BALDWIN 



549 



BALDWIN 



hats fewer hours daily than do men, which also 

 is to their advantage, and their headwear is 

 lighter and better ventilated. E.DJ. 



BALDWIN, MATTHIAS WILUAM (1795-1866). 

 "The locomotive-engine, built by M. W. Bald- 

 win, of this city, will depart daily, when the 

 weather is fair, with a train of passenger-cars. 

 On rainy days horses will be attached." This 



FIRST BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE 



Engine and coach of the train referred to in 

 opening paragraph of this biography. 



unique advertisement, which appeared in a 

 ^Philadelphia paper in November, 1832, referred 

 to Old Ironsides, one of the earliest American- 

 made locomotives and the first to draw a train 

 in the state of Pennsylvania. 



Baldwin, its builder, had been apprenticed to 

 the jewelry trade and while quite young had 

 invented a simplified process of gold-plating. 

 He graduated into the manufacture of book- 

 binders' tools, and later revolutionized the 

 calico-printing industry by the invention of 

 cylinders operated by steam power. Then, 

 since the six-horse-power engine which he had 

 designed for his own shop was proving so satis- 

 factory, he launched out into the manufacture 

 of stationary engines for the trade. 



About this time people were becoming 

 curious about the wonderful locomotives made 

 in England by the Stcphensons and others, 

 some of which were being brought to America. 

 As a business-getting novelty, the owner of 

 tin- Peale Museum in Philadelphia ordered 

 from Baldwin in 1831 a small working model 

 of a train drawn by a locomotive. This con- 

 sisted of an engine and two care, each accom- 

 modating two passengers, and the tour of the 

 museum was made over a circular track, 

 following year Baldwin was commissioned by 

 thr IMiil.-i.li-Ij.hi i. Germantown A Norristown 

 Railway to construct the practical locomotive 

 tint ir nm in the announcement quoted. He had 

 an opportunity to make notes and sketches of 

 tin* unassembled parts of a Stephenson locomo- 

 tive which had just been received, but so sim- 



plified the combination scheme that Old 

 Ironsides was actually superior to the English 

 model. It was in active service for over twenty 

 years. 



His second engine was made in 1833 for the 

 South Carolina Railway, and set a type which 

 American locomotives have followed in the 

 main ever since. After this many other orders 

 came to him, and he began to organize a shop 

 along new lines; he educated workmen in the 

 special mechanics of the locomotive, designed 

 the tools and machinery needed, and in general 

 laid the foundations of the industry which has 

 grown into the famous Baldwin Locomotive 

 Works of Philadelphia the largest business of 

 its kind in the world. L.M.H. 



BALDWIN, ROBERT (1804-1858), a Canadian 

 statesman who contributed more than any 

 other person to make responsible government 

 in Canada an accomplished fact. Even in his 

 own day his name was so inseparably con- 

 nected with the 

 struggle for gov- 

 ernment which 

 should be re- 

 sponsive to the 

 people's will that 

 he was known as 

 "the man with 

 one idea." Yet 

 his p ol i t i c a 1 

 achievements 



w e r e n o t h i s RQBERT BALDWIN 

 greatest distinc- 

 tion. To him is due the admiration which 

 comes to a politician by profession who never 

 stooped to disreputable practices, either to 

 win votes or to keep himself in office. Men 

 differed then and may differ now as to the 

 wisdom of his policies, but of his good faith to 

 friend and opponent there is no doubt. In the 

 midst of the bitter fight for responsible govern- 

 ment, one of his most powerful opponents 

 could say of him that he was "a gentleman 

 highly respected for his moral character, mod- 

 erate in his politics, and possessing the esteem 

 and confidence of ajl parties." The extraor- 

 dinary confidence in which his contemporaries 

 held him was justified at every step in his 

 career. 



Robert Baldwin was born in York (now To- 

 ronto), on May 12, 1804. His father was a 

 prorniiH nt l.i\w. r. who also practiced medicine 

 and taught school. The elder Baldwin in 

 mi. 1. lie lifr inherited from a distant relative 

 a large fortune which made him and his son 



