276 W. C. DODGE 



another has said, "Americans use implements that cheapen 

 the cost of production, and make the labor of harvesting seem 

 like the sport of the fairies in the story book. As with manu- 

 facturing, so with farming, inventions have so reduced the 

 cost of production that there is more propriety in saying that 

 we manufacture wheat than in saying that we raise it." 



Indeed, there is scarcely a thing done on a farm to-day 

 in which patented machinery does not perform the greater 

 part of the labor. The grain is sowed, cut, bound, threshed, 

 cleaned, sacked, stored, and transported by machinery, the 

 corn is planted, cultivated, and cut by machinery, while the 

 mower cuts, the tedder spreads, the horserake gathers, the 

 hayloader loads, and the carrier unloads the hay. The pota- 

 toes are planted and dug by patented machines or implements, 

 and even the hogs are slaughtered and the chickens hatched 

 by machinery. 



In the household we have the sewing machine, the wash- 

 ing machine and wringer, the egg beater, the nutmeg grater, 

 the meat grinder, the potato shredder, and countless other 

 implements, all the result of the patent system. In fact, one 

 cannot touch a thing in the factory, on the farm, in the office, 

 or the household, that does not bear the impress of patented 

 invention. Without the patent system these inventions 

 would probably not have existed. 



A European expert who recently visited the United 

 States to study American industries, said that in Massachu- 

 setts, where the operatives in a shoe factory are paid $15 per 

 week, the cost of labor on a pair of shoes was 40 cents, while 

 in Germany, where the wages were but $3.80 per week, the 

 cost was 60 cents, and that this was due to American inven- 

 tions. Pages could be filled with similar testimony from 

 competitors of the old world. 



One of the best results of the extensive use of inventions 

 is, that while nearly everything has been greatly cheapened, 

 the purchasing power of a day's wages has been increased 72 

 per cent, and, as shown by a report of the United States labor 

 bureau, the introduction of labor saving machinery, instead 

 of displacing labor, has increased the number employed in a 

 much greater ratio than the increase of population. Since 



