is intended When humbly we request your rags. Soon, the paper makers began to experiment with using all sorts of strange materials—seaweed, cab¬ bage stalks, potatoes, asparagus, and bananas, to mention only a few. Many newspapers, of less than a hundred years ago, were printed on paper made from straw, and a story is told about a famous old Philadelphia news¬ paper which used this straw news¬ print. Subscribers in outlying districts of Philadelphia com¬ plained that they were not getting their papers. It was discovered, upon investigation, that the neigh¬ borhood goats were eating the newspapers as fast as they were delivered—I guess the goats want¬ ed to “digest the news.” The long search for raw ma¬ terials was finally ended about the middle of the last century, when the lesson of the wasp was learned and a successful machine was in¬ vented for grinding wood into pulp. If you will tear the edge of a newspaper, and hold the torn edge against a window so that the light shines through, by looking very carefully you will be able to see the tiny fibers of ground wood. To begin the manufacture of this newsprint, chunks of wood from the forest are forced against the face of a huge grindstone. From the bottom of the grinder flows the ground wood pulp, mixed with water and looking very much like hot corn-meal mush. The pulp flows on to the great paper-making machine, the Fourdrinier, a gigantic monster of steel perhaps 100 feet long and up to 15 feet wide. IVIien the pulp first enters the machine it is 99%% water, but when it comes out of the dry end of the machine it is in the form of paper. Some of the surplus water falls through the wire screen on which the sheet is formed; still more water is squeezed out by a series of giant rollers, something like the wring¬ ers in a laundry. Still other roll¬ ers dry the paper, give it a finish, and wind it into rolls for ship¬ ping. The finished newsprint rushes from the paper machine at the lightning speed of 1,000 feet per minute. I am told that if all the paper used by American newspapers in 1 year were wound in one stand¬ ard roll 72 inches wide, it would reach from here to the moon and back 75 times. Not only newsprint, but other papers of the very finest quality can be made today from wood. Perhaps it will be easier to un¬ derstand some of the miracles of the paper industry if I explain that wood is approximately 50 percent cellulose, the same sub¬ stance of which cotton is com¬ posed. The wood may be cooked with the proper chemicals until all the materials except the cel¬ lulose fibers are dissolved out. These cellulose fibers, by the way,^ cannot only be made into fine paper but they can also be used 32 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE to make the transparent cellulose sheeting with which we are all so familiar today. We really live in a paper world. Paper is used in building pur houses and our automobiles. Countless lives have been saved through the use of sanitary pa¬ per cups and towels, the paper wrapping of food, and paper sur¬ gical dressings. Perhaps the checkbook which you caiT’}^ is protected by the use of secret chemicals in the paper which will instantly flash a warn¬ ing streak of color in case any¬ one tries to tamper with your writing on a check. Nowadays, there are books published for the blind, thanks to a special paper on which the letters are raised so that they may be followed with the fingers. Paper handkerchiefs help to prevent the spread of bad colds. And one of the latest de¬ velopments is so marvelous as to be difficult to believe—flame¬ proof paper can now be made. Some of this flameproof paper, which will not burst into flames, is used for the decoration of ball¬ rooms or Christmas trees. The flameproofing process can be ap¬ plied to any kind of paper. The paper industry clearly shows how modern science and machinery have created work for thousands of men. For example, it is said that one man with mod¬ ern machinery can make 10,000 times as much paper in a day as did the inventors of paper mak¬ ing in China, long ago. And yet today there are over 125,000 men directly employed in the paper mills of America. This figure does not include thousands more who are given work in the dis¬ tribution of paper products, or who bring the raw materials from the forests to the mills. And here is a fact that will in¬ terest everyone who loves the woods and the great outdoors. The paper industry today is tak¬ ing a vital interest in forest con¬ servation. Under scientific for¬ est management as it is being practiced more and more in the United States today, much of the pulp wood comes from the thin¬ ning out of the smaller trees that would otherwise be choked out and die. Some of our pulpwood comes from the tops of trees left on the ground by the loggers, and some of it comes from a type of tree which, having matured, would soon decay anyway. And here is some encouraging news for the future. A Nation¬ wide survey already partially completed by the United States Forest Service shows that our present forest area could, under scientific forest management, be made to supply all of our pulp- wood requirements indefinitely. And here is more news, of par¬ ticular interest to the South. I am told that the announcement has been made of plans to build the first newsprint paper mill in the State of Texas. For it has been found that newsprint can be made from the southern pine, as well as from the spruce and hem¬ lock of our northern and western forests. STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 33 Already, large quantities of kraft or wrapping paper are be¬ ing made in the South—a new in¬ dustry from the forests of Dixie. People are reading more and more books, periodicals, and news¬ papers. One novel. Gone with the Wind, has made necessary the use of 1,500 tons of book paper. Day and night the giant paper mills are spinning. The manufacture of paper has become one of our giant industries, but we cannot measure its worth in physical, economic, or financial terms. With its help, civilization marches on. Science, literature, art, knowledge—all the finer things of life—owe most of their advance¬ ment to paper. Office Appliances One day a number of years ago, a group of men were sitting around Kleinstuber’s machine shop in Milwaukee, talking. They were all inventors, and they used to gather in Kleinstuber’s every day to tinker with their inven¬ tions and talk about the things they were working on. Over there in the corner was Carlos Glidden who was experimenting with some kind of a spading ma¬ chine which he hoped would take the place of the plow. Xear the stove was Henry W. Roby who was at work on a magician’s clock. Xear the center of the group was Christopher Latham Sholes, an old-time newspaper editor who had gone to work as a printer’s devil when he was 14 years old. Sholes had recently invented a machine for paging blank ledgers and other books. On this particular day, Sholes was saying: “About the greatest need of the world today is a writing ma¬ chine.” “Well”, said Glidden, “AYliy can’t you make a machine that will print words as well as figures ? If you can make a paging ma¬ chine, you ought to be able to make a writing machine.” Sholes studied a moment, and then he replied, “I can.” And from that conversation TO years ago, came one of the great 34 inventions of the ages—the type¬ writer. Within the following 6 years Sholes made model after model of his typewriter, but he was never satisfied. But at last, in 1873, the first typewriters went on sale and slowly amateur typists began to practice that famous sentence in¬ vented by Sholes, “Xow is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.” Of course, in those days, it was almost unheard of for a girl to be so bold as to earn her own liv¬ ing. But the typewriter soon be¬ gan to change all that. In the year 1881, the Y. W. C. A. in Xew York City offered a course of in¬ struction for—as they were then called—“female typewriters”, and eight brave maidens responded. Some people then said that the feminine mind and constitution would surely break down after a 6 months’ course in typmg. But the first class of graduates found jobs waiting and soon women by the thousands began pouring into business and industry. The American girl wrote her own declaration of independence on the typewriter keys. Behind this stirring develop¬ ment of modern times lies an age- old storv. It has been stated that the first-known examples of writ¬ ing were on bricks of clay, 6,000 years old. This ancient writing STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY was in the form of pictures—one picture for each word. A much faster way of writing by means of the alphabet was first discov¬ ered by the Phoenicians. Three thousand years ago the Phoenici¬ ans were the world’s leading trad¬ ers and businessmen. They in¬ vented the alphabet partly in order to keep their business rec¬ ords. In the days of ancient Kome, shorthand was invented and Julius Caesar was among the world’s first students of stenog¬ raphy. The fingers and toes, conven¬ iently arranged in groups of 5 and 10, were made use of as man’s .first adding machine. Next, primitive man counted with the aid of piles of stones. One sort of counting machine in use today comes down to us from this an¬ cient custom. This is the Chinese counting machine called the aba¬ cus which consists of small count¬ ers strung upon wires. But throughout the centuries, although progress was made in other directions, the human mind remained the fastest machine for counting. From dawn until dusk, the bookkeeper of yesterday sat at his high stool, straining tired eyes over endless columns of fig¬ ures—adding, adding, adding. I am told that from long practice the old-time bookkeeper was able to add 4 columns of figures simul¬ taneously by mental arithmetic. And then, suddenly, after cen¬ turies of stagnation, something really happened. Within the short space of 10 years, from 1880 to 1890, American inventors daz¬ 35 zled the world with a series of marvelous appliances. In Chicago, a 19-year-old boy named Dorr E. Felt, was running a planing-machine in a machine shop. One day, while at work, young Felt had the inspiration for a real adding machine, which would add more figures at one time than the fastest human book¬ keeper of the day. Impatiently, he Tvaited for a day off in which to build a model of his dream. Thanksgiving Day, 1886 drew near. Felt hastened to the neigh¬ borhood grocery and borrowed a wooden macaroni box which seemed about the right size. For the keys, he secured wooden skew¬ ers from a butcher, and rubber bands from a hardware store. Early on Thanksgiving morning he went to work with a jackknife. Soon after New Year’s, his model was ready for the’ Patent Office. As you watch the speedometer in your car click off the miles, the wheels of the car are turning a series of numbered wheels in the speedometer, at a speed which you may think is fast enough. But in a modern calculating machine, the numbered wheels revolve wdth in¬ credible speed! A skilled opera¬ tor may strike over 500 keys to the minute. For example, if one of these keys is the number 9, each single number from 1 to 9 must revolve in the space of one one- hundred and sixty-fifth of a sec¬ ond—truly, the speed of thought 1 Of course, young Felt did not attain such speeds with his first adding machines, which he built by hand and sold in Chicago. 36 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE The story is told that one day the inventor, entering an office where he had sold one of his adding ma¬ chines heard a terriffic clatter in a back room. Felt said to the store¬ keeper, “Man alive, what’s that noise?” To which the storekeeper replied, “Oh, that’s our clerk. He has worked out a method bv which he can make an adding machine multiply, but it certainly makes a lot of noise.” So Felt went into the back room and asked the clerk how he did it. “Well,” replied the clerk, “I just hit the keys a certain way. I don’t know whv, but when I do / the machine will multiply.” This gave Felt an idea. He went to work on it with the result that today we have calculating machines that not only add, sub¬ tract, divide, and multiply, but we have machines which actually solve problems in higher mathe¬ matics that otherwise would re¬ quire hours of intense mental ef¬ fort. One such “human brain” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is said to weigh more than a ton and to include over 13,000 separate parts. It is said that any routine job which must be done over and over and over again can be done bet¬ ter and more quicklv bv a ma- chine. This idea occurred to a young clerk named Herman Holl¬ erith, employed in the United States Census Bureau during the 1880 census. The Nation had grown so rapidly since the last census in 1870 that a huge moun¬ tain of returns had piled up fast¬ er than they could be compiled. Unless something could be done, the returns from one census would never be completed in the space of 10 years before the next census was begun. It occurred to Hollerith to punch holes in cards of standard size, the location of each hole to represent a certain bit of infor¬ mation. Then, by means of the punched holes, machines could count and sort the cards infinitelv faster than could human fingers. The punched card system and the tabulating machine were used in the 1890 census. In the census of 1910, a card punching machine was developed by James Powers. Only a few weeks ago, the largest tabulating job in all history was begun at Baltimore, where the Social Security Board is keeping the employment records of over 22 million American men and women. A stupendous task— impossible, many would have said a generation ago. But the tabu¬ lated records of these 22 million Americans are pouring from the electric tabulation machines at the rate of 600,000 punched cards a day. And the modern electric tabulatiim machine automaticallv translates the meaning of the punched holes back into printed words, summarizing all the infor¬ mation which these millions of cards contain. If we should look behind the scenes of a gi’eat modern depart¬ ment store at the close of a busi¬ ness dav, we would find that thou- sands upon thousands of different items have been sold that dav— everything from handbags to golf 37 STORIES OF ^\MERICAN INDUSTRY clubs and baby carriages. It seems almost unbelievable, but the manager of the store can tell at a glance not only exactly how many of each item have been sold—but he knows all the other details such as price, style, make, and color. And here is an interesting f act— the smallest cross-roads store can conduct its business with the same efficiency today as the largest de¬ partment store—thanks to the office appliance industry. As one example, almost every store today has a cash register. And the modern cash register has been de¬ veloped from a simple device with keys which record sales, into a complete bookkeeping machine. Today, the average American businessman seldom writes any¬ thing in longhand excepting his own name, and now even his sig¬ nature may be written by ma¬ chines. Checks, for instance, to¬ day are fed into check-writing machines which fill in automati¬ cally the name of the payee, the date, the amount, and signature. What is more, letters may be writ¬ ten, signed, folded, inserted in the envelope, sealed, and mailed with¬ out the touch of a hand. You may ask what about the stamp? A mailing machine which prints the postage on each envelope has at¬ tended to that, too. An American business office to¬ day is filled with marvels some of which would have seemed unbe¬ lievable only a few years ago. In the office of a leading magazine, we might see a great machine which addresses 96,000 names an hour. An electric typewriter will operate scores of other typewriters simultaneously, and a teletype will write out automatically a message received over the wires hundreds of miles away. Even more vronderful is the radiotype¬ writer, operated by impulses sent through the air from some distant central office—perliaps from some stenographer across the Atlantic Ocean ! In many American offices we may see a machine which is making out bills—thousands of bills each hour. Duplicating ma¬ chines are turning out flashing colors and illustrations, as well as reading matter. And office appliances are not confined to the office. A traveling man may take with him a portable typewriter and a dictating ma¬ chine which will take down his words in an automobile, on a train or even in an airplane. All these machines, which are performing work formerly done by hand, have brought with them not less, but more employment! The Secretary of Commerce has pointed out that in the year 1860, when there were virtually no office machines, out of every million persons in the United States there were only about 4,000 office work¬ ers; today there are 50,000 office- workers out of every million Americans. And besides the multitudes of men and women who work in offices there are 113 firms engaged in the manufacture of office ma¬ chines, employing about 34,000 highly skilled workers. It is esti¬ mated that during 1937 the value 38 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE of their products will be at least $150,000,000. In every corner of the earth to¬ day you will find these American business machines at work, speed¬ ing up business in foreign lands. In fact about a fourth of all the business machines made in this country are sold abroad, and one out of every three typewriters made in America is typing letters in a foreign land. Eventually, it is said, every routine task in American business will be performed by machines. Leaders in the office appliance in¬ dustry tell me that the process of mechanization is only just begin¬ ning. In the future, more and more the machine will release men and women from the drudgery of monotonous tasks. The human mind will be left free for the sort of work that machines cannot do— work that requires thinking, plan¬ ning, imagination, hoping, striv¬ ing—creative work that calls forth the best efforts of mankind. The Rubber Industry Half buried in the jungles of Central America lie remnants of a lost civilization. In this remote Avilderness great temples, pyra¬ mids, palaces, magnificent struc¬ tures of various types have been found, showing that populous cities once thrwed there. The centuries have left little to tell of the tragic story of this strange lost people—the Mayas. But, strangely enough, one of our most important modern posses¬ sions came from the Mayan Em¬ pire—rubber. Among the ruins of these an¬ cient cities exist large stone courts which Avere used by the Mayas for playing a game with rubber balls. When the Aztecs suc¬ ceeded the Mayas they continued to play this same game. And then in the sixteenth century when Hernando Cortez, Avith bloody hands, took over Mexico, he found the rubber ball of the Mayas still in existence. The in¬ terest of the Spaniards was aroused by this strange product. They learned that the Aztecs made the rubber from the juice found in the bark of certain trees. Some of the Spanish soldiers spread this juice, or latex as it is called, upon their capes to make them Avaterproof. And thus rubber for the first time in history aa ^s put to a practical use. From Central America, the story of rubber spread around the AA'orld, folloAving the Equator. For in Avet tropical regions, the numerous varieties of plants that yield rubber are most abundant. Many years later AAdien Portu¬ guese explorers Avere fighting their AA’ay up through the green hell of the Amazon jungles they en¬ countered rubber in use by the natives Avho fashioned Avater bot¬ tles and crude articles of footwear from it. The Portuguese, appro¬ priating the idea, began shipping these crudely constructed rubbers to NeAv England. Soon it oc¬ curred to the leather footAvear manufacturers in New England that they could do a better job of making rubber OA^ershoes than the Amazon Indians. So crude rubber soon Avas being shipped from Brazil to NeAv England fac¬ tories, and the AA^orld’s first origi¬ nal great rubber boom Avas under wav in 1834. %j But this early rubber industry collapsed, as suddenly as it began, Avhen the customers discovered that in hot weather rubber prod¬ ucts, especially Avhere turpentine had been used as a rubber solvent,, decomposed into useless rubbish. Naturally, people became dis¬ gusted Avith rubber. The New 39 40 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE England rubber companies went bankrupt, and that, said most peo¬ ple, was the end of rubber. But those who thought this reckoned not with the fates which at that very moment were toying Avith a poor, half-starA^ed individ¬ ual named Charles Goodyear. The epic of Goodyear is one of time’s most absorbing human in¬ terest stories—a tale which should proA^e an inspiration to all avIio Avould learn the value of perse- A^erance. During the height of the New England rubber boom, this young Connecticut Yankee called at the Ava rehouse of the leading rubber manufacturer of the day. Good¬ year, Avith natiA’^e curiosity, picked up a rubber life-preserA^er. Here, thought he, is a truly Avonderful iiwention. But upon inquiring further into the rubber industry he Avas told Avhat had occurred— how thousands of pairs of rubber boots had been buried, because they had decayed. Goodyear determined that he. Avould find a means of curing rub¬ ber of its bad qualities so that it could be used. He determined this Avhen every circumstance seemed against him. He Avas not a chemist. He kneAv absolutely nothing about rubber. He had al¬ ready failed in business. He Avith his family Avere doAAUi to the kind of poverty Avhere they knew Avdiat it meant to be hungry. His chil¬ dren Avere digging half-groAvn po¬ tatoes for food. His Avife gath¬ ered sticks of fireAvood in the forest. But Goodyear set to Avork on rubber. He Avas throAvn into jail for debt. In the solitude of prison he continued his experi¬ ments. When at last he Avas freed he fashioned for himself rubber clothing to test his experiments. Once, a stranger, asking hoAv he might recognize the inventor if he saw him, Avas told, “If you meet a man who has on an India rub¬ ber cap, coat, vest, and shoes, with an India-rubber money purse, Avithout a cent of money in it, that is he.” One after another of Goodyear’s experiments failed. Each neAv process of curing rubber seemed to work at first. In great excite¬ ment, the inventor Avould begin to manufacture overshoes, raincoats, or life-preservers. But only the surface of the material had been cured. Within a few months, in¬ dignant customers returned Good¬ year’s products, leaving him and the rubber industry Avorse off than before. But he refused to accept defeat. One day, in a house in Woburn, Mass., Goodyear accidentally dropped a sample of a rubber compound upon a hot stoA^e. He Avas surprised to find that the rub¬ ber surface Avhich touched the hot stoA'C had charred, like leather; and that under the surface AA^as a portion that Avas perfectly cured. This accidental discoA^ery opened the door to success. The per¬ fected process of heating a mix¬ ture of rubber, sulphur, and other chemicals Avas called Auilcaniza- tion, after Vulcan, the old Roman fire god. But the fates, Avith apparently sinister purpose, still A\dthheld the STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 41 awards of success. Goodyear was hopelessly in debt and desperately in need of money. Taking stock of his possessions he found that the only thing he had left of value was his children’s schoolbooks. And so he sold these for the sum of $5. But he was sure that this $5 would turn the tide in his favor. Upon his failure to meet still further financial obligations, how¬ ever, the man again was thrown into jail. But within him there lived a spirit which refused to be broken by all these adversities. Then, as so often is the case in human experience, the turn for the better came suddenly. In the year 1844 he w^as granted a patent on the discovery which has made possible the vast modern rubber industry. With the advent of vulcani¬ zation, the demand for rubber soon began to soar. Bubber had previously found its way to Eng¬ land from the jungles of India. The English used it to rub out pencil marks, and thus it was called India rubber. But for years after the time of Goodyear, the great valley of the Amazon Biver remained the chief source of supply. Fearless traders pushed their way thousands of miles upstream, braving the crocodiles and head-hunters for rubber. A stream of black gold flowed from the fearsome forests. Almost overnight, great cities sprang up in the Brazilian jun¬ gles—cities whose riotous life is still a bizarre, colorful legend. And then another of history’s most absorbing episodes took place. In the year 1871, the whole civilized world found itself anx¬ iously awaiting a certain message from the interior of Africa. A great English missionary and ex¬ plorer, David Livingstone, had disappeared. And a great Amer¬ ican newspaper reporter, Henry Stanley, had gone in search of him. Fearlessly, Stanley fol¬ lowed the trail of Livingstone into the unknown continent. And then one day the world thrilled with the message, “Liv¬ ingstone had been found.” Stanley also found the great African rubber country around the equator, over which the Bel¬ gian monarch, King Leopold, later secured control. Soon rub¬ ber from the Congo competed with rubber from Brazil. About the time that Stanley was finding Livingstone in Af¬ rica, a bold Englishman named Henry Wickham was engaged in another adventure in Brazil. The Brazilian rubber tree—^thte best in the world—was jealously guarded by the Brazilian au¬ thorities who wished to keep their monopoly. But Wickham, under orders from the British Govern¬ ment, slipped a cargo of the precious seeds of the rubber tree out of Brazil. Before long, the British had planted the Brazil¬ ian rubber tree in many of their far Eastern possessions. The trees grew best of all in Malaya, that far corner of the Orient be¬ tween India and China. The savage, brutal days of wild rub- 42 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ber were passing and the day of plantation rubber had begun. And the planting of rubber came just in time. For, with the invention of the automobile, more rubber was needed for tires than the wild trees of Brazil, India, and the Congo could possibly sup- ply- The whole world began to ride on rubber tires. Throughout the world, too, men began to talk about the wonderful wages that were being paid in Akron, Ohio. And the tire industry is still one of the highest-wage industries. The American tire factories were running day and night to supply the incessant demand for tires. Men were needed, and still more men. And from all parts of the United States and some foreign countries they came by the thou¬ sands. Meanwhile, chemists in the lab¬ oratories of the American tire in¬ dustry were working at top speed to produce better tires, year by year. Twenty years ago, 2,000 miles was considered good mileage for a tire which cost at least thirty-five or forty dollars. To¬ day, it is not uncommon to run 25,000 miles on a tire that cost only ten or twelve dollars. To¬ day, all American tires are good, safe tires to ride on. And the American rubber industry is still at work, on a persistent cam 2 )aign for greater mileage, safety, and comfort. I am told that the new¬ est experiments are being con¬ ducted in an effort to reduce the noise or whine of the tires against the road. Today, over 350,000 tons of crude rubber each year come from the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, and other distant places to make American tires. In fact the livelihood of millions of brown-skinned men and women “Somewhere East of Suez” de¬ pends upon the tires we use. And in the United States, thousands of Americans are employed in pro¬ ducing the raw materials which are used along with rubber in manufacturing tires. For exam¬ ple, 8 percent of the average tire consists of carbon black, which comes largely from the Texas Pan¬ handle. And vast quantities of cotton are used in making tires. Since 1850 the consumption of rubber in the United States has doubled approximately every decade. And experts in the indus¬ try tell me they see no reason why this ratio of gain may not con¬ tinue for more decades pro’vdded rubber can continue to be reason¬ ably priced. Since the days of Charles Goodyear more than 30,- 000 different kinds of rubber arti¬ cles have come into general use. To the surgical and medical professions rubber is indispensa¬ ble as a factor in conserving hu¬ man life. Rubber likewise has as¬ sumed an important place in me¬ chanical goods, household equip¬ ment, and wearing apparel. And the same principle of producing constantly better and better goods applies to all divisions of the in¬ dustry as well as tires. The Rub- STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 43 ber Manufacturers Association tells me that there are approxi¬ mately 150,000 of our citizens en¬ gaged directly in the production of rubber goods which amounted last year to about $900,000,000. They tell me, too, that the success of the American rubber industry has produced a most wholesome effect on the standard of living of the natives of the Middle East. Scarcely any industry has added a more alluring chapter to the great book of human progress. From a jungle pastime played by Maya youths in the wdlds of Cen¬ tral America, centuries ago, rub¬ ber has advanced to a place of absolute necessity in modern civil¬ ization, enriching the lives of the mighty millions not only in Amer¬ ica but tlirough the world. 154556°—37- 4 The Textile Industry Once each year millions of per¬ sons everywhere array themselves in all their Easter splendor. It is a world-wide parade—a universal display of fine raiment. But no Easter parade anywhere could be more colorful than the fime-hon- ored parade of the textile industry which is so closely affiliated with Easter pageantry. It is an industry which finds its roots among the oldest arts of mankind. At least 10,000 years ago, according to the estimate of some scientists, there lived the so- called Lake Dwellers of Switzer¬ land who dwelt in crude huts built on pilings that had been driven in the waters of the Alpine Lakes of Switzerland and Italv. In this %/ crude environment the textile in¬ dustry was born. We know this, because pieces of woven flax and wool, spindles and bales of yarn Avere found in these huts of the Lake Dwellers, Avhen in 1853, due to loAv Avater, they Avere discoA^ered on the bottoms of the lakes. The legend of the origin of silk is a stoiT as beautiful and as V dainty as that exquisite fabric it¬ self. It seems that some 4,000 years ago, there liA-ed a beautiful young Chinese Empress named Si Ling Shi. She was the child- l)ride of the great Emperor II wang-Ti, third ruler of China and inAxmtor of the calendar. One day, Avhile Avalking in her garden. Si Ling Shi discoAxred an ugly Avorm. She was about to kill it. Then, remembering her re¬ ligious beliefs, she let it Uax, for she said, “It might be the spirit of one of my ancestors.” So, day after day, she watched it, fas¬ cinated, until at length the Avorm ceased to eat the mulberry leaves and began to spin a shroud of glistening threads about itself. A feAv weeks later. Si Ling Shi saAv to her utter amazement the tiny cocoon open; and then—away in the bright sunshine fleAv a beau¬ tiful white moth. Examining the empty cocoon. Si Ling Shi dis- coAxred that she could unwind the daintv silk thread, and, a little later, on a loom which she herself deAused, she woax the first silk fab¬ rics for the Imperial family. Empress Si Ling Shi is knoAvn to¬ day as the Goddess of the Silk Worm—her name Si is the Chi¬ nese Avord for silk. The use of silk soon spread throughout the Chinese Empire, and,, centunes before Cleopatra reigned as Queen of the Xile, caravans Avere Avinding their Avay from China OAxr the plains of India and Syria Avith rich cargoes of silk for the nobles of the Per¬ sian Empire. During the third century, a legendary Chinese princess is belieAxd to Iuiax smug- 44 STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRT 45 gled silk-worm eggs into India, concealed in her headdress. From India, the knowledge spread to Persia, and about the same time it reached Japan through Korea. But little Si Ling Shi, in her sunny garden in China long ago, could never have dreamed that some day men would take the silk of the cocoon such as she found on the mulberry tree, and fashion a strange bird-like contrivance from which they could fall in safety from the skies. For the parachute has become one of the modern outlets for silk produc¬ tion. The story of wool is as old as civilization itself. Tliere are evi¬ dences of sheep and dealings in wool from El-Asmar in Asia Minor as much as 6,000 years ago. Biblical history is replete with stories of shepherds tending their flocks on the hills. It was they, we are told, who first saw the Star of Bethlehem in the East. And from these shepherds, too, came the immortal Songs of David. To these ancient sheep raisers we are indebted for one of Holy Writ’s most dramatic episodes—the story of Joseph whose woolen coat of many colors so aroused the jeal¬ ousy of his brothers that he was thrown into a pit and later sold into bondage in Egypt. The Bomans introduced wool manufacture into ancient Britain in 50 B. C. Notwithstanding the ancient and honorable backgi-ound of wool, much of the success of the modern woolen industry, strange to say, may be traced to the intrigue of a beautiful woman. Until the latter part of the eight¬ eenth century, the finest sheep were to be found only in Spain. This merino breed, from which was obtained the softest of all wools, was closely guarded by the Spanish Government. Other countries made every effort to pro¬ cure sheep of this breed. Ac¬ cording to tradition, the wife of a Spanish Ambassador to the Eng¬ lish Court was presented with a pair of beautiful cream-colored Hanoverian coach horses. The gift was bestowed deliberately in order to put her under an obliga¬ tion. It then was suggested that some merino rams would be an acceptable present in return. The lady knew that it was useless to approach the Spanish Govern¬ ment on the subject. But smug¬ gling was at its height in those days. So she applied to some of these “free trading gentlemen” of her own country, with the result that the sheep eventually found their way to England. And from these sheep, it is understood, the present great flocks in Australia, America, Canada, and other parts of the world were developed. Wool and woolen products have, through the ages, been re¬ garded as a necessity to mankind. This fact was recognized by the earliest settlers in this country, for in 1609 the colonists in James¬ town, Ya., brought over sheep from England. And it may be said that wool has become a most versatile fiber, for today’s fabrics of woolen and worsted are de¬ veloped in a fascinating variety of patterns and weights, from 46 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE sheerest, softest tissue weight for formal or summer wear to the heavier cloths, flannels, and fleeces that are used for daytime, sports¬ wear, and for colder seasons. The first cotton, as was the case with silk and wool, also origi¬ nated in the Orient. The people of the Middle Ages in Europe be¬ lieved that it came from a lamb tree—a living creature which was rooted in the ground. And when Columbus discovered the New World he thought he had reached India, because the natives wore cotton clothing. Oddly enough, from the peace¬ ful art of spinning and weaving came one of the most dramatic evolutions the world has known through the introduction of auto¬ matic machinery—the effects of which still are felt. In 1760, in England, the spinning jenny was invented, and shortly afterwards, the power loom. At first, spin¬ ning jennys and power looms were broken up by angry mobs of rioting workers who were thrown out of employment by the new machines. Time proved, however, that the introduction of improved machinery brought about much greater consumption of goods, and hence more employ¬ ment. iNIeanwhile, in the United States, American workmen strove des¬ perately to build textile machin¬ ery, but without success. Which brings us to the story of Samuel Slater. In the year 1790, a young English mechanic, familiar with the construction of weaving ma¬ chines, determined to cast his lot in America. The British strictly had forbidden all knowledge of this machinery from passing out of the country, and textile work¬ ers, such as young Samuel Slater, were not allowed to leave Eng¬ land. But nothing daunted, he disguised himself as a plow hand and boarded a ship for America. Soon, as the result of Slater’s activities, textile mills were run¬ ning in New England, using copies of the English machinery. The raw cotton for these first New England mills was imported from the West Indies. To be sure, some cotton was grown in the South, but because of the tedious labor involved in sepa¬ rating the fiber from the seed, it was not considered promising. And then came an event which ever will hold an exalted place in the annals of great accomplish¬ ment. One warm spring afternoon about 150 years ago, a group of southern gentlemen were seated on the lawn of a Georgia planta¬ tion which belonged to the widow of a hero of the Bevolution, Gen. Nathaniel Greene. The conver¬ sation ran on the subject of cot¬ ton and what a slow process it was to separate the fiber from the seed. “Pardon me, gentlemen”, spoke up the comely widow, “but why don’t some of you go to work and invent a machine which will sepa¬ rate the cotton from the seed?” “Oh, that could never be done”, said one of ^Irs. Greene’s guests. Whereupon the widow turned to a shy young man who recently STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 47 had come down from the North to tutor her children, and said: “Apply to my young friend here. He has repaired my chil¬ dren’s toys. He can make any¬ thing, can’t you Eli?” “Why, gentlemen”, protested the young man modestly, “I wouldn’t know a cottonseed if I saw one.” A chorus of laughter greeted this statement. But early next morning, Eli Whitney went out to the cotton fields. Curiously he watched the field Negroes clawing off the seed with their fingers. Then Whitney set to work on a cylinder which he covered with the teeth of an iron comb. Within 10 days he had built the first model of the cotton gin—the machine that put King Cotton on his throne. Soon the South was send¬ ing millions of pounds of this fiber to the mills of New England and throughout the world. And by the way, the expression “cotton gin” comes to us from the slaves of the old South. The invention at first was called “the cotton en¬ gine”, which the slaves soon con¬ tracted to “gin” by omitting the first svllable from the word “en- V gine.” Until a generation or two ago, the styles in many sections of the country were at least a full year behind those of New York. To¬ day, our fashions originate on the Pacific as well as on the Atlantic coast, and penetrate every corner of the country almost overnight. This may seem an exaggeration unless we remember that one mov¬ ing picture, which is shown simul¬ taneously in all parts of the Na¬ tion, may have a strong influence on styles. One reason why Holly¬ wood is now one of the fashion arbiters of the world is that a movie may require several months to make. And still, when the film is released, it must contain the newest styles. Today, textile mills must produce exactly what the American woman wants. Fash¬ ion is no trivial matter—it is big business. At this very hour tex¬ tile designers are working on de¬ signs of fabrics for next Easter— 1938. The textile industry is im¬ mediately influenced by world events. This year, of course, the coronation of George VI has been the strongest single influence in the American textile industry. Also there is a trend toward Latin- American designs in fabrics and fashions, due partly to the recent trip of President Roosevelt to the South America countries. And, speaking of fashions, all style au¬ thorities seem to agree that the American woman is considered the best-dressed woman in the world. In the cotton textile industry, it is said that over 50 percent of the total products are used in business, industry, and agricul¬ ture. For example, almost 10 per¬ cent of all cotton used in this country goes into the making of automobile tires. Sometimes one phase of the tex¬ tile industry comes to the aid of another, as when rayon and other synthetic yarns are mixed with other materials to the advantage of both. Ravon is tlie invention 48 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE of a Frenchman. Count Hilaire de Cliardonnet, who discovered the process some 50 3 ’ears ago through close scientific study of the silk worm. Today, miraculous though it ma^^ seem, filaments are spun b}" machiner}" which may be even finer than those made b}^ the silk worm. The cellulose used to make raj’on is generally' obtained from wood, or from cotton linters, and | constant research has produced i s\Tithetic cloth of such qualitj' and style that now these fabrics V stand on their own feet, a worth}’ addition to the ancient textile family. %/ The American textile industry. V > I am happy to state, is enjoying the best business in man}’ years. Last year, 1936, the activity of American mills was 8 percent above even the record year of %/ 1929. Employment and wages are rising, too, with over 600,000 tex¬ tile-mill employees at work. And, if we include all those engaged in the garment trades and allied in¬ dustries, the textile industry em- ploys more than 1 % million men and women—one of the largest single employers in the whole gi’oup of giant American indus¬ tries. Its success is the best trib¬ ute that could be paid to the use¬ ful purpose it has served through the centuries. Building Construction Many centuries ago a serious minded young Pliaroali named Cheops was ruler of Egypt. Ac¬ cording to the religious beliefs of his time, the soul, after death, could not enjoy immortality and eternal happiness unless the body were preserved. So, the young monarch spent much time pon¬ dering the question of how he might make sure that his body would be free from destruction throughout all time. Finally, he decided upon a bold plan. He would build a massive structure of stone in the interior of which Avould be a secret chamber to contain the bodies of himself and his queen and into Avhich no hu¬ man hand could ever possibly reach. Over 100,000 men worked for 20 years on this colossal project. In that ancient day, nearly 6,000 years ago, there Avas no machin¬ ery for lifting or carrying heavy Aveights. From distant quarries great stones, some of them Aveighing as much as 16 tons, Avere dragged across the desert by human hands and up earth-made inclines to take their places in the massive structure. At last the Great Pyramid, standing 480 feet aboA^e the sur¬ rounding country, Avas com¬ pleted, and, until a comparatively few years ago, it had remained the highest and the largest struc¬ ture eAxr to be built by man. It is the only one of the seA-en avoii- ders of the ancient world still standing. And these master builders created this monument Avith such infinite perfection that today the giant stones, fitted Avithout mortar, are less than one- fiftieth of an inch apart. For 60 years Cheops sat upon his throne. Then, one day, Avith due pomp and ceremony, the priests of the temple carried his body into the secret chamber of the pyramid. The workmen sealed the room, and left the monarch and his con¬ sort to sleep aAvay the centuries apparently far from the touch of disturbing hands. But even the great stones of the pyramid and the cunning Avith Avhich the secret chamber was planned Avere not sufficient to assure the perpetual isolation of the royal pair. The disap¬ pearance of these tAvo mum¬ mies has proA^ed one of the great mysteries of time. No one knoAvs just how or Avhen the tomb Avas iuA^aded, but in the hidden gloom of the Great Pyramid there stands today an empty sarcoph¬ agus, caiwed from a single slab of stone. And, if struck by hu¬ man hands it is said to giA^e forth a peculiar, bell-like tone, AAdiich 49 50 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE goes echoing through those vast, creepy corridors with an uncanny note quite unlike any other sound ever heard. Some 400 years ago there lived an Indian emperor, Shah Jahan, in whose heart there dwelt a great love and a fine appreciation of beauty. In the course of time his devoted wife, Mumtaz, died, and the emperor, in keeping with his deep love for her, and his equally deep love of beauty, decided that he would honor her memory by the erection of the most beautiful building that man had ever be¬ held. So there was constructed at Agra, India, the famous Taj Mahal, a light airy palace of lovely domes and minarets, of finest marbles and precious gems, a building so entrancing that it was in reality the dream of the mourning emperor translated into everlasting stone. And thus it stands today, dreaming through the centuries in its gardens, bring¬ ing joy to all who behold it, as though Keats himself might have had it in his heart when he wrote— A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness. The Romans were the greatest builders of ancient times, great engineers who invented the dome and who used concrete and iron beams in some of their structures. In the Middle Ages, the stately cathedrals began to lift their mag¬ nificent spires to the heavens and some of these cathedrals remain unfinished today after 600 years of intermittent building. It would be an inspiration if in im¬ agination we might visit some of these great structures this after¬ noon, feast on their beauty and marvel at the tremendous human energy that was necessary to bring them into being. But here in America today we are living in the midst of an era of construction equal to that of any other period of the world’s history. Throughout this country from coast to coast massive build¬ ings lift their heads, but both in purpose and in method of con¬ struction they are entirely differ¬ ent from the great construction projects of the older nations across the sea. In 1884, William Le Baron Jenney, an architect, built the first true skyscraper—the Home Office Building in Chicago, which rose to what was then the dizzy height of 10 stories. In this structure, for the first time in history, a skeleton or framework of iron like a huge bird cage carried the actual weight of the building. The walls, instead of supporting the building, were only screens of brick and stone filling in the bird cage. When the framework had reached the sixth floor, a letter came to Mr. Jenney from the Car- negie-Phipps Steel Co., of Pitts¬ burgh, stating that they were roll¬ ing beams of Bessemer steel. They asked him to use steel, in¬ stead of iron, in the remaining floors. And with this first use of structural steel, the American sk}"- scraper age really began. Up and up, American buildings pierced the clouds, the wonder STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 51 structures of the world. And all the while, the builders worked faster and faster. On April 6, 1930, the first piece of steel was set in the framework of the world’s tallest building, the Em¬ pire State Building in New York. By December 1 of that same year the steel skeleton had risen 1,250 feet above the sidewalk. Everybody likes to watch a steam shovel, scooping out a car¬ load of dirt and dropping it into a waiting truck more easily than you or I could lift a shovelful. This gigantic arm, the steam- shovel, is only one of a whole series of inventions which have made the building industry of the United States the fastest and most efficient in the world. The use of concrete began with the discovery of portland cement, in England, a hundred years ago. Until recently, however, most ce¬ ment was mixed slowly by hand. Today, at the scene of building operations a modern machine mixer turns out more concrete in one hour than a dozen men on a mixing board could make in 10 hours. And more recently, con¬ crete pumps now carry the fin¬ ished mixture to the surface where it is spread at lightning speed. Today, modern methods of con¬ struction have reached a climax in the greatest construction job of all time—^the Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River in the State of Washington. Here the rushing torrent of tlie Colum¬ bia is being backed up behind a vast barrier of concrete, contain¬ ing more masonry than the Great Pyramid. Millions of feet of lumber are used to build the con¬ crete molds. Although it is, first of all, an irrigation project, this dam will produce the world’s largest source of electricity; and it will open for settlement a ter¬ ritory twice the size of the State of Rhode Island. The Grand Coulee project when completed will cost over $400,000,000 which is more than the cost of the Pan¬ ama Canal, itself one of the world’s greatest engineering achievements. And in order to build the Grand Coulee, four of our largest private construction companies were obliged to pool their resources. Other great dams, such as Boul¬ der Dam and Norris Dam, have risen within the last few years. And only last November the greatest bridge in the world, across San Francisco Bay, was opened to traffic. Here the Amer¬ ican construction industry met and conquered some of the great¬ est problems in history. It was necessary, for example, to build underwater piers as huge as office buildings, and so strong that if the biggest of battleships should run full speed into one of these piers the bridge itself would only quiver, while the battleship would be shattered. To make possible the speedy erection of such mammoth struc¬ tures today, the materials are as¬ sembled and made ready many miles, even thousands of miles, from the site. Smaller bridges sometimes are purchased already 52 tr. S. DKPAKTMENT OF COMMERCE ✓ made. In such cases the com¬ plete steel work of the bridge is put together iu a steel mill, shipped by water, and swung into place upon the waiting piers. Modern architects say that some of the great building achievements of America are just as beautiful as the structures of antiquity. It is a new kind of beauty, which springs from the efficient, useful design of the building, without imitating the styles of the past. Some of our great world’s fairs have tre¬ mendously influenced our build¬ ing architecture. The giant machines of the American building industry, which tunnel under rivers and move mountains of earth, have given work to millions. It is es¬ timated that in ordinary times the volume of building and con¬ struction in the United States averages more than 12 billion dol¬ lars a year; over 3 million men are employed at the construction site and 3 or 4 million more pro¬ duce and transport the raw ma¬ terials. Last year, some 7% bil¬ lion dollars’ worth of construc¬ tion was completed, and experts tell me that during the present year the volume is rising sharply. And many other important American industries are closelv my affected by building and con¬ struction. For example, I am told that the insulation and im¬ proved methods of construction of modern homes provide a wide use for materials that only yes¬ terday were used sparingly, or not at all. The general public is directly affected by the welfare of the building and construction indus¬ try, for, to a large extent, gen¬ eral business conditions depend upon the activity of American builders. The great American construc¬ tion industry is not only creating vast new wealth, but is contribut¬ ing to the efficiency of modern business. It is adding tremen¬ dously to our daily conveniences and, above all, it is providing finer places—homes, stores, fac¬ tories, offices—places in which we all may work and live. The Agricultural Implements Industry Throughout vast stretches of our country each spring there is the rich, warm smell of newly turned earth. Even those of us who live in large cities feel, at this season of the year, the age- old fascination of new life spring¬ ing from the soil. This is true, no doubt, because throughout man¬ kind’s existence he has had to fight the soil for a livelihood. Through countless centuries he has been, in truth, “The Man With the Hoe”, described by Markham— Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground. His first crude implement was a plow made from a crooked stick, and in remote parts of the world today, men still use the crooked stick to help them wrest a liveli¬ hood from the earth. With the development of ancient civiliza¬ tions, iron plows were used. But during the Middle Ages a super¬ stitious belief arose that iron im¬ parted a poison to the soil. So man went back to the wooden plow which was used in our coun¬ try up to the time of the Ameri¬ can Revolution. Man’s triumph over the soil, as it exists today, was by no means a battle easily won. As recently as 120 years ago, it required the labor of 83 out of every 100 work¬ ers in this countiy to wring the necessary amount of production from the earth. But, due to the great modern agricultural im¬ plement industry, augmented, of course, by improved facilities for distribution, it now requires the labor of only IT out of every 100 workers tO' develop the necessary amount of farm production. Hence, if it were not for what the agricultural implement industry has done, there would not be workers enough available today for other pursuits, such as build¬ ing houses and highways, operat¬ ing factories, manning railroads, and a thousand and one other things. To those gallant souls who have been responsible for all this, great honor indeed is due. The list in¬ cludes such illustrious names as Washington, Jefferson, and Dan¬ iel Webster. And then there was that group of American inventors whose genius immediately laid the foundation for the present agricultural implement industry. Among these, mention should be made in connection with the in¬ vention of the steel plow of John Lane, James Oliver, and Maj. Leonard Andrus. In connection with the invention of the reaper stands forth the name, Obed Hus¬ sey. While associated with the invention and perfection of the 53 54 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE binder one thinks at once of such names as John Heath, John Ap¬ pleby, William Deering, and the March brothers. There were others, too, and I want to tell you a rather typical story of one of these early inventors. Just for a moment, I would like to take you back to a little pioneer Illinois village named Grand De¬ tour. The time was 100 years ago. Two pioneers of the village, one a farmer, one a blacksmith, were facing a crisis in their lives. The farmer was speaking: “Well, John”, he said, “If you can’t make a plow that will work in this sticky prairie soil. I’m go¬ ing right back East.” The blacksmith, a giant in size and strength, stood up to his full height, looked his friend straight in the eye, and said: “LeAv, if I can’t build you the kind of a plow you need, then I’m going right back East with you.” For the pioneers had found that the rich prairie earth stuck to their old-fashioned plows in such a way that successful farming was difficult, if not impossible. Soon after this conversation, the blacksmith went to repair the village sawmill. And as the sun shone through an open door, he saw lying there on the floor, the glint of a piece of shining steel— the blade of a broken saw. Then there flashed through the mind of John Deere a great idea. “I have it” he exclaimed. “I’ll build Lew Crandall a plow out of steel.” Steel at that time was rare and valuable, but thousands of broken sawblades were soon in use to make the steel plow with which the pioneers conquered the prai¬ ries. Soon those flat fields were yielding grain in such abundance that there was more wheat thaai men could harvest by hand. Un¬ able to gather all the grain, they turned hogs and cattle into the standing wheat. And to this problem a raw country boy 22 years old had the answer. One day, in the year 1831, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a young farmer drove a curious contrap¬ tion out of a barn lot into the wheatfield of a neighbor. A crowd of people stook looking on, expecting something funny to happen. For the young man was known to spend most of his time tinkering with this queer out¬ landish machine which he thought w’ould really cut wheat without the strength of the human arm. In fact, the youth’s father had spent much of his life fooling around with the same contraption, and always his experiments ended in the same way—as failures. Unfortunately the field where the young inventor drove his clumsy reaper that day was rough. The machine jolted along, cutting the wheat very irregularly. The owner of the field rushed up yel¬ ling excitedly: “Here! Stop your horses! Your machine is rattling the heads off my wheat.” Fortunately another neighbor came to the rescue. “Come over into my field,” he said. “I’ll give you a fair chance to trv vour machine.” STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY And into this level field drove Cyrus McCormick, with his crude reaper, which cut 6 acres of wheat in less than half a day—as much as six men could have done by hand. Soon the reaper followed the plow into the prairies of the West, and just in the nick of time. For in the war days of the sixties, men were needed at the front, and wheat was required as food for the men and their families. Throughout the war the United States steadily increased its pro¬ duction of wheat, supplying not only Americans but millions of Europeans who depended upon this country for part of their food supply. Most of this early agricultural machinery was worked by horse¬ power. Oddly enough, in the earliest days of this country even the plow had been pulled by hu¬ man labor. During the Middle Ages in England, the peasants were forbidden by law to use horses for plowing. It was feared that horses broken to the plow would cease to be valuable in war. Manpower in those days was cheap compared to horses, and the lives of men were con¬ sidered of little value. The com¬ mon man was just a beast of burden—a work animal to pull the plow. The emancipation of the farm¬ er—his release from back-break¬ ing toil—was brought about by American agricultural machinery. And, with the invention of the tractor, it became possible to do oo practically all farm work by ma¬ chinery. In 1917, when America went to war, the great cry w'as ‘‘Wheat!” Wlieat for the Army, wheat for hungry nations overseas. Thou¬ sands of gasoline tractors, pulling great gang plows, broke new land in the West, doing the work of whole armies of men. Wheat did much to win the war—thanks to modern farm machinery. And since the time of the World War, a wonderful new stage of mecha¬ nization has begun, with machines which would have seemed unbe¬ lievable only yesterday. Not so long ago, near the town of Xoblesville, Ind., an episode oc¬ curred which plainly showed how the newest methods of harvesting may bring about a change. A group of farmers were harvesting in the field, under the hot sun. Dinner time came, and they sat down in the shade to rest. And then took place this modern mira¬ cle of farming—^the farmer’s wife sent them a plate of hot biscuits, freshly buttered and wrapped in a snowy napkin, biscuits made from the very grain which these men had cut only half an hour before. A truck had followed the modern harvester as it moved rapidly through the field, cutting and threshing in one operation. The grain was loaded on the truck and carried to a mill near the farmhouse; and the farmer’s wife with the kitchen oven already hot, quickly made biscuits from the flour and sent them down to the field, within exactly thirty-four U. S. DEPAliTMENT OF COMMERCE 56 minutes of the time the wheat Avas cut. The haiwesting machinery in this case AA’as a modern combine; as its name implies, a combination of reaper and threshing machine. Formerly, the combine Avas a giant affair, so large that it was used only on big farms, but today the combine is being built doAvn to the size of smaller farms, doing the AA’hole job of haiwesting. I am told that American agri¬ culture uses more machinery than any other one industry in our country. Many of the improA^e- ments of modern life are quickly adapted to use on the farm. For instance, experiments haA^e been made AAuth air-conditioned barns for coAA^s. And of course on many farms the coaa's are milked by ma¬ chines and the cream is mechan¬ ically separated. And the latest models of tractors are equipped Avith rubber tires—in some cases Avith a cab for the driver and a radio. So your modern farmer can ride OA^er his fields in com¬ fort on rubber tires, cultiA^ating the soil Avhile he listens to radio. A lono; Avav from the crooked stick and the man Avitli the hoe! And speaking of hoes, the mod¬ ern tractor-operated cultivators can Aveed as much as 45 acres per (lay! Some of the greatest changes in the history of the AA'orld thus haAX been broimht about. And no- Avliere has the change been greater than in tlie life of those Avho live on the farm. Today’s farm cliil- dren go to school, because ma¬ chines tlo the Avork Avhich for¬ merly kept them busy at home; today’s Avomen Avho Ih^e on farms enjoy many of the comforts of pleasures of modern women, eA-ervAAdiere. And today, as farm purchasing poAA^er steadily rises, more and more farm machinery is being manufactured and sold. I am told that during 1936 it Avas esti¬ mated that about $450,000,000 AA^orth of agricultural machinery AA'as produced in America. And business for the first months of 1937 indicates that total sales for the year may ap¬ proach the record A^olume of 1929, which Avas $571,000,000. There are approximately 250 establish¬ ments manufacturing farm ma¬ chinery. They employ some '62,- 000 Avorkers to Avhom are paid $80,000,000 in salaries and wages. The future of this great indus¬ try holds great promise. Every year, neAv and still more wonder¬ ful machines are made aA^ailable to the American farmer. For ex¬ ample, the greatest single crop in our country is corn. And today all the AVork of ploAving, planting, fertilizing, cultivating, and har- A^esting corn can be done A\dth modern farm equipment. Ma¬ chines are being developed for A^arious smaller crops such as those found in regions Avhere di- A^ersified farming prevails. I am told that todaA" there are still OA^er 3,000,000 American farms Avhere modern farm ma¬ chinery could profitably be intro¬ duced. The future for farm ecjuipmeiit offers as great oppor¬ tunities as it did a century ago. The Sugar Industry and Its Products The story is told of a traveler in a remote section of the United States who, overtaken by a storm, was forced to seek shelter for the night in a nearby cabin. It was a section of the country where many of the customs of yesterday still prevail. When, during the evening meal, coffee was served the host said to the traveler: ‘‘Will you take long sweetenin’ or short sweetenin’ in your cof¬ fee?” To which the traveler re¬ plied, “Why, I don’t understand what you mean.” Then it was explained that long sweetening- meant molasses and short sweet¬ ening, sugar. These expressions, the visitor learned, had come down from the old days when sugar was a lux¬ ury—something reserved as a spe¬ cial treat for honored guests— while sorghum or molasses was relied upon for everyday use. A hundred years ago sugar was so rare and expensive that the average American consumed only 10 pounds of it a year, while to¬ day the consumption of sugar in the United States by every man, woman, and child is around 100 pounds a year. And we Amer¬ icans eat on the average a pound of candy a month, which, of course, is included in our con¬ sumption of sugar. As far back as present-day knowledge goes, honey was in use and for thousands of years it was the only known sweet. The story of the origin of sugarcane is one of the most fantastic stories one could imagine. It is a story so vague and imaginative one can scarcely tell where legend leaves off and truth begins. In ancient India, centuries before Christ, there lived a prince. Raja Trish- anku, who, so the story goes, desired to be transported to heaven while still a living man. But the ruler of the celestial regions denied this request. Then Raja Trishanku sought out a holy man named Vishva Mitra, a hermit, who obligingly ar¬ ranged a sort of temporary para¬ dise here on earth for the Raja to enjoy. And among the lux¬ uries which the holy man called into being for this earthly para¬ dise was sugarcane. Tradition fails to make clear where the hermit obtained this cane. In due season, however, Raja Trishanku ended his ter¬ restrial career. By order of the gods, his temporary paradise was destroyed, but they permitted the sugarcane to remain. And thus, in time, it spread to other lands and became a benefit to all man¬ kind. 57 58 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE And, in partial confirmation of this strange tale, authorities agree that the art of sugar making really originated in India from whence it spread into China and other parts of the Orient. Our modern word “sugar” comes from the Persian language. During the Middle Ages, when the Crusaders set forth in the Holy Wars they found in the Orient such strange luxuries as silks and satins, spices and above all, sugar. After they returned home from the wars a trade in sugar began and the great palaces of the Spanish kings at Madrid and Toledo were built with the proceeds of the sugar trade. One of its chief uses at that time was as a medicine. So valuable was sugar in those days that explorers spanned the seven seas to find new sources of supply. The discovery of sugar was even one of the objectives which Christopher Columbus had in mind when he crossed the At¬ lantic in 1492. Gradually, sugar became more and more a necessity of life, especially after the seven¬ teenth century when tea and coffee became popular in western Europe. And then came an event that proved to be a milestone in the march of sugar. Due to the mighty Xapoleon, Europe was aflame with war. France had })een cut off from the cane sugar supply of the world. French scientists for many years had tried to obtain it in commercial c[uantities from apples, pears, plums, quinces, and even walnuts and chestnuts. In 1802, a German chemist, Franz Karl Achard, built the first factory for making sugar from the beet. The French soon learned of Achard’s experi¬ ments and by 1811 a Frenchman named Benjamin Delessert had produced a quantity of well crystallized beet sugar. The word was carried to Napoleon of the success of Deles¬ sert’s efforts. Napoleon was en¬ raptured. With true French en¬ thusiasm he cried, “We must see this. Let us go at once.” Instantly dropping all other activities, Napoleon hurried away to the sugar factory. He was de¬ lighted with what he saw. Tak¬ ing the Cross of Honor which he wore on his breast, he pinned it on the astonished Delessert, for at the moment it looked as though the lowly sugar beet had become the savior of France. But like many great scientific discoveries, the efforts of Napoleon to make beet sugar popular met with opposi¬ tion. In time, however, people discovered that sugar is sugar, whether it comes from one plant or another. And since that day, the sugar beet has held an hon¬ ored place at the side of sugarcane. For all pure sugar is chemi¬ cally the same substance—sucrose. Soon after the discovery of North America, it was found that the maple tree yields a delicious sugar with a distinctive flavor and color. But maple sugar can easily be refined until it loses all its individual color and flavor and becomes pure white sugar, exactly like that from the cane or STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 59 the beet. And, oddly enough, it is one substance which modern science has not been able to pro¬ duce commercially by artificial means. Of course, other kinds of sweetening can be made, but Na¬ ture has refused to divulge her secret of combining carbon, hy¬ drogen, and oxygen in the exact formula which is sugar. Chem¬ ists tell us that through the en¬ ergy of sunlight, sugar is formed in the leaves from carbon dioxide and water. So Nature, in her marvelous laboratory, takes a little sunshine, a little wind, and a little rain and, presto, there is sugar. If you were to sail into the beautiful harbor of Kio de Janei¬ ro today one of the things that would arrest your attention would be Great Sugar Loaf Mountain. This mountain derived its name from the hard, cone-shaped loaf which was the form in which sugar at one time was molded. In those days, it was customary to break up lumps of sugar as they were needed, which is far from the sanitary, convenient form in which granulated sugar comes to our table today. The first American cane sugar was made in Louisiana before the Kevolutionary War. And, in the introduction of American beet sugar, the Mormons played an in¬ teresting part. When the pio¬ neers of that religious sect fol¬ lowed Brigham Young westward in the year 1847, they crossed the boundless prairies and took up their homes in Utah. Thousands of miles separated them from the 154556°—37-5 settled areas where sugar could be obtained. Meanwhile, the Mormons were sending mission¬ aries of their faith to foreign lands, and one of these mission¬ aries, John Taylor, learned of the process of making beet sugar in France. A complete manufac¬ turing outfit was purchased, and shipped to New Orleans. Fifty- two ox teams drew it slowly across the wilderness to Utah. This first Mormon sugar factory was not a success, after all, be¬ cause the manufacture of sugar from the beet requires expert technical knowledge as well as the right equipment. But the knowl¬ edge of beet sugar spread and soon the farmers of the great West found that the sugar beet was one of their most promising crops. The plant itself was steadily improved until today the sugar beet may contain as much as 15 to 20 percent sugar, as compared with 5 or 6 percent when culti¬ vated first in France. And no part of the sugar beet is wasted, as the tops and pulp of the sugar beet mixed in with molasses are an excellent feed for cattle. And today, the sugarcane yields a great variety of useful prod¬ ucts. Some sugarcane gives us edible molasses. However, the chief byproduct of cane sugar manufacturing is the inedible or blackstrap molasses, which is used to make large quantities of indus¬ trial alcohol, cattle feed, yeast, and other products. And the pulp of the ground cane, after the sugar is extracted, is used for fuel 60 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE and also in the manufacture of insulating ^yallboards. Sugar itself is used in many ways untiiought of only a few 3 ’ears ago. For example, a typi¬ cal stick of American chewing gum will be over half composed of sugar. Sugar is used in manu¬ facturing tobacco, in making soap and high explosives, and it is an essential ingredient in such great industries as canning and preserv¬ ing, baking, and confectionery. Today, on almost every street cor¬ ner wholesome, delicious candy bars and other confections are on sale—for candv is now one of the «/ great American habits. As a matter of fact, sugar is primarily a source of quick en¬ ergy, to supply our bodily needs. Thus, between the halves of foot¬ ball games, many coaches give lumps of sugar to their players, for the body converts sugar into bodily energy almost immedi¬ ately. For the same reason, sugar products are included in the emer¬ gency rations of soldiers, moun¬ tain climbers, and others who lead an active, strenuous life. And sugar authorities tell me that the theory that sugar is re¬ sponsible for tooth decay is now entirely exploded. Today, sugar is among our greater American industries. Pro¬ duction of beet sugar is concen¬ trated in the Pocky Mountain States and in California, although sizeable quantities are produced in Nebraska, Michigan, and as far east as Ohio. Domestic cane- sugar requirements are supplied chiefly by sugar producers in the States of Louisiana and Florida, Territory of Hawaii, insular pos¬ session of Puerto Rico, the Phil¬ ippine Islands, and the Republic of Cuba. And in a modern American sugar refinery—beet or cane sugar factory—the process of manufac¬ ture is marvelous to behold. The sugar sirup is revolved at incredi¬ ble speed in centrifugal machines, so-called because the centrifugal force of the whirling machines throws off the liquid and leaves the sugar. Today, according to the latest Bureau of Census figures, there are well over 150 establishments engaged in processing and refin¬ ing beet and cane sugar in conti¬ nental United States. The sup¬ plies purchased by these sugar es¬ tablishments, such as materials, containers, fuel and electric power, cost over 425 million dol¬ lars during last year, while the total manufacturers’ value of their products was well in excess of half a billion dollars. Today, as in ancient times, sugar is one of the pleasant things of life—a luxury as well as a healthful food. But, thanks to the modern American sugar in¬ dustry, it is a luxury which every¬ one can enjoy. Industries of Tomorrow On a barren, windswept stretch of sand on the coast of North Carolina stood two young men engaged in earnest conversation. Beside them was one of the strang¬ est contraptions ever seen—a big, boxlike affair mounted on a single rail, with long skids projecting out in front of a main wing. One of the young men climbed into the machine and lay face down behind the motor. There came a roaring sound. The mo¬ tor began to turn. The strange contraption moved. One of the youths ran beside it, holding it steady by one wing. Faster and faster it moved! Then, suddenly, it lifted into the air and for a distance of 120 feet it actually flew. Thus it was that man first conquered the air with a heavier- than-air flying machine. And this historical episode of Orville and Wilbur Wright on the sands of Kill Devil Hill was enacted less than 34 years ago. Within the same short space of time we have learned, too, the wonders of the radio, the motion picture, the automobile, artificial refrigeration, and countless other revolutionary developments. Many of these innovations have been brought about against a background of incredulity and ridicule. So, when we consider all that has been accomplished within a generation, who can say that the incipient industries of today are beyond the bounds of reason, no matter how fantastic they may seem? Some of these developments will open new avenues of employ¬ ment; others will add tremend¬ ously to our comforts and con¬ veniences. Among the great industries which seem at this time to be just over the horizon is television. In the pioneer stages of this miracle of science, there stands forth one predominating, dramatic person¬ ality. A few years before the Wright brothers’ first flight, an Indiana farm boy, Francis Jenkins, came to Washington to take a Gov¬ ernment post. But after a few years, he gave up his job to de¬ vote his life to inventing. This was the period when ^larconi wireless waves were first being heralded, and soon all over Amer¬ ica amateurs were communicating by dots and dashes. In those days, radio broadcasting was un¬ known. But already young Jen¬ kins cherished a fantastic dream of sending sight, as well as sound, through the air. In order to raise money to build his elaborate experimental machinery Jenkins began to in- 61 62 U. S. DEPARTIMENT OF COMMERCE vent things. One of these was the self-starter for automobiles. Also he helped develop the projector, which has made possible the modern motion picture. All told, he secured patents on 400 inven¬ tions. By the year 1922, he had carried his experiments to the point of sending the first still photograph by radio. But the dream of sending living, moving pictures through the air still haunted him. And he needed money so badly! Turning aside temporarily from his television, he invented the paper ice-cream cup and the mod¬ ern milk-bottle cap. With the proceeds of these loAvly but use¬ ful inventions, he turned again to television. And then, one bright Saturday morning in June 1925, in the old naval radio station in Washing¬ ton, Jenkins focused the televi¬ sion camera upon a small model of a windmill. The blades of the wundmill were set in motion by the wind from an electric fan. Hurrying back to his laboratory, several miles distant, Jenkins watched the image of the little wundmill turning steadily in his receiving set. He rushed to the telephone and called Secretary of the Navy Wilbur. ‘‘Mister Secretary”, he cried. “Mister Secretary, come over here at once! My radiovision is work¬ ing !” Secretary Wilbur and other Government officials dropped all work, jumped into taxicabs, and rushed to the inventor’s laboratorv. The blades of the little windmill were turning in the first successful television demon¬ stration ever made. Years of ex¬ perimenting continued. And then the tragedy! Three years ago Francis Jenkins died. He never lived to see the com¬ plete fulfillment of the dreams that had been his through all the years. But every night, in New York City, experimental tele¬ vision programs are now being broadcast. And these broadcasts, it is said, are being received clearly both as to sight and sound by experimental receiving sets scattered throughout a radius of 40 miles. Of course, great ob¬ stacles still remain before televi¬ sion enters the average home. Ex¬ perts tell me that at the present stage of development something like 1 billion dollars’ worth of new equipment will have to be manufactured and sold before television really comes into its own. Perhaps, even before the bil- lion-dollar television industry is developed in the United States on a commercial scale, radio will have gone into other fields, which now' seem equally fantastic. Be¬ fore long it may be possible for you while riding in your automo¬ bile to pick up a w'ireless tele¬ phone and talk wdth your home, or with any other telephone con¬ nection, anywdiere. Such an in¬ vention already successfully has been demonstrated abroad. And still more amazing is the possi¬ bility of small portable radio telephones and receiving sets of vest-pocket size. Marconi, the in¬ ventor of wireless telegraphy, re- STOltlES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 63 cently said that within a few years radiotelephones may be developed to the point where everyone can have a radio telephone number. Experts in the housing field tell me that more than likely all the parts of the house of the fu¬ ture will be built in factories, and the standard units quickly assem¬ bled as the owner may direct. And in the home of the future, too, the temperature and humid¬ ity, through air-conditioning, will be completely regulated all the year round. The air-condition¬ ing industry, while not new, is developing rapidly and is des¬ tined soon to take its place among our great American in¬ dustries. Oddly enough, too, in the homes of the future, windows will be unnecessary, because arti¬ ficial sunlight will supply the needs of the occupants, while out¬ side noises, dust, and dirt will be unknown. On the dinner table it will be possible to serve any sort of fruit and vegetable at any season of the year. This change already is coming about through the new American quick-freezing indus¬ try. And registered in the United States Patent Office are patents for fruit trees so hardy that they will withstand subzero weather, thus eliminating the tre¬ mendous losses of frosts and freezes, and making it possible to raise fruits in vast areas now too cold for fruit-bearing trees. Among the products of tomor¬ row will be glass which wfill not break, or transmit glare, and one¬ way glass, which can be seen through in one direction, but not in the other. We shall have wood which is as resistant to fire as concrete or stone. In the field of chemicals there is almost no limit to the amazine; new discoveries. For example, plastics, or molded materials, are used today to make thousands of beautiful and useful articles out of materials which yesterday were considered waste, such as corn husks and sawdust. Complete chemical costumes for the ladies are already available, with every¬ thing from hat to shoes made of these products of the chemical laboratory. One of the most wonderful of all the servants of man is the new photoelectric eye, a cell so sensi¬ tive to light that it will turn on street lights automatically as day¬ light fades, protect buildings against fires, control street traffic or elevators, inspect various prod¬ ucts before they come from the factory, and even match colors. It may be that the photoelectric eye will prove to be one of the answers to the kidnaper. For it operates just as well with invis¬ ible, ultraviolet rays as with or¬ dinary beams of light. Thus if, in an attempted kidnaping from a child’s bed or crib, one of these invisible light rays should be in¬ terrupted, the electric eye in¬ stantly would sound an alarm. Some of the most marvelous achievements of modern industry are in the field of photography. Already, large, bulky volumes or magazines can be reduced to tiny rolls of film wdiicli easily can be 64 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE slipped into the pocket and run off at any time on a projection machine. Some of the records of the United States Census Bureau have been condensed into these tiny rolls of film. One entire cen¬ sus containing the records of 77 million persons is now stored in these rolls along one wall of a small office, using only a fraction of the space which otherwise would be required. And in this field the greatest marvel is still in the future—the talking book. For, by a further development, sound as well as sight can be recorded on the film and reproduced, just as in the mo¬ tion picture. Thus, in the future, if we do not care to use our eye¬ sight for reading, a talking book will read aloud to us, at the same time flashing the illustrations in beautiful colors against the wall of our home. Scientists tell me that in the future, it may be possible to focus beams of electronic energy far into space, enabling us to see hundreds of millions of miles far¬ ther into the heavens than we can now ])enetrate with the most powerful telescopes. And, not satisfied with the possibility of seeing farther into the universe, scientists are at work on rockets which some enthusiasts assert may, far in the future, be de¬ veloped to the point of actually leaving the earth’s atmosphere and reaching other worlds. While many will fail to agree with such enthusiasm, it does seem to be within the bounds of possi¬ bility that the rocket some day may become of practical value. Already (experimentally) rockets have been used to carry mail. In early experiments with rockets in Germany and other countries at¬ tempts were made to use explo¬ sive powder as motive power. Today, experimental rockets are powered by liquid fuel—a mix¬ ture of gasoline and oxygen, whose explosions drive the rocket into the air. Of course, no one can tell what will grow out of present experiments in rockets. Before they become of much value, great improvements must be made. The Smithsonian In¬ stitution and the Carnegie Insti¬ tution of Washington are among the groups which have made grants of money for rocket ex¬ periments. Alexander the Great, so it has been recorded, wept when he found there were no more worldfs to conquer. But modern man knows no such limitations. The attitude today is that there is no limit to the worlds which remain to be conquered. So, a salute to our men of science, to our in¬ ventors, and to our industrialists, for, under their leadership, the dreams of today will continue to become the realities of tomorrow. The Lumber Industry Somewhere in the Pacific North¬ west this afternoon lumberjacks are felling great towering trees which have been growing for cen¬ turies. As the loggers finish the last cut and the tree starts to fall clear from the stump, there echoes through the forest the well- known warning signal of woods¬ men everywhere—a cry which makes lumberjacks run for their lives the instant it is heard— ‘‘TIMBEK!” Back of the lumber industry, back of the constant and manifold uses of wood in our daily lives, there exists a realm of great romance, of adventure, of dan¬ ger—the logging camp. Out of this realm many absorbing legends have come, such as the stories of Paul Bunyan, the mythical super¬ man of the lumber industry. I wish I had time to tell you a few. But I would like to tell you a story that is not mythical. It is the story of Andy Neilson, a vet¬ eran lumberjack, who had worked the logging camps from Maine to Oregon. In his younger days, Andy took part in the thrilling log drives down the river to the sawmill. He knew the roar and splash that followed when he broke a log jam with his cant hook. He knew how to keep his balance on slippery, whirling logs where one false step might mean death. One of the most difficult and dangerous of all tasks in the woods is that of timber topping, and Andy Neilson in time became a timber topper. Because of the great danger they face, timber toppers are paid a cash bounty for every tree they top. Their job is to climb the trunks of certain un¬ usually tall trees in order to lop off the tops. This is done so that the bare stub of the standing trunk of the tree may be used to rig the skyline cables for hauling the logs. Under ordinary circumstances, Andy’s job as a timber topper as he approached middle age would have been given to a younger man, but because of his unusual skill and courage he was allowed to keep on. His great ambition was to stay at his dangerous task until he had topped his five hundredth tree. One day as the crew of loggers pushed into the forest they came upon the tallest tree they had en¬ countered, a towering fir that reached up 200 feet toward the sky. With a catch in his throat, Andy looked it over and realized this was to be his final tree. “All right, Andy, we’ll rig the skyline. Top ’er off!” ordered the boss. 65 66 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ‘"Okay”, replied Andy Neil- son. “Here goes!” Quickly he tossed his wide loop of rope around the great fir tree, then, digging liis steel spurs deep ijito the bark and bracing him¬ self against his safety belt, he walked up the trunk of this for¬ est monarch—up and up to the point where the evergreen branches spread far out against the sky. Here at this dizzy height with his ax he made the undercut on one side, and moving around to the back he began sawing. Suddenly there came a terrific crash. A groan arose from the loggers far below. Andy looked upward quickly. A gust of wind had upset his calculations. A ton of treetop was swaying wildly toward him 1 Then—as if by some strange God-given chance—his safety belt suddenly slipped and came loose—just enough to allow him to drop and clear the oncoming treetop. There he held. "With a crash the treetop struck the ground below, and Andy Neilson, his life saved as though by a miracle, climbed down his last tree. And speaking of workers in logging camps, the first and greatest single logging operation in history was undertaken some 3,000 years ago by King Solomon, who, after his coronation, made a vow that he would erect a great temple which should be a national shrine. It was to be such a shrine as his father David first had planned, but was unable to build because of war. In order to carry out his vow, Solomon made the first logging contract in history. To Hiram, King of Sidon, he sent this message, “Pre¬ pare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderfully great.” The contract which Soloman gave King Hiram called for lumber from the famous cedar trees of Lebanon. To aid in cutting down these trees, Solomon employed 80,000 loggers. After the logs had been cut, they were bound to¬ gether in rafts and floated over the Mediterranean Sea to Pal¬ estine. Not until our present day has anything like those great cedar rafts of King Solomon been seen on the face of any waters. How¬ ever, witliin the last few years, enormous ocean-going rafts larger even than a ship such as the Queen Mary have been launched by the modern American lumber industry. These modern rafts go by sea from the Pacific Northwest down the coast to California. Fir and cedar logs are bound together with steel chains into rafts so sturdy that they often are used for carrying other freight on their decks. Back in the year 1607, a com¬ pany of English gentlemen landed at an island in the James River, Ya., and established the Jamestown Settlement. These gentlemen adventurers crossed the stormy Atlantic in search of gold and precious stones. But, instead of gold and precious stones the first cargo they shipped home from Virginia was lumber. And STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 67 lumber, throughout all these in¬ tervening years, has proved to be one of the most valuable treasures of the New World. The value of American forest products and their manufactures in recent years is actually greater than the value of all the gold ever mined in the United States. And the United States produces a greater variety of commercial trees than any other country in the world, in¬ cluding many which are found nowhere else, such as the red¬ wood, yellow poplar, red gum, and chestnut tree. Like other great industries, lumber has changed with the march of modern civilization. Today, wood is available in many new forms, some of which hardly would be recognized by the old- time woodsman. One of these is plywood, which consists of thin strips of wood cemented together with the grains crossing at right angles. Because of this crossing of the grains, a thin piece of ply¬ wood is many times stronger than a strip of solid wood of equal thickness. In fact, plywood in proportion to its weight is several times as strong as metal. Odd as it may seem, flour also is made from wood. This wood floor is used, not for food, but in the manufacture of linoleum, ex¬ plosives, and countless molded products. Quite a large part of modern clothing is made from wood in the form of rayon and other specialized products. And today, it is nothing unusual in Europe for automobiles and trucks to burn wood chips or char¬ coal for fuel. When the driver needs more fuel he simply secures a fresh supply of chips or even branches from the tree. In a re¬ ceptacle in the rear of the car, pieces of wood are burned into a gas which furnishes the power for the motor. Altogether, there are some 5,000 different uses for wood in modern industry, as they are listed by the United States Department of Commerce. And I am told that these uses result in over 200,000 different articles being manufac¬ tured today. Yet, with all the uses for wood and wood products, its greatest single service to man¬ kind comes from its use in the building of homes. In the earliest days of our country every house was built of wood, and thousands of those early colonial residences are still standing as strong and beautiful as the day they were built. The stately columns, typi¬ cal of some colonial houses, have come down to us from the days of ancient Egypt where they were first inspired by tree trunks found in the forest. One such home is, perhaps, the most famous and the most re¬ vered house in America, Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. This house, erected in 1743, was built entirely of wood, and still is in excellent condition. Today the American lumber in¬ dustry is taking the lead in the movement to make it possible for everyone to own a home. To help make this dream come true, the lumber industry is erecting 68 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE models of small houses, within the means of the average American family. Over 3,000 such small demonstration homes are being opened for display in over 1,000 or more American communities, in cooperation with the Federal Housing Administration. Al¬ though these demonstration homes of the lumber industry differ in design and price, all have two fea¬ tures in common—each is priced within the means of persons in moderate circumstances, and each is built of wood. And, to make possible such a demonstration as this, it is neces¬ sary to bring into play the varied resources of a great modern in¬ dustry. Tractors, replacing the ox teams of yesterday, haul giant logs across rough country. Mod¬ ern steel saws, operated by gaso¬ line or electric motors, bite into the base of trees far faster than the most powerful lumberjack. The modern logging camp would hardly be recognized by some of the oldtimers of yester¬ day. There is good food and plenty of it, clean linen, and pleasant, homelike surroundings. Good roads bring the modern lumberjack in touch with modern civilization throughout the year. And here is one fact about the modern lumber industry which will be good news to all w’ho love trees—under modern logging methods, the American forests are actually growing faster than they are being cut. Today, trees are regarded by the lumbermen as a crop to be harvested scientifically, making sure always that when an area has been logged, another crop of trees will follow within the next generation. More and more, farmers are turning to the forests as a profitable crop, and are planting trees on land where other crops have failed. Today, one-fourth of the entire United States is forest land, either public or private. The real danger to our forests, I am told, comes from forest fires often started by the carelessness of those who use the woods. Cig¬ arettes and matches, tossed in the woods without being carefully ex¬ tinguished, cause a loss of hun¬ dreds of millions of dollars each year. And, unlike the lumber¬ man, the forest fire makes no dis¬ tinction between trees that are ready to be cut and those that should be left for future growth. The forest fire takes them all. Our forests are not onlv a source of recreation, but they rep¬ resent one of the greatest of all American industries. An army of 200,000 men is engaged in logging operations, cutting the trees and transporting the logs to the saw¬ mills. And if we take into con¬ sideration those wdio are on the pay roll of the forest industries and those depending directly up¬ on them, over a million men earn their living from the forest, pro¬ ducing products valued each year at around 4 billion dollars. The lumber industry spends over 400 million dollars each year for one item alone—railroad transporta¬ tion. Eighty foreign countries have come to depend upon the Americiui lumber industry for STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 69 certain varieties of wood which they cannot obtain in sufficient quantities and qualities wdthin their borders. Thus a tree grown in an American forest may be made into furniture or put to other use halfway around the world. The lumber industry always will claim our special interest, not only because of its value in a utilitarian way but because of its association with the home. A study of the lumber industry could scarcely be complete unless it should bring us to a realization of the fact that our greatest na¬ tional buhvark of strength is a fine home life. There are chal¬ lenging problems before us today which include the abolition of the growing slums from cities and from countryside. Any activities which encourage rightful home building, therefore, are to be ap¬ plauded because of the help they offer in establishing a sound home- life in America and the restora¬ tion of the American family to its rightful place in the sun. Coal Mining and Coke Manufacturing A number of years ago a pioneer hunter named Nicholas Allen was roaming the mountains' near Pottsville, Pa. As night descended he built a fire under a rocky ledge and cooked his supper of wild game he had shot during the day. Then, rolling himself in his blanket, he went to sleep, leav¬ ing his fire burning as a protec¬ tion against wild animals. Dur¬ ing the night Allen awoke sud- dently with a bright light shining in his eyes. He leaped to his feet—his camp¬ fire, instead of dying down to a bed of embers as was the usual case, was burning with a strange, blue flame. Allen ran to the scene. “IVhy! The mountain’s on fire”, he exclaimed. There was no more sleep for him that night, and as soon as daylight broke he went down the mountain side and proclaimed his discovery to the people of Potts¬ ville. The strange substance that had blazed up from Allen’s campfire that night a century and a half ago was coal—material practi¬ cally unknown in America at that time. But, the people of Pottsville were not at all interested in the story Allen told them. Except for a few blacksmiths, no one would even try the new fuel. Then, after 20 years of persistent 70 effort, he persuaded a neighbor. Col. George Shoemaker, to go into partnership with him in sell¬ ing coal. Colonel Shoemaker made up his mind that Philadelphia would be a good market for coal, so he loaded up nine wagons and drove into that city. But already others had tried in vain to intro¬ duce coal there. So, when Col¬ onel Shoemaker, with his nine wagons filled with black dia¬ monds, drove down the streets of the city, he Avas assailed by an angry mob. “The black rocks are useless! They won’t burn 1 You are a swindler!” cried the mob. Then out of the crowd there came a friendly voice. A kindly stranger drew Colonel Shoemaker aside and said: “If I were you, I would take these black stones away, for a warrant has been sworn out for your arrest.” “lYell”, answered Shoemaker, “I’ve sold two wagonloads. I will be glad to give away * the rest.” And, abandoning his coal. Shoemaker fled from Philadel¬ phia and made his way over back- countrv roads to Pottsville. But it so happened that one of the two customers who had braved public ridicule by pur¬ chasing coal from Shoemaker was STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 71 a firm of wire manufacturers. For 24 hours workmen in the wire factory stirred and poked at the coal but no blaze came. “I guess the crowd was right”, one of the workmen said at last. ‘‘We’ve been swindled. I’m going home.” Strangely enough this work¬ man left his coat hanging in the furnace room. After a few hours he came back for it and to his utter amazement the coal fire was burning brightly. It had only needed to be left alone. From that time on the use of coal grew rapidly. Millions of years ago, the land where the Appalachian Moun¬ tains now stand was perfectly flat—a low, steaming marsh, where forests of lush, rank vege¬ tation absorbed the hot sunshine. Then there came a terrific up¬ heaval. Like a sleeping giant, the earth stirred itself and huge mountain ranges arose while the primeval forests were folded un¬ derground. Here the heat and pressure of the centuries con¬ verted these ancient forests into coal. It is not unusual even today to find a lump of coal which bears the perfect imprint of a leaf stamped upon it. The ancient Chinese, and after them the Romans, were the first to discover the use of coal. For hundreds of years before the dis¬ covery of America men had worked in the coal mines of Eng¬ land. Some of these early mines were along the coast, and for this reason coal for many years was known as sea-coal. The mines in some instances actually ex¬ tended under the sea. And in these ancient coal mines, vromen as well as men were employed, and children also crawled up the steep slopes of the underground passageways with baskets of coal upon their backs. Lying flat upon their backs, miners hacked at the coal with picks. Often, cave-ins occurred, and terrific explosions and fires, caused by the gases which had accumulated. In some of these early mines, in order to test the air before the miners entered, a dog at the end of a rope was lowered into the pit. If the dog barked, it was a sure sign that the poisonous gases had entered the mine. In still other mines, the fires which broke out from time to time were regarded as the work of evil fire spirits. Before the miners could begin work, a special fireman, dressed all in white, entered the mine and performed incantations to drive the fire spirits away. During the centuries when miners relied upon such primitive methods, frightful disasters from fires and explosions were frequent. And as these old mines were dug deeper and deeper another peril arose—water. And now we come to the story of Thomas Newcomen, a humble blacksmith to whom history, it would seem, has denied a right¬ ful place. Many unsuccessful at¬ tempts had been made to develop a steam engine that would pump water from the mines. New¬ comen invented such an engine. A model of Newcomen’s engine 72 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE was sent to Glasgow University. One day it required repairs. James Watt, a young inventor at the university, was asked to do the work and out of this incident came Watt’s invention of the modern steam engine. Out of the dark depths of the coal mines another great inven¬ tion came into being—the rail¬ road. For hundreds of years crude railways had been laid down in the coal mines, and carts loaded with coal were drawn by men or by horses. After the in¬ vention of the steam engine, the first steam locomotives were used in the coal-mine railroads. The first engine of this kind was given the name of “Puffing Billy.” It was built in 1813 and was used for 60 years. Leaders in the American min¬ ing industry tell me that the use of modern machinery has wrought great changes in mines. So I want to take you with me this afternoon on a short, imagi- narv visit to a modern American coal mine. As we ride down the main shaft in the elevator, daylight fades over our heads. Down, down we go. Soon we are in utter dark¬ ness. The air is cool and damp and there is complete silence— like night under the clouds. Then faintly, far away, as it seems, we catch the sound of crunching coal underfoot. A miner comes up to us and we are able to see a little Avay ahead by the aid of the elec¬ tric battery lamp on his cap. And now we come to a railroad track which stretches away in the dim underground streets and loses itself in the shadowy distance. Over there we see a man sprinkling dust over the floor. “That’s rock dust”, explains our guide. “That’s probably the greatest single safety device ever discovered in mining. You see, we’re not expecting any explo¬ sions and each room in the mine is checked carefully for the pres¬ ence of gas before the men start work. But in case there should be a fire or an explosion any¬ where, the rock dust will smother it before it really gets started. The United States Bureau of Mines introduced this idea 25 years ago.” After we have walked for some time, penetrating the most distant chambers, we are rather surprised that here far underground the air is fresh and cool. Our guide ex¬ plains that a series of airways, cut through the rock, circulates fresh air constantly, that is, forced into the mine by giant electric fans. “As a matter of fact”, he adds, “the air in coal mines was circu¬ lated by machinery long before air-conditioning was heard of up on the surface.” “MTiere are the miners? I don’t see anybody carrying a pick and shovel”, we say. The guide laughs. “You won’t see many picks or shovels in this mine. Here we are in a room where men are working. Just watch them.” We see that one man controls an undercutting machine—a low, powerful contraption which rafp- idlv burrows under the solid STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 73 black wall of coal. Next, with electric drills, the miners drill holes for the explosives which will bring down the coal. And after the explosives have been packed in we all retire to a safe place while the charge is fired by elec¬ tricity. “Now we’ll see some pick and shovel work”, we venture. “No, you won’t”, replies the guide. “Just watch that duckbill loader.” And, amazing to behold, a strange birdlike device moves rapidly over the floor, actually picking up the lumps in its long bill. Then it drops them on a moving belt, or conveyor, which empties them into the cars of the mine railroad. We follow some newly loaded cars until we again reach the mouth of the mine. With a word of thanks to our guide we again board the elevator and are carried back to the world of sunshine. Here we find the coal being transferred automat¬ ically to giant hoppers which me¬ chanically clean and sort it for delivery to the outside world. Mining experts tell me that perhaps in the future it will not be necessary to deliver coal from the mine. Instead, all coal may be burned right at the mine door, and the power carried in the form of electricity, or perhaps it will run through pipe lines in the form of gas or oil. Already, powdered coal, mixed with water, is being sent through pipe lines for short distances. Science has performed thou¬ sands of seeming miracles with coal. For example, after soft or bituminous coal is heated to ob¬ tain coke, which is used in the manufacture of iron and steel, great quantities of coal tar are formed. From this come literally thousands of byproducts. It is used to build our roads, and to creosote lumber. And from coal tar also are derived thousands of medicines such as, for example, aspirin—and dozens of delicious flavors for our food and drink also come from coal. One of these coal-tar byproducts is sac¬ charin, which is 400 times as sweet as sugar. The most delicate and delicious perfumes also are made from coal. From coal, too, we get baking powder, dyes, phonograph records, plastics of all kinds, moth balls, fountain pens, smelling salts, buttons, in¬ sect killers, artificial rubber, and soda water. And I am told that at the present rate of consumption there are enough coal reserves in the United States to supply the Na¬ tion’s needs for approximately 3,000 years to come. This is true, in spite of the fact that today coal supplies more energy than all other sources of power combined. The great American coal in¬ dustry employs half a million men at the mines, while thousands more are engaged in the countless activities which depend upon coal. The value of coal at the mine in the United States is well over a billion dollars yearly, and the United States produces more than half the coal in the entire world. The Meat-Packing Industry In the village of Mason, N. H., there lived two young brothers. Sam and Ebenezer Wilson. When they reached the time at which they decided to set out into the world and seek their fortune they made their way on foot to Troy, N. Y. The younger of the two youths, Sam, was then 21 years of age, and it is concerning him that our story deals. After arriving in Troy, Sam Wilson engaged in several different lines of work, and finally became a meat packer. He was a friendly, cheerful type of man who endeared himself rapidly to those with whom he was associated. In due time he became known to everyone in Troy as Uncle Sam. One day during the year 1812, a river boat pulled up to the dock at the foot of Ferry Street. Standing on the wharf were a number of casks of meat en route to the American Army, for at that time the United States was at war with England, and Troy was an important shipping point for Army supplies. One of the passengers from the boat noted that on each barrel of these army supplies were the letters, “U. S.” “IWiat do these letters, ‘U. S.’, mean?” the passenger asked of an Irish watchman who was stand¬ ing nearby. 74 ‘‘Must mean Uncle Sam”, was the reply. “Uncle Sam who?” “Uncle Sam Wilson, of course— he’s feeding the Army.” Uncle Sam feeding the Army— that sounded like a good joke. The story quickly spread. Uncle Sam feeding the Army. Soon Uncle Sam came to mean the United States Government. And thus there came into being the famous character—the symbol of America—Uncle Sam—named for the humble meat packer of Troy. It is said that the early cartoons of Uncle Sam were actual like¬ nesses of the tall, angular, good- humored Sam Wilson of Troy. But the -Troy meat packer was smooth shaven, and in the course of time the legendary figure of Uncle Sam acquired the whiskers which he now wears and which have become known around the world. It is not inappropriate that the great American packing industry should be the source of our great national character. Uncle Sam, for it is an industry which touches intimately the lives of every American citizen. But back in 1812, when Uncle Sam came into existence, meat packing was a comparatively small and unimportant industry. STO^lIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY Its great development came later with the refrigerator car. About 1870, experiments were made in placing ice boxes in railroad cars for shipping meats from the West to the East. However, it became necessary to buy the rights to the ice in all the lakes of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, in order to supply the cars en route. The cars in those davs had no facili- ties for handling ice and the packers were forced to build huge ice houses along the tracks. Soon refrigerator cars by the thousands were carrying fresh meat from the packing houses of the Middle West to the cities of the East. The news spread rapidly throughout the West where herds of beef cattle were grazing on the wide prairies. More and more great ranches were established, until it was claimed that two- thirds of our beef cattle were raised west of the Mississippi River, although two-thirds of the meat was consumed in the East— a condition which is true today. After the buffalo disappeared from the western plains, tremen¬ dous herds of cattle took their place—cattle wdiich were rounded up by one of the most picturesque figures of American history—the cowboy, who passed his days in the saddle and his nights on the open prairie under the stars. Dime novels. Wild West show's, and w'estern movies may have ex¬ aggerated the stories of the Old West, but the cattle ranch and the cowboy will ever remain in memory as among the finest and 154556°—37-G 75 most typical American institu¬ tions. A good deal of the spirit of the old cowboy was expressed in the following couplet from a cow¬ boy’s song: My feet are in the stirrups and my rope is on the side; Show me a hoss that I can’t ride. The story of meat stretches far back to the dawn of civilization. Even in ancient days efforts were made to preserve meat so that it could be carried long distances. As a result of these efforts, the Romans invented the sausage in various forms and it became a favorite dish at Roman banquets. Finally, in an effort to curb the gayety of these events, laws were passed against the manufacture and sale of sausage, and there came into being in that ancient day the sausage bootlegger. How¬ ever, for many centuries the secret of curing meat remained a secret. The formula was known only by the individual who hap¬ pened to be the curing foreman. In this way it was passed down from one generation to another. Finally, the secret came to a cer¬ tain curing foreman named Isaac Carter. When the time came to, cure meat it was Carter’s custom to lock himself in the cellar of the packing house, and there in secret set about his mysterious task. “Isaac”, said the meat packer one day, “Let me in on the secret. Just w’jiat formula do you use?” To wdiicli, the old foreman re¬ plied, “Mr. Stevens, that is one thing I can never tell you, for it 76 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE has been a secret in my family for ten generations.” But that night the packer bored a small hole in the floor of his office, which was directly above the curing cellar. In the morning he lay on the floor and watched Isaac at his Avork. Into a vat of water Isaac added nothing but sugar and salt. Then he threAv in a piece of Irish potato. The po¬ tato sank. Isaac added more salt until the potato floated. Amazed at Avhat he had seen, the packer hurried to a chemist. “Why”, said the chemist, “he Avas only determining the specific graAuty of the pickle. There is no secret about that. I can do it easilA\” And Avith this odd incident began the modern system of chemical control of meat packing. All meat today from the time it is slaughtered until it is deliA-ered to the table, is under the Avatchful control of expert chemists. One of the shoAv places of the AA’orld is the great stockyards of Chicago AAuth 25 miles of streets betAveen the pens in Avhich the animals are kept. It is a color¬ ful city, filled Avith the thunder of pounding hoofs. Dashing up and doAAUi its noisy streets are some of the Avorld’s most accom¬ plished riders employed as stock- yard coAvboys. Inside the pack¬ ing plants the carcasses of those animals Avhich liaA^e been selected carefully for meat, traA^el on OA’erhead conveyors from one AA’orkman to another. “Why, it is just like the assem¬ bly line in an automobile factory”. Ave exclaim. “That’s right”, says our guide. “But the automobile manufacturers borroAved the idea from the packers.” At the elboAv of the butchers’ stand inspectors of the United States Department of Agriculture AAdio make the most detailed ex¬ amination and stamp the various sides of meat Avitli a small pur¬ ple seal Avhich reads, “U. S. in¬ spected and passed.” This stamp appears on all meat Avliich enters interstate commerce. Today American meat packers set the standard of the Avorld for purity, and this brings to mind an interesting story of Avar days. The American packing industry Avrought one of the greatest achievements of modern times Avhen the American Expedition¬ ary Force Avas supplied Avith meat packed in the United States and shipped to France. Of course, during this period, space in the ships AA'hich crossed the Atlantic Avas worth its Aveight in gold. During the Avar an American officer stationed at the front Avas suddenly ordered behind the lines. He protested to his superior offi¬ cers against the moA^e but they re¬ plied “We knoAV you come from a meat-packing family. You’re needed back at the base station to build a storage plant for meat.” And, arriving at the base sta¬ tion, this officer at once noted that the cuts of meat Avhich arrived daily from the United States con¬ tained all the bone. “Why”, he said, “they ought to cut out the bone before they send STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 77 it over and save space in the ships.” And due to this one suggestion, vast quantities of shipping and storage space were saved and the Army was supplied with meat on time. And every one of the millions of pounds of meat which were sent to France arrived in prime condition—truly a miracle of modern packing. With the development of the modern American packing house, new industries began. Thousands of different articles are made today from the byproducts of the pack¬ ing industry, including leather goods, soap, gelatin, oleomarga¬ rine, violin strings, and bouillon cubes and dice. Perhaps the most marvelous of all byproducts has been in the field of medicine—for example, thyroid extract. With¬ out the modern packing industry these drugs could not be made available to the people who need them. For in order to make as much as 1 pound of certain ex¬ tracts, as many as 5,000 head of sheep must pass through the packing house. And Americans are eating more and more meat—an average of 140 pounds a year for every man, woman, and child. The produc¬ tion of meat, lard, and byproducts is now valued at close to 2 billion dollars each year, and in several recent years the value of meat products has actually ranked first in the list of American industries, ahead of automobiles, petroleum, and steel. In over 1,000 packing plants, an army of more than 100,000 men and women are at work. But even this picture of the meat-packing industry fails to give a real conception of its size. For meat is the principal product of the American farm. Nine-tenths of all the corn grown in America today is fed to meat animals. And it is appropriate that meat packing should be one of our greatest industries, for meat is still one of the greatest of foods. The Shipping Industry Many years ago, in the days of ' sailing ships, an excited lookout on the coast of Ireland turned to a companion and shouted: “Look over there! A ship’s on fire!” Far out to sea a sinister cloud of smoke was trailing against the horizon. Promptly the lookout flashed the warning to naval authorities and a cutter put out from the city of Cork to aid the burning vessel and rescue those on board. Soon the cutter came within plain view of the smok¬ ing ship, which flew the flag of the new American Republic. Her sails were furled and she seemed helpless. Suddenly the captain of the cutter uttered an exclama¬ tion of astonishment. “Look! Look!” he cried, “She’s pulling away from us. Blow me, but the ship’s bewitched!” And, sure enough, with smoke pouring from her decks, the strange ship, without the use of sails, was slow¬ ly pulling away from the cutter. “Fire a shot across her bow”, ordered the cutter’s captain. A shot rang out, and, in obedi¬ ence to the laws of the sea, the mysterious vessel hove to, while the cutter pulled alongside. But to the utter amazement of the British captain and his crew, the sailors on the American ves¬ sel, instead of showing fear be- 78 cause of the smoke, only leaned over the rail and laughed. And thus came about the cli¬ max to one of the most important voyages ever made by a ship. The little vessel, which the Brit¬ ish thought was burning, was the Savannah, the first steamship ever to cross the Atlantic. It was 118 years ago, on May 22, 1819, that the 100-foot Savannah sailed out of the port of Savannah, Ga. And in honor of this ship. May 22, by authority of Presidential proclamation, is set aside through¬ out the Nation as Maritime Hay, when we pay tribute to one of the oldest and most important of in¬ dustries—shipping. On August 17, 1807, Robert Fulton sailed the Clermont, the world’s first successful steamboat, up the Hudson River, and, fol¬ lowing this, the use of steam in propelling vessels came into use along the Atlantic coast. But it remained for the Savannah to be the first steamship to reach Euro¬ pean shores. An old sea captain, Moses Rogers, first thought of putting the sailing vessel Savan¬ nah into steam. The engine and boiler were placed on her deck, while paddle wheels were set amidships like those found on river boats today. These paddle wheels were so arranged that when the engine was not running and STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 79 the Savannah was proceeding un¬ der sail, the wheels could be hoisted on deck. But many years passed, after that first voyage of the Savan¬ nah^ before steamships began crossing the ocean frequently. You may ask why this was true. The answer can be largely stated in two words—clipper ships. Which brings us to the story of Donald McKay. Back in 1826, a 16-year-old lad from Nova Scotia landed in New York. Within him there dwelt a great love of ships and of the sea. So he apprenticed himself to a shipbuilder in New York. After Donald McKay had learned the trade he entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he was selected from a thousand men to be foreman; although he was but a lad of 20. Because he was not a native American, men in the navy yard refused to work un¬ der him and finally drove him away. But the hand of destiny was upon him. He was to perform a tremendously important task for his adopted country. Within a few years he had become head of his own shipyard. For many years Donald McKay had heard seagoing men talk about the speed of ships. He learned that since the days of ancient Egypt the bow or forward end of the average sailing vessel had followed the pattern of the swan’s breast with a smooth, curv¬ ing surface that lifted easily over the waves. He heard men talk, too, about building the bow of a ship with a sharp j)oint—a point that actually would clip through the waves instead of riding over them. One day McKay said to a friend: “These clipper bows will surely go faster. I’m going to begin building clipper ships.” And soon there came the great age of American shipping—the era of clipper ships. While McKay was not the inventor of this type of vessel, he built the fastest and most wonderful sail¬ ing craft the world has ever seen. And their records for speed un¬ der sail are today unbroken. In that day the incessant cry every¬ where was for speed and more speed. Gold had just been dis¬ covered in California. The quick¬ est w^ay to reach this new El Dorado was by sailing around Cape Horn. Fortune hunters were willing to pay any price for the voyage. Donald McKay built ships for the gold rush—marvel¬ ous ships as beautiful as they were swift. One of his clipper ships The Lightning sailed 436 miles in one day—a world’s rec¬ ord which still stands. Not even the swift racing yachts of today have been able to touch this rec¬ ord. Other great McKay clip¬ pers were Glory of the Seas, Fly¬ ing Fish, Bald Eagle, Westioard Hoi, and there was Flying Cloud, a most appropriate name, for as her sails billowed 200 feet into the sky, she was indeed a “flying cloud.” Though McKay was the one man most responsible for our clip¬ per ships, fate in the end denied the eventual rewards that should 80 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE have been his. During the war of the sixties, many of our ships were destroyed and our commerce suffered severely. With the end of the war, Americans turned their energies to the development of the mighty West, constructing railroads, building cities, and en¬ couraging inland activities. And as they did so they neglected ship¬ ping. The result was that Ameri¬ can ships gradually disappeared from the seas. Donald McKay, with all the glory of accomplish¬ ment to his credit, died in 1880, an old man, brokenhearted, and in poverty. Even the models of his proud ships which had been stored in a barn were chopped to pieces for firewood. Although America invented the steamship, and although it was an American vessel which first crossed the Atlantic, equipped with engines, it was the British who developed ocean navigation by iron steamers. Gradually the shipping of the United States de¬ clined until just before the World War only one-tenth of all our commerce was carried under the American flag. And then came another spec¬ tacular chapter in American ship¬ ping. In the year 1917, many of the world’s proudest ships lay at the bottom of the sea. Subma¬ rines had ravished the ocean. Nations overseas were on the brink of starvation. America entered the war 3,000 miles from the battlefields, and without a merchant marine. It was neces¬ sary, almost overnight, to build a bridge of shij)s to France. But the miracle was performed. The greatest fleet in the history of the world was built and launched within a few years. On July 4, 1918, 90 great American ships slid down the ways at one time— a record that probably Avill not be surpassed in many a year. This was possible because the tremend¬ ous energy of America coupled with inventive genius brought forth a new type of vessel—a prefabricated ship in which the various standard parts were built in factories and then assembled and launched in the Sea. Ships built on the Great Lakes ac¬ tually were constructed and loaded with cargo in two sec¬ tions in order that they might get through the locks of the canal into the St. Lawrence. The two sections were then put to¬ gether when they reached the Atlantic seaboard. Today approximately one-third of all our foreign trade is carried under the American flag. Dur¬ ing the present year, I am told, over 180,000 tons of ocean ship¬ ping are under construction in American shipyards — far more than during any recent year. And through recent legislation was established the ]M a r i t i m e Commission, which is working to develop a merchant marine such as this great Nation should pos¬ sess. For a great merchant ma¬ rine is essential, not only to carry our commerce but to act as an auxiliary to the Navy in time of war. Early in the last century, a young man in Massachusetts STORIES OP AMERICAN INDUSTRY 81 named Frederick Tudor called upon an old sea captain. “Captain”, said the young man, “I want you to take on a cargo of ice for Martinique.” “What, ship ice?” exclaimed the Captain in astonishment. “Why ice would melt and would swamp my ship. Might as well sail out of Boston Harbor with a cargo of water.” But young Tudor persisted. He found that by covering the ice with sawdust it melted very little. So a shipload of ice went forth to Martinique as one of the most unique cargoes of American products ever to sail into a for¬ eign port. But in Martinique ice was entirely unknown. No one in that part of the world had ever heard of it—no one would buy it. Still Tudor kept on and at last came a proud day when a ship sailed from Boston with 180 tons of ice for Calcutta, India. Per¬ sistence had won and ice became a stable commodity of export. The entire story of American foreign trade is equally colorful and amazing. Unless we have looked into the matter we do not realize what foreign trade means to our country. By foreign trade we mean the exchange of goods between nations. If it were not for foreign trade we would have no coffee for our breakfast, no tea with our meals, no tin for canning or for cooking utensils, no tropi¬ cal fruits and no spices. We would have no rubber tires for our cars. Even such great indus¬ tries as steel and telephones are dependent upon the importation of many foreign products. There is not a State in the Union which does not export millions of dol¬ lars worth of its products every year. A considerable portion of all the products of American farms and factories from Louisi¬ ana to Alaska find their way across the sea. I am told that more than half of our cotton crop is sold abroad each year. It is estimated that 10 million Americans depend for a liveli¬ hood upon foreign trade which last year was valued at around 5 billion dollars. Thousands of men are at work on our ships, in our shipyards and on the docks in our great seaports. We are steadily building up our trade with Europe, with the Orient and with Central and South America. Last year American ships carry¬ ing American products found their way into more than TOO of the foreign ports of the world. Perhaps, the day will come in the not distant future when the glory of American shipping comparable to that of the old clipper-ship days will return. The Fur In the days when Catherine the Great ruled Russia, an adven¬ turous Russian navigator named Gerasim Pribilof was cruising about Bering Sea. One morn¬ ing, Pribilof and the members of his crew were awakened by weird, distant sounds unlike anything they ever had heard before. Im¬ mediately the commander gave orders to sail in the direction of the peculiar sounds. At length, as the adventurers plowed through the misty reaches of the northern sea, they came upon a small, volcanic island lit¬ erally covered with strange-look- ing animals. It was the incessant barking of this multitude of creatures that Pribilof and his crew had heard miles away. And thus it was that the fa¬ mous Alaska seal, the classic fur of fashion, was first discovered. Pribilof took back to Russia a large number of the beautiful seal pelts and before long sealskin came into favor with Catherine and the ladies of her court. The small island was one of a group of five which we now know as the Pribilof Islands, one of the outposts of American possessions in the far northwest. IVlien the United States bought xVlaska from Russia in 1867 for $T,- 200,000, it acquired the Pribilof Islands with their vast seal herds. Industry The seal pelts alone have yielded more than 10 times the purchase price since that time. The seal herd of the Pribilofs numbered around 4,000,000 ani¬ mals, but in the years following, the slaughter was so great that the fur seal seemed doomed to extinction. In 1911 the United States Government decided to as¬ sume complete control and the herd was placed under the juris¬ diction of the Bureau of Fisheries of the Department of Commerce. International treaties were en¬ tered into and the taking of seals was placed on a strictly scientific basis. As a result, the herd steadily increased until now it numbers over a million and a half. Early in May each year, the seals come to the Pribilof Islands to breed and bear their young. As far as is known, this is the only dry land they ever touch. When the breeding season is over in the fall the seals start out to sea, and most of them swim to the latitude of southern California. Then, with the return of spring, they travel back to the Pribilofs and, oddly enough, in order that they will not be molested, I^ncle Sam furnishes them an official escort. United States Coast Guard cutters sail along in turns with the swimming seals all the wav back to the Pribi- V 82 STORIES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY 83 lof Islands. Each year these ani¬ mals make a journey at sea of some 6,000 miles, which is all the more strange because, so scien¬ tists tell us, the fur seal was originally a land animal and is in reality a sea bear. Each year about 55,000 seal pelts—enough for 8,000 coats—are taken by the Government and sent to St. Louis for processing, after which they are sold at auction. I am told that Alaska sealskins are growing in popularity and it is Uncle Sam’s own enterprise, too, as all the net proceeds go into the United States Treasury. Furs always have occupied an important part in man’s activities. It is known that the prehistoric Neanderthal women wore furs and early records show that thousands of years ago the Egyptians and Chinese derived vrealth from furs. Twenty-one centuries before Christ, Queen Serniramis, after a campaign in India, brought back 8,000 tiger skins to her palace in Nineveh. In Europe during the Middle Ages only men of royalty and the nobility were allowed to wear furs. Women were forbid¬ den to use them. Edward III of England, however, lifted this ban and show'ered his Queen Phil- lipa with the most gorgeous sables, while Isabella of Valois, wife of Richard II, had an ermine cloak twenty-four feet long. But the real romance of fur has come from the New World. It w'as the pursuit of fur, particu¬ larly the beaver, that led our early explorers and travelers through countless dangers into far places— up the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes, through the northern wilds into the Hudson Bay country, down the rough waters of the Mackenzie to the Arctic, across the Rockies to the Pacific and down the vast Mississippi into the Gulf. No more interesting characters ever existed than the old Ameri¬ can fur trappers, who lived al¬ ways in a land of thrilling adven¬ ture. Typical of their experience is the story of John Colter, one of the best known of the old fur trappers, who had gone to the Northwest with the Lewis and Clark expedition but remained to trap in the wilderness with a companion named Potts. One day, when they landed their ca¬ noe on a river bank, they were surprised by a band of Blackfeet Indians. Potts jumped into the canoe to escape but received an arrow in his back. Colter’s