POWER AND THE FOOD SUPPLY 279 



1849, even considering the variation in the purchasing power 

 of money. In the North Atlantic, North Central, and Western 

 sections he was a trifle more than twice as well off, and in the 

 two latter sections, where the greatest increase occurred in 

 the introduction of farm machinery and farm power, he was 

 three times as prosperous. Mulhall, in his "Dictionary of 

 Statistics," issued in 1899, states that "In the United States 

 nine million hands raised nearly half as much grain as sixty- 

 six million in Europe." Germany owns one fifth as many 

 horses as the United States for practically the same farm popu- 

 lation. With the assistance of such a preponderance in power, 

 the American farmer has been able to produce, albeit waste- 

 fully, from three to three and one half times as much as his 

 competitor along the Rhine. 



Changing the shape of materials, which we now call manu- 

 facturing, began with the grinding of grains and nuts into 

 foodstuffs; the spinning and weaving of fibres into articles of 

 dress; the shaping of stone, wood, and metals into implements 

 and dwellings. It began with the human muscle. Even to- 

 day the Russian peasants grind the grain by rubbing it between 

 two stones. In other countries the circular millstone was 

 developed and the animal harnessed. The work of spinning 

 and weaving was done at first entirely by hand and foot. The 

 later form of the loom was operated by animals from a tread- 

 mill. James Watt invented the steam engine in 1765 and 

 since his time the industry of the world has centred in the 

 steam-driven factory. More and more, mechanical power 

 has been substituted for the human muscle, until to-day 

 in manufacturing the master workman is but the intelligent 

 onlooker, furnishing the machine with material and guiding 

 its work. 



The manufacturing industries of the United States even 

 now probably have less than three fourths the power installa- 

 tion that is found on our farms, and not far from the same ratio 

 of laborers. On the other hand, where the farm horse works 



