104 BULLETIN 102, VOL. 1, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The social response to the use of power is a departure from the 

 individualized self-reliant order of livelihood and a steady advance 

 toward the centralized integration of service which we now know 

 under the familiar guise of industrialism. Whether taken in the 

 whole or viewed in a single community, the outcome is the same. 

 An example drawn from pioneer conditions will serve to illustrate 

 the simple course of development. A machine suitable for doing the 

 work of several hands is capable of filling the needs of several indi* 

 viduals. Introduced into a community dependent upon hand labor, 

 such a labor-saving appliance tends to centralize the work falling 

 within the scope of the machine. The operator, becoming proficient 

 and finding himself looked to for an increasing measure of service, 

 adds to his equipment. At the outset he performs only the work 

 brought to him by individuals in the community, who supply the raw 

 materials and receive in return the finished products. Soon, how- 

 ever, the competence of the machine becomes more widely recog- 

 nized and the operator is commissioned to supply the raw materials 

 as well as the service. Presently, again, with the recurrence of such 

 commissions, the operator goes further, and instead of awaiting 

 specific commissions assumes the initiative in providing both raw 

 materials and service in anticipation of demand, and thus an in- 

 dustry, in the current sense, is launched. Such has been the run of 

 evolution in the rise of industrialism, and wherever individual work 

 persists to-day it is in process of giving way in favor of the com- 

 munity operation. 



The use of power not only leads to centralization of work, but the 

 form in which power is available determines the type of indus- 

 trialism or civilization that develops. Considering energy apart 

 from its sources, we find that this force has come into use in three 

 mediums of expressions — ^liquid, gaseous, and nonsubstantial — typi- 

 fied in hydraulic power, steam power, and electric power. These 

 steps in energy usage represent progressive stages in facility of em- 

 ployment and indicate an evolutionary trend underlying the indus- 

 trial unfoldment to which they have given rise. Thus the use of 

 hydraulic power marks the period of individualism which prevailed 

 the world over until the eighteenth century, and still holds in all 

 but the so-called civilized nations; the application of steam power 

 instituted a change so profound as to merit the name " The indus- 

 trial revolution," and colored the whole face of modern civilization 

 during a stretch of time, extending to the present, which may be 

 termed the formative period of industrialism ; while the introduction 

 of electric i)Ower brings forward a third advance in power usage 

 offering to the maturing aspects of industrialism a special service 

 needed to carry forward its complex and constantly enlarging 



