American Inventions and InventorsMowry, William A. (William Augustus)
History
American Inventions and Inventors
Mowry, William A. (William Augustus)
Inventions
We have now considered six groups of topics connected with the growth
and development of our country. We have looked into the houses of the
Indians and of the settlers in the colonial times, and into the larger
and more elaborate homes of to-day. We have considered improved means
of heating and better methods of lighting. We have noticed improvements
in machinery for planting, cultivating, and harvesting the products
of the soil. We have seen the great advance that has been made in
the manufacture of our clothing, through improved cotton and woolen
machinery and the sewing machine. We have traveled by land and by
water, at home and abroad, on foot, on horseback, in stagecoaches, by
canals, steamboats, and railroads. Finally we have read and thought
and studied about language, the printing press, our postal system, the
telegraph and the telephone.
We have seen our country when it was wholly east of the Mississippi
River, whereas now it is extended even to the great western ocean. A
century ago our territory embraced about eight hundred thousand square
miles; now it is nearly five times as great, with large areas of
recently acquired Spanish islands to be added to that. The population
of the United States in 1790 was less than four millions; a hundred
years later it was sixty-three millions. It is now probably between
seventy and seventy-five millions. Our exports then were about fifty
million dollars in value; this year they are more than one thousand
millions. A century since, we imported into this country goods to the
value of about seventy million dollars. This was largely in excess
of our exports. To-day our exports are of far greater value than our
imports.
At the beginning of our national government we were almost altogether
engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. Now our people are largely
massed in cities and large towns, while our mechanical and
manufacturing interests are of immense proportions.
A hundred years ago the people speaking the seven principal languages
of Europe numbered about one hundred and fifty millions. To-day
they number about four hundred millions. The present number is
therefore almost three times that of a century ago. At that time the
English-speaking people ranked fifth among the seven, and numbered but
twenty millions. To-day they lead the list, and number one hundred and
twenty millions; there are six times as many people to-day using the
English language as there were a century ago. The inhabitants of our
country outnumber all other English-speaking people in the whole world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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