AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENTS

Every country is inclined to look with pride on its own especial achievements, and often to think of them as greater than they really are. We Americans have been called boastful; and it must be admitted that, in our satisfaction with what we have done, we have often overlooked the big 5 deeds of other nations. Still, it may easily be shown that we have played a big part in developing the civilization of our own time. Our republic is the oldest in the world, and no country has more safety, more freedom, and more opportunities for its people. We have won the good will 10 of other nations by fair and generous dealing with them. Our sense of the nation's honor does not lie in setting our heels on the necks of other peoples; we think it more honorable to treat them fairly. We have made education free for all; and very few indeed of our people have not learned 15 at least to read and write. We have grown rich, but we have been generous with our wealth, both as individuals and as a nation. And we are, let us hope, not too well satisfied with ourselves to go on improving in all these good things.

Our most striking triumphs have, perhaps, been in the 20 conquest, through science, ingenuity, and industry of the forces of nature. That is, we have excelled in invention and in big constructive work. The laying of the Atlantic cable was an American scheme, carried out in spite of the greatest difficulties, by a group of Americans and with the 25 help of a few Englishmen. A great railway, thrown three

thousand miles across the continent, while all the central part was not yet settled, hastened the building up of the country. The telegraph was an American invention. So were the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the harvester, the 5 revolving printing press, the linotype, the telephone, the phonograph, the aëroplane, - and even the submarine.

Think for a moment what each of these means for the wealth and comfort of the world. The cotton gin, a machine by which the seeds can be rapidly separated from the cotton, 10 makes it possible to produce cotton by the millions of tons every year, and so to make cotton abundant and cheap. The sewing machine has also increased the abundance and the cheapness of our clothing. The harvester, which cuts and binds the ripe grain rapidly and cheaply, does the work 15 of many men; thus it increases our food supply, and releases men for other work. The telegraph and telephone make possible the transmission of news and the interchange of ideas, for business or social purposes, in a fraction of the time that letters or travel would require. All the world is 20 admitted in a few minutes, or a few hours at most, to a share in its news; for the cable, the swift linotype, and the revolving printing press can bring out for sale on our city streets papers that tell of what happened in Europe or China only an hour or two before. The aëroplane, a real 25 flying machine, heavier than air and yet capable of carrying passengers and freight in rapid flight, now developing and improving rapidly, is certain to play a big part in the world.

This is rather a good list, is it not? Of the other great inventions that have changed the modern world and are

known to every one, the use of steam for motor power is English, the gasoline engine is French, and wireless telegraphy is Italian. And these, with the American inventions named above, are the discoveries that have added most to our wealth, comfort, safety, and pleasure. The submarine, 5 also, is an American invention which may yet be used for good, though it has been employed in war by one nation in a cruel and cowardly way.

In operations that require courage, energy, and big planning America has a fine record of achievement. It was an Ameri- 10 can, Robert E. Peary, who, after many attempts by himself and a long line of other adventurous spirits before him, finally reached the North Pole. It was American enterprise that made the Panama Canal, and saved thousands of miles for ships sailing from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific. Our 15 cities are famous for their "sky-scrapers," huge buildings from twenty to fifty stories high, which save valuable ground space in the busy and crowded portions of our cities.

Most of these things have been done within the lifetime of the old men who are still living; and many of the most 20 wonderful of them, like the aëroplane and wireless telegraphy, belong to the present century. It would seem that invention must have reached its limit. But thoughtful men say we are only at the beginnings. They expect to see many desert places of the earth made fertile, and dangerous 25 tropical countries made healthful for civilized races; American medical men have discovered the cause of yellow fever and malaria, and the means of stamping them out. We shall see a big development of power from our streams and rivers,

where most of it now runs on unprofitably to the sea; great reservoirs and dams will store up the water of our big rivers, instead of letting it go by in waste and destruction in the flood season, and even the tides on our coast may be har5 nessed, to light and warm our houses and run our factories. There will be solar engines, run by the power of the sun's rays in hot climates. Such machines have, indeed, already been built and operated; at Los Angeles, California, one was set to work pumping water! We may see most of our 10 coal burned at the mines, and the power sent to us on wires to be converted back to light and heat in our houses hundreds of miles away. Think of what this will save in labor, expense, inconvenience, and dirt! We shall see our forests better cared for, and new forests established, our farms 15 made richer, our orchards more productive. We shall see better care of the health, more comfortable conditions of labor and of living, a sounder, a stronger, and a happier people. And shall we not add a better people? Many of these and other things are the tasks, and the opportunities, 20 for you, the boys and girls who are now coming forward on the stage of life.

In the next selection is told the story of the laying of the cable across the Atlantic. It was a bold idea, carried out with courage and persistence under great difficulties.

HOW THE ATLANTIC CABLE WAS LAID

In 1853 an interesting scheme was brought to my attention. It was an attempt to resuscitate an enterprise that had been begun and had broken down, to carry a line of telegraph to Newfoundland - including a cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence and at St. John's to connect with 5 a line of steamers to Ireland, by which the time of communication might be reduced to five days.

The project did not seem to me very formidable. It was no more difficult to carry a line to St. John's on this side than to some point on the Irish coast. But was this all 10 that could be done?

Beside me in the library was a globe which I began to turn over to study the relative positions of Newfoundland and Ireland. Suddenly the thought flashed upon me, "Why not carry the line across the Atlantic?"

That was the first moment that the idea ever entered my mind. It came as a vision of the night, and never left me, until thirteen years after, the dream was fulfilled.

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It is very easy to draw a line on a map or a globe, but quite another to measure out all the distances by land 20 and sea. As I could not undertake it alone, I looked about for a few strong men to give it support.

My next door neighbor was Peter Cooper, whose name is justly held in honor for his simple, noble life, and his great generosity to his native city. He had a genius for 25 mechanics, as he showed by constructing one of the first