AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 121 



prostrated; how shall cities be built; how shall our great rivers 

 be spanned; how shall the remote points of our territory be 

 brought together ; our vast fields be cleared and plowed, and their 

 productions garnered; our inland seas navigated; our two oceans 

 linked by railroads ; oiu' commerce extended ; how shall machinery 

 do all the varied work of hands, and supply, by ingenuity, speed 

 and power, the lack of laborers. Our territory and our popula- 

 tion are so disproportioned, that mechanical agencies are necessary 

 to be called in, and macliines required which can each perform 

 the labors of a hundred men. Therefore it is that these stout 

 engines of American growth has each a useful practical purpose 

 to perform. These silent forms by which we are sm-rounded, are 

 our aids — our workers — our executive body. They ai-e obedient 

 and willing servants, so many unconsuming and uncomplaining 

 laborers in the service of our country. 



In the great Exhibition at Paris, in a conspicuous rotunda of 

 dazzling light, the crown-jewels, carefully guarded, flash upon 

 the beholder their rainbow hues. But these gems of royalty did 

 not grow in France, nor do they furnish evidence of the progress 

 of her people. Our crown-jewels stand along these aisles. These 

 useful forms, these ingenious powers, are the gems that burn in 

 the diadem of America. 



Walk into the department of agricultural implements, and see 

 to what perfection they are brought. The reaper, the mower, 

 the hcirvester, some of them, as they reach out their long arms to 

 gather the fallen grain or grass, seem instinct with intelligence. 



The workers in wood, how wonderfully have they superseded 

 the labor of the hand, and, with ease, rapidity and unerring 

 precision, producing shapes and curves and wreaths, which, even 

 recently, it was supposed machinery could not reach. The lathe 

 seizes its rough timber, and, in an instant, it is moulded into 

 smooth and graceful form. Another machine takes the rough 

 wood, and with a marvellous dexterity, converts it into drawers 

 and boxes, and hands them to you, dove-tailed, fitted and 

 complete. 



There is the tough stranded rope, braided before your eyes, in 

 a moment of time, from the loose spools of flax. 



Pour into that hopper a thousand bushels of grain, and, with- 

 out aid from man, it is self-weighed, and sell-discharged, the 

 results are accurately self-recorded, and a glance at the chal tells 

 you its pecuniary value in an instant. This is the automaton of 

 the mills. 



