The Practical Man and the Technical Press.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 4, 1 February 1907, Page 142

The Practical Man and the Technical Press.

It sometimes happens that some matter-of-fact poison who is without any appreciation ot anything that is not intensely practical, finds fault with the technical press because fiom his wa-s of seeing tilings, it is not technical enough This sort of

man is strictly utilitarian He looks on the human element in the world as so many machines foi gi mcling out work Judging from observation with him everything that does not fit into his peculiar methods of thought and of work are excrescences which should not be allowed, and if by any chance they should appear he considers that he is doing his fellow men a kindness in promptly trying to suppress them A formula is his delight as being the only proper way of expressing any technical information that can be expressed by one, and he is ready to take issue with the man who uses a figure 01 a letter unnecessarily even there When the formula cannot be made to express the desired information it should then be put into some other condensed form There is a sort of food that is sometimes used for certain kinds of conditions. I am not sure of the proper designation for it, but I understand that it is composed of meat and vegetables which have been dried and pressed to such an extent that a few ounces contain all the chemical valuables which were in many pounds of the original substances in their natural form This is the ideal ol what the technical press should be to some peaple It is well known that meat is a concentrated food, and that turnips, cabbage beets watermelons and most other \egetables are very bulky in propoi tion to the nounshment the scientific man finds in anahsing them Perhaps it is a mistake, and some da\ some reformer will lead us from the erroi ol our wa\s but at piesent it must be admitted that most ot us like to have a liberal quantity of vegetables along with our meat, and so far as I know the extremely compacted food is only used b\ those so situated that it it not possible to get any othei kind It is kept and only used man emergenc\ w hen no other kind is available To m\ mind this concentrated mixtuie well lepresents the formula The meat might be said to be a lepiesentation of the strictly scientific aiticle The \egetables naturally stand for the literature which has not a very high scientific value but which is consumed in large quantities because it tastes good, and makes people ietl good aftei it is taken Wishing to \~>a\ the highest compliment I can to

the technical press, I think of it as the mental eating houses of the people Not hotels, understand me, but boarding houses The hotels more nearly represent the book stores where you call for what you want, pay for what is furnished to you, and, if your pocket book will stand it, get the dyspepsia and such things If the boarding house is in the lumber woods it will set a different table from what one will, say, in the centre of New York but in any case it furnishes food to suit the general run of people who board there If it does not it loses its boarders. Even in the lumber woods men will leave one job and go to another because the board they have been getting is not to their taste There is one other peculiarity with boarders The man who does the most kicking and growling is the dyspeptic, and the chances are that he is eating entirely too much meat and other concentrated food. When the man who fills up on vegetables is not suited he hunts another place and just quietly drops out, but the other fellow stays and kicks and sets up to represent the valuable part of the world Beyond the choice of the things that are furnished is the way they are prepared and served Good cooking and nice, clean service is of the highest importance to most people, and there is no excuse for anything else that pretends to be fit for public patronage There are fads and fads, and the fellow with a fad is the kind of a fellow who will make the most noise. Here is a fellow who believes in taking his food raw He wants all his information in formula Here is the fellow who believes that the meat eaters rule thr world, and that because some of the greatest of the world's workers are also great meat eaters, therefore everyone should stuff with meat He would burden the weakling with the food of the giant and wants every man to take a technical course whether he can digest it or not. Here is the fellow who thinks the stomach should be saved from most of its work, and be fed with predigested food He wants all information reduced to the kindergarten level. And here, worst of all, is the fellow who thinks that what he does is the only thing and that all should be guided in their eating by his tastes. He is an insufferable boor in any boarding house, either mental or physical The wise boarder is a customer of the kind of a literary boarding house that most nearly supplies his wants as he sees them He makes use of the articles which appeal to his taste, and leaves those that do not, and generally prefers the abundance of vegetables which are easily digested to the concentrated foods It takes so much more care to properly consume the latter, and if carelessly done serious trouble is more apt to follow than with the more bulky material Naturally, we expect the mass of articles in any trade paper to pertain to the things that interest the people of that trade, just as we expect the food of a country to be composed largely of the products of that country, but even here we find it is well not to be too narrow in the matter, for all sorts of tastes are to be satisfied What sorts of things is it that the ordinpry fellow remembers and remarks about ? Is it the profound one that may really contain a germ that is to re\ olutiomse the world ? Question him closely and the chances are that he did not read the learned article at all, but he can tell you all about the de vice that was used to make some job a little easier and surer or the way in which some one made an emergency repair under adverse circumstances He understands the " roast ' that some fellow gives to some sister trade, and is set to thinking by the one that is handed back in return The trade paper is something that is meant for regular use It comes at intervals and sets up such a variety that we all can get something from it to suit our taste It is not necessary to eat the entire bill of fare to get a fair return for our money, nor to read articles that are not interesting or profitable to us just because we have paid for the paper There is one thing that each one has a right to expect and that is that every thing is presented in a proper manner Coarseness should not have a place in any literature as it ranks with poor cooking I have gone somewhat out of my way to give my ideas on these matters, for* the reason that I hear some of the talk that comes from the fellow who w r onld " scientific " everything so that it was as dry as dust, and I don't want him to make so much noise that you may think he is everything I do not want to miss my " vegetables " when I read Wood Craft even if I do wonder a bit w r hat sort of pattern-maker puts three legs on a long table such as Mi Rowley shows. I give it credit for three The one coming between the fitter's feet must be near the centre on that side, and my imagination paints one at the far end of the right side I cannot quite decide whether it is orna-

mentation or peculiar shadow that makes the streaks on the end. The patternmaker and the fitter are so true to nature that I know the other things must be, although I am not acquainted -with that particular style of table Please, Mr Editor, do not cut out the " vegetables." — " Ptactique " in Wood Craft.

1905 190f> Coal \nthiacite Steam . . Gas Household Other sorts I 649,379 14,190,453 2 549,835 508,872 617,442 £ 868 3( (I 16 957,004 3,088 77S 558,347 872,430 Total coal 18,521,981 22,344 859 Coke Manufactured fuel 385 699 497 163 424,974 648,045 Total of coal, coke & manufactured fuel 19 404 843 23,417, 87S