The Developing of Transportation 



In some countries there was such reverence for tradi- 

 tional customs that each generation would follow in the 

 footsteps of their fathers and do as they had done and live 

 as they had lived without any thought of improving the 

 conditions of life about them. This was contrary to the 

 laws of Nature for nothing in Nature is constant. Nature 

 has decreed that there must be growth, and without growth 

 there will be decay. Most of the ancient nations have passed 

 across the stage of human action and have gone into the 

 discard because they reached a point where growth was 

 no longer found. This law applies to every living creature 

 and thing that is found in both the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms and its positive proof may be found on every 

 hand. 



Mechanical progress, figuratively speaking, was in an 

 infant state until man began to use the forces of Nature to 

 aid him in carrying out his plans. One of the first prob- 

 lems that primitive man encountered was that of transport- 

 ing his body and the objects that it was necessary for him 

 to carry. By nature, he was not as fleet of foot as were 

 many of the other animals, and swimming was an art that 

 had to be learned. There were rivers and streams which he 

 desired to cross that could not be waded and in order to 

 overcome this obstacle, he constructed a raft of logs that 

 would float and at the same time carry his body. This was 

 the beginning of water transportation. The raft developed 

 into the canoe that he learned to propel by the use of a pad- 

 dle. He made use of the current of the streams that would 

 carry his primitive craft down stream propelled by the 

 force of gravity. The next step in water transportation was 



[8i] 



