The Negro Laborer: A Word to Him

by W. H. Councill

Leaving the subject of early training, I now pass to the consideration of the importance of the intelligence of the laboring man. This is necessary for the protection of himself, his employer and the peace of society. It is much easier to understand and get along with educated men than ignorant ones. The laboring man should set aside a few cents to be invested in papers, books, &c., which give him information in relation to his work, his duties, and tend morally to benefit him. He should spend a few hours every week in trying to inform himself on various things. He should be a thinking man, and his food for thought should be of the most wholesome character, or he will cease to be a useful member of society and become a destructive element. There are certain little things in medicine, physics, chemistry, agriculture, law and other branches which he should know, and his knowledge would save him much pain and many dollars. I commend the following article, taken from a paper called Builder and Woodworker:

"If the ordinary, every-day workman, engaged at his bench in the pursuit of his vocation, were aware of the enormous number of natural laws by which his every action is controlled, he would be surprised at their existence and desirous of learning about them. This desire would be natural and most praiseworthy, yet the fear of study stems to prevent those who would like to gain this knowledge from simply reading, as one would a story, the interesting things described in books on physics—facts far more valuable than fiction, and so clearly demonstrated that a mere tyro can understand and experiment from description, thus proving how much can be learned even from a rapid perusal.

"Why should a woodworking mechanic study the science? The reasons why he should do so are numerous and important, and in explaining some of them we shall endeavor, as far as possible, to show its practical application and the part it plays in his individual efforts, though, at the same time, it must not be forgotten that all the movements on this earth of ours depend on and are controlled, according to the principles of natural philosophy.

"Let us consider for a moment its bearing on a man standing at a bench in the act of pushing forward a jack plane. What first of all retains his body on the floor on which he stands? The force of gravitation, which as described retains the earth particles together, and all bodies animate or inanimate on its surface, by drawing them to its center, this influence being exercised on the building in which he labors, retaining its constituents in their positions. It also acts on his person to such an extent that were he devoid of the power of movement, he would be as immovably fixed as the inanimate wood he stands upon. This force, likewise, keeps his stuff on his bench and the plane on his work, and prevents the flying off at a tangent which would occur with all terrestrial bodies were the attraction to cease for a moment. How simple is the fact when demonstrated!

"Avoiding the consideration of the different attractions, we will glance at the mechanical means he goes through in planing. Standing with his two feet together, would it be possible for him to lift a shaving? It would not, because the resisting force generated by the friction of the wedge-shaped iron in entering the woody fibers would be so great that this body, being unable to resist it, would be pushed outside the perpendicular line of gravity, and fall. To overcome this resistance he increases his base, and lowering the center of gravity of the body, leans forward and throws his weight on his left leg, with his right forming, as it were, a brace.

"Now he can exert his powers effectually, for having overcome unvarying natural forces by the use of natural laws.

"His arms, as he moves them forward or draws them back again, are nothing more than a splendid system of compound levers, and the tool employed is on a cubical prism, with an angular opening into which a wedge of steel is inserted and fastened, with its point projecting below the sole or lower face. This wedge is forced forward by lateral pressure, and entering the wood gives out a shaving or strip equal in proportion to the projection.

"How many of us are there who know that the edges of our plane iron and chisels, saw teeth, in fine our principal tools, are modifications of a simple wedge, and fewer still who know its power or how to increase its utility in practice.

"To us who handle it daily, the screw, or as it is in reality a revolving wedge, is a mystery and an unknown thing, though we are familiar with its usefulness; yet, while in the act of propelling a screw with a screw-driver, a multitude of forces and machines are employed, which are grand in their simplicity and worthy of study.

"That which teaches why a plumb bob hangs quiescent at the extremity of a string, and why a level is determined by the centering of an alcoholic bubble in a tube, and other valuable mechanical facts, should not be passed over by him whose philosophy is to devote his life to improving the means by which the comfort and happiness of human nature are gained. Independent even of this essential reason, it is imperative that we make ourselves acquainted with the component parts and properties of materials, in order to train the mind into a line of thought tending to invention and the bringing forth of valuable ideas, which only those familiar with this science can essay."