Mechanical Handling Volume 42 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt: ...of the course which we have been traveling. The whole country has been startled by the warning of far-sighted men, and now the demand for conservation of our natural wealth is becoming more and more insistent. We have been made to realize that every child born brings a mouth that must be fed, a body that must be sheltered and clothed, but no increase in natural wealth. We must still learn that every child does bring two hands, which can work, and which, when highly trained and backed by scientific knowledge, can create untold values. Stated otherwise, we must care for our increasing population, not by increased exploitation of our natural stores, but by providing abundant work for skilled labour. Our country's four principal exports are still cotton, copper, wheat and mineral oils, all articles of natural wealth. We export chiefly these and relatively crude products partially manufactured with coarse machinery and unskilled labour--articles the price of which arises largely from the natural wealth with but a small content of labour values. We ship abroad hundreds of thousands of tons of steel at one cent per pound and copper at twelve cents per pound; and we buy back magnetos made of these same metals from Germany at one dollar and a half per pound. In exchange for steel rails at I cent per pound, we buy back scientific instruments at $10 per pound, $9.90 being the labour added to the ten cents' worth of metal. To France we sell metals, wheat, barley, cotton, oils; and get in return champagne, laces, vichy water, amusement for our foreign tourists and education for our students. The silk that she sends us she herself has im ported in a raw state from foreign countries, adding value to it merely through the skill of her workers and the design of her artists....