IT IS quite universally conceded that man has made progress toward what we are pleased to call civilization only as he has developed tools and processes wherewith he has been able to more fully control his environment and thus more fully satisfy his material and mental wants. Even the ancient Hebrews, when invading Palestine under the direction of Jehovah, admitted that they could not drive out certain native inhabitants "because they had chariots of iron." The situation is in no wise changed to-day. To that people which possesses superior chariots of iron, always goes the greatest control of their environment. We acknowledge these general principles when we speak of the Stone Age, the Age of Bronze, the Age of Iron, and the Age of Steel and some of us look forward to a still more highly developed age, the metallic index of which we can, as yet, only dimly realize.
It is customary to ascribe man's superiority in controlling his environment as compared to other members of the animal kingdom to the fact that he is a " tool-using animal." This is true, of course, but not sufficient. So long as man was compelled to depend upon tools actually manipulated by his hand, his progress was quite definitely limited. But man long ago found ways and means of harnessing the powers of nature to assist him in his work. lie is, therefore, also a " tool-controlling" animal, and modern tools of production driven by modern power plants and guided for the most part by the human hand have, to a large extent, relegated actual hand work to a secondary position in the industrial field.
To these accomplishments must be added a third, namely, man's development "of ways and means of transmitting intelligence. The problem and need of communicating over long distances is as old as man himself. The solution of this problem as represented by the telegraph, telephone and radio systems of the United States is a thing to marvel at for its perfection.