It was rendered possible only because Columbus secured two
patrons who, resembling in this respect far-seeing investors of to-day,
dared to be original, and provided him with the necessary ships and
control over the necessary labour. Or let us take the case of the iron
industry of the modern world. This industry, in its vast modern
developments, depends entirely on the discovery made in England of a
method by which iron might be smelted with coal in place of wood. The
completed discovery was due to a succession of solitary men, beginning
with Dud Dudley in the reign of James I., and ending a century later
with Darby of Coalbrookdale. Practically these heroic men had all their
contemporaries against them. Public opinion attacked them through
private persecution and violence. The apathy and vacillation of
governments left them without defence; and had governments then
represented public opinion completely, and had also controlled all
labour and capital, the discovery in question, which was retarded for
three generations, would in all probability have never been made at all.
Arkwright's experience with regard to his spinning-frame was similar.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128