1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 4. 307 



smaller pieces of this scrap, while the larger pieces are used 

 for manufacturing heels for ladies' shoes. The dust and 

 shavings from the trimming machines are carried directly to 

 the boiler room by means of a flue. The shavings from the 

 box shop are also blown to the boiler room. In a factory 

 employing 1,500 hands, the saving in fuel from these sources 

 is estimated to equal a ton of coal per day. 



There is an enormous amount of capital invested in the 

 manufacture of farm machinery, — larger than for any other 

 industry, — as the selling season is limited to about two 

 months. The first plough that history mentions is the 

 Egyptian plough, — a crooked stick. The first recorded 

 great improvement of this implement was made one hundred 

 years ago by a Connecticut boy, then living in the wilds of 

 central New York- He had become tired of the old wooden 

 mold-board plough, and took it to the blacksmith and had 

 the mold board covered with sheet iron. He found he could 

 do much more work, and do it better. Farmers flocked to 

 see it. Here was the beginning of improvement that has 

 culminated in the iron and the steel plough of to-day. 



I do not think the farmer realizes the large amount of 

 money that has been expended, and is yearly expended, in 

 introducing agricultural implements. The very best talent has 

 to be procured to approach the farmer and set before him in 

 glowing terms the benefits to be derived by adopting that 

 particular implement. The eloquence is irresistible, and be- 

 fore the farmer is aware of it he has ordered one of those 

 labor-saving machines. This salesman possesses a talent 

 that there is a demand for, and commands a salary equal to 

 our most favored clergymen. 



Arkwright, the inventor of the cotton-spinning machine, 

 was the youngest of thirteen children, the son of a barber, 

 and he followed that business until he was twenty-eight. 

 The first suggestion of the idea was by seeing a red-hot iron 

 bar elongated by being made to pass between rollers. He 

 experimented with the rods until he found he could draw out 

 the fiber to the required degree of fineness. Popular ani- 

 mosity was excited against the man who was said to have 

 abridged labor, but in reality had increased its sphere. His 

 first factory was destroyed by a mob, in the presence of a 



