One of the great elements of strength in the northern, or rather the free states, is composed of mechanics. In no other country in the world does this element exist in a like degree of usefulness, influence and power — and in no other country does it wield the same weighty control in governmental affairs. The American mechanic, when taking advantage of his position and the means before him for deriving information, is not a mere workman in wood or iron – or a machine driven by the impulses and genius of others. He represents science and art, by the improvements he makes in both and by his developments in mechanical skill, increases the productive energy of every branch of industry. The young mechanic of to-day is the embodiment of the grandeur of the age because the most glorious achievements of our times are those which are made in the field of practical science, as mechanics are all that is practical. The locomotive and the magnetic telegraph — the implements of war — the spinning-jenny — gutta percha — all combined, constitute the glory, the wealth and the comfort of the age and each in their turn are the representative, with the aid of the living mechanic, of a fame that will survive long after common men and their memories have become extinct. In the battles and struggles before us – in the changes which must follow the march of our armies from home, and those which will greet them as they advance, none will be so great as those which will flow from the accessions of new and young men to the work shops of the free states, to take the places of those who have left, while those made on the face of the country, and wielded over the future of a people who are ignorant of all mechanical power, by an intercourse with the mechanic, in an army of occupation, time will show in more benefits and splendor than we can now describe. A free intercourse with free mechanics, is the only influence that will redeem the south. It is the influence that has made the west what it is, developing its power, improving its soil, navigating its rivers, erecting its towns and cities, and in every way by practical uses and earnest industry, accomplishing the great results which have since added so many empires, in the shape of commonwealths, to the Union of States.
The Raftsman’s Journal, Clearfield, PA