Part 20 (1/2)

CHAPTER X

INVENTORS

It is a curious fact that the et the least reward The genius in art or letters is seldo after he himself has passed away--his life is usually elect But, in the history of civilization, the lot of no man has been harder or more thankless than that of the inventor Poverty and want have always been his portion, and even after he had won his triureat invention, it was usually some one else on the reward

A in the field of invention Indeed, practically all the great labor-saving devices of the past century and enuity” has passed into a proverb, and a true one, for the country which has produced the stearaph, the phonograph, the telephone, the typewriter, the reaper and binder, to mention only a few of the achievements of American inventors,the nations of the world There are few storiesthan that of A line of Areat philanthropists whose careers are outlined elsewhere in this volureatness by the benefits which a man confers upon mankind, such men as Whitney and Howe and Morse and Bell and Edison far surpass reat characters of history

First of the line is Benjaives him a unique place in American history His career has been considered in the chapter dealing with our statesmen, but let us pause for a moment here to speak of his inventions One of them, the Franklin stove, is still in use in hundreds of old houses, and as an econohtning-rod He introduced the basket , the water-tight compartment for shi+ps, the culture of silk, the use of white clothing in hot weather, and the use of oil to quiet a teet any return The Governor of Pennsylvania offered to give him a monopoly of the sale of the Franklin stove for a period of years, but he declined it, saying, ”That, as we enjoy great advantages frolad to serve others by any invention of ours”--a principle characteristic of Franklin's whole philosophy of life

After Franklin, came Robert Fulton, the first ine to the propulsion of boats Everyone has heard the story of how, years before, the youthful Ja how it rattled the lid on his ine, and froine as applied to the locoation

Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of Irish parents, in poor circumstances, the boy received only the rudi talent for painting, so that, when he was seventeen, he re portraits and landscapes He reh money to purchase a small farm for his mother, sailed for London, where he introduced himself to that amiable patron of all American painters, Benjaht of his fareat kindness, and made a place in his house for him, where he remained for several years

Those years were not devoted exclusively to painting, for Fulton had developed an interest in mechanics, secured a patent for an i” boat, a kind of sub ropes, one for sawing marble, and ether, he went to Paris, where he spent seven years with the fa with him a number of experiments; one series of which has developed into thethe French government in his submarine experiine, hich, in the harbor of Brest, he see under on one occasion for overnovernment also indifferent, Fulton sailed for New York in Dece the United States governranted him 5,000 to continue his submarine experiments, but interest in them soon waned, and Fulton turned his whole attention to the subject of stea in this direction for a nuston, of New Jersey, had secured froe of navigating all kinds of boats which ht be propelled by the force of fire or steam on all the waters within the territory of New York for a period of twenty years, provided he would, by the end of 1807, produce a boat that would attain a speed of four miles an hour

Fulton went to work at once, the experiston, and after various calculations, discarded the use of paddles or oars, of ducks' feet which open as they are pushed out and close as they are drawn in, and also the idea of forcing water out of the stern of the vessel He finally decided on the paddle-wheel, and, in August, 1807, the first Areat concourse witnessed the first trial, incredulous at first, but converted into enthusiastic believers before the boat had gone a quarter of a mile

She was christened the ”Clermont,” and soon afterwards made a trip up the Hudson to Albany, to the astonishhty river The distance of 150 ainst the current of the river, was covered in thirty-two hours, and there could no longer be any question of Fulton's success A regular schedule between Albany and New York was established, and the ”Clerreat river traffic now carried on by the most palatial river steamers in the world

After that, it was merely a question of development More boats were built, improvements were made, and every year witnessed an increase of speed and efficiency In 1814, in the land, Fulton built the first steaned for the defense of New York harbor This ancestor of the ht” was naner She indirectly caused his death, for, exposing hi soes on her, he developed pneumonia and died a few days later Could he re-visit the world to-day and see the wonderful and rown out of his idea, he would no doubt be as astonished as were the people along the Hudson on that fall day in 1807 when they saw the ”Clerainst wind and tide

The saenius first saw the light in the little town of Westborough, Massachusetts

His name was Eli Whitney, and the work he was to do revolutionized the industrial development of the South, paid off its debts, and trebled the value of its lands It did so else, too, which was to fasten upon the South the systeh he added hundreds of millions of dollars to the wealth of his country, his oas neglect, indifference, countless lawsuits and endless vexation of body and spirit

Whitney's father ran a little orking shop where he made wheels and chairs, and there the boy spent every possible hour At the age of twelve, he ress was so steady, that by the tied the business and had gained the reputation of being the best mechanic in all the country round He soon discovered the value of education, and e, which he entered in 1789, at the age of twenty-four--an age at which raduated and settled in life But Whitney persevered, graduating in 1792, and al a position as private tutor in a Georgia fae the whole course of his life

Until he reached the South, he had never seen raw cotton, only a little of which, indeed, had been raised in the United States It had not been profitable because of the difficulty of picking out the green cottonseed To separate one pound of the staple from the seed was a day's work, so that cotton was considered rather as a curiosity than as a profitable crop Whitney was impressed by the possibilities of cotton culture, could this obstacle be overcome, and devoted his spare time to the construction of the machine upon which his fame rests At last it was done, and did its work so perfectly that there could be no question of its success Experiments showed that with it, one man, with the aid of two-horse power, could clean five thousand pounds of cotton a day!

A patent was at once applied for and every effort made to keep the invention a secret until a patent had been secured But knowledge of it swept through the state, and great crowds of people came to see the machine Whitney refused to show it, and afterwhere it was, and carried it away

Others were at onceit as a model, and by the time Whitney had secured his patent, they were in successful operation inof Whitney's trials He had not enough h toup, soins were put on thefrom Whitney's only in soement of his patent; but he had not the means to prosecute their manufacturers The result was, that after two years of disheartening struggle, Whitney was reduced to bankruptcy

The attitude of the South toward him caused him especial distress ”I have invented a machine,” he wrote, ”from which the citizens of the South have already realized immense profits, which is worth to them millions, and from which they must continue to derive the most important profits, and in return to be treated as a felon, a swindler, and a villain, has stung me to the very soul And when I consider that this cruel persecution is inflicted by the very persons who are enjoying these great benefits, and expressly for the purpose of preventing e froether inexpressible”

Finally, the states of North and South Carolina voted him a royalty upon all the machines in use, and this enabled him to pay his debts; but Whitney at last abandoned hope of ever receiving fro his attention to other business, received, in 1798, a contract froht years were consu this contract A contract for 30,000 stand followed, and so n and process of manufacture were made by Whitney that no other manufacturer could compete with him

The result of all this was that Whitney was enabled to end his life in comparative independence His last days were his happiest, and he found in the care and affection of a loving faratitude which he had suffered

[Illustration: MORSE]

Sixteen years after the battle of Bunker Hill, a boy was born in a great frame house at the foot of Breed's Hill, upon which that faht The boy's father was a preacher named Jedediah Morse, and the boy was narandfather, the renowned president of Princeton College, and Breese, after his h history as S F B Morse He received a thorough schooling, graduating from Yale in 1807, and at once turned his attention to art We have already spoken of his achievements in that respect, which were really of the first importance He was an artist, heart and soul, but the whole course of his life was to be changed in a remarkable fashi+on