ExHinrnox Addresses. 1-38 



we eoiK'cdo precedence in the steam en;^iiie ;uk1 tlie locomotive ti> 

 Gre;it I'ritain, and to France the daguerreotype, and all its progeny, 

 so we must claim precedence for America in the steamboat and the 

 electric telegra])h ; two of the mightiest agencies yet devised for the 

 interchange of products, and the diiTnsion of ideas and intelligence. 

 And very naturall}" nowhere else have these been so generally 

 emitloyed or so largely proiited l)y as in these United States; and 

 the vast change, whereby steam is now palpal)ly superseding wind 

 as a motive power for vessels on the high seas, though it has been 

 mainly effected l)y Eui'opeans, owed its chief impulse to the general 

 demand f n- rapid and certain, as well as cheap transportation of costly 

 wares and fabrics from western Europe to this country, and more 

 especially to this port. The sewing machine, one of the beneficent 

 marvels of our age, is not only thoroughly American in conception, 

 application, and development, lujt it was so developed mainly 

 through this city, aided by the wide intelligent appreciation which 

 it ol)tained through the successive fiiirs of this Institute. This is but 

 one of the many benelicent transformations which it has lieen the 

 privilege of this association to aid in obtaining early and gainful 

 recognition. And while the inventors and their supporters hare 

 thus been profited, the public has received a far larger and enduring 

 benefit. Let us never doubt that the inventions and improvements 

 that shall be — nay, that are even now at hand — will surpass in utilitjr, 

 and even in novelty and in the magnitude and pervasiveness of their 

 effects, those which the last forty years have witnessed and accepted. 

 Let us be prepared to welcome with generous appreciation dis- 

 coveries and achievements which conflict with our conceptions, and 

 even with our interests ; and let us all, members and friends of the 

 Institute, resolve that the little it has been a])lc to do in the interest 

 and for the development of American industry and skill in the years 

 of its infancy and youth, shall prove but an earnest and foretaste ot 

 what it can and will do in its vigor and maturity, and under the 

 inspiration of the noble efforts and grand achievements of those who 

 in almost every department of industrial progress have honored the 

 American name, while serving and blessing the whole family of man. 

 Friends of the Institute, I can but glance, nay, I cannot yet glance, 

 at the novelties which this fair is destined to bring before you. I 

 iipprehend that the loom called the pc»sitive motor lyom, which you 

 will soon be observing and scnitinizing, is the greatest advanc-e in the 

 ■proilnclion of textile fabrics that has been made sine*' Arkwright's 



