AMERICA'S INFERIOR POSITION 



tury before Mr. Rockefeller. And the number of 

 our students has always been large. We have 

 lacked neither incentive, means, nor material. Nor, 

 it would appear, has the quality of gray matter 

 been lacking. In the field of applied science no 

 other nation has a prouder record. We do not for- 

 get that it was Fulton who ran the first successful 

 steamboat; that, had not Napoleon been possessed 

 of a contemptuous stupidity in refusing Fulton's 

 offer, the Corsican might have invaded England 

 and rewritten some pages of history. Morse may 

 not have been the sole inventor of the electromag- 

 netic telegraph ; but if any one man is entitled to 

 that honor, surely it is he. His system superseded 

 all others. Graham Bell is a Scotchman, it is true ; 

 but he is a typical American " for a' that." All his 

 work on the telephone, and his lesser known work 

 with the phonograph, the radiophone, and the like, 

 were done in this country . His only competitor in the 

 invention of the telephone was Elisha Gray, of pathet- 

 ic memory. These are but instances from a crowd. 



Why, then, has the United States so slight a 

 share in the marvellous scientific advance of the 

 century? Why, even in the face of a fine roll of 

 names, can it be said with truth that our position 

 is inferior? With some needful repetition of fore- 

 going pages, I shall try to illustrate. 



Pasteur's memorable discovery that the fermen- 

 333 



