1893 - State Library Information Center

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONS OF BUREAUS. 61two epochs, or nations claiming to be civilized, the one employingthe greatest number of these forces, aud using them to thegreatest advantage, would, undoubtedly, be recognized as thesuperior one. Applying this rule, we discover the advantageswe possess over the ancients in the production of wealth and thepossibilities of a higher degree of civilization. So far aB weknow, the ancients employed but three of these forces—muscularpower, the power of the wind and the power of gravitation.During what is termed the Middle Ages, two additional forceswere employed—the expansive properties of gas, and terrestrialmagnetism. To these we owe the mariners' compass and gunpowder,the influence of which upon the development of mankindhas been incalculable. During the present century, twoadditional forces have been practically employed, steam andelectricity, by means of which a degree of material progress hasbeen achieved which could hardly have been dreamed of a fewcenturies ago. Since glass has been made into the lens and thewindow pane, and the invention of movable type and the printingpress, everything has changed around us; the ideas, reflectionsand aspirations of men are no longer the same. We knowand make use of immense quantities of raw materials, and evenarticles of food, which were unknown to our ancestors. Of themodern idea of machinery, they had no conception. Cotton, iron,coal, wines, the potato, tea, the beet and sugar cane have becomewith us inexhaustible sources of commerce and wealth; theyulono furnish labor and food to millions of men, cargoes to thousandsof vessels, and freight to railroads. The idea that dominatedthe ancients was conquest, and by conquest they institutedslavery and lived by the labor of others, while the dominant ideaof the present is commerce and industries; that ie, to live by ourown labor. The distinctive characteristic of the civilization ofantiquity is slavery. The irresistible tendency of modern civilizationis toward liberty. The Greeks and Romans claimed tobe civilized, but really oppressed humanity under deceptive appearances.They had no conception of many of the things thatare now considered as indispensable to human existence. Theyhad no windows in their houses; they were without underlinen;of the art of printing they were ignorant; hence, neither knowl-