Still Learning… The Scientific American & the Cost of Cotton…

June 29, 2020 by  
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An 1862 series of issues from The Scientific American highlights farm equipment week after week.  There are new inventions in the shape of plows, seed distributors and devices for shelling beans.  Beyond agriculture, there are articles on engraving with electricity, followed by a detailed report of a boiler explosion.  When I sat down with a stack of dates for the purpose of compiling this post, I lost track of an hour and a half of my life, poring through the smorgasbord of offered information.  The regular feature “Patent Claims” describes patents issued and rejected, while the American prizes won at the London World’s Fair applaud the successful application of those successful inventions.  Finally, there are consistent complaints about the delinquency of the U. S. Patent Office.

However, I particularly appreciated the note from the editor in the issue dated November 22, 1862.  The heading reads, “An Important Crisis in the History of Newspaper Publishing.”  It describes the impact of the Civil War and the cotton supply on the printing industry, and serves as a reminder that large disasters and challenges within a nation have far-reaching effects on priorities and resources — often at an intensely personal level.

“This is a time of severe trial to all newspaper and book publishers; and the prosperity — yes, the very business existence — of may of them is suspended upon a slender thread.  That hitherto great national blessing, cheap literature, is likely for the present to receive a severe shock, and possibly its death-blow…The war now being waged for our priceless national heritage is working sad mischief to the newspaper interest.  A heavy tax is laid upon white paper…Paper-makers will not and cannot, prudently, enter into contracts to supply publishers.  They will only sell from week to week at their own prices; and, as usual, spectators are busy in getting a hold of every article that goes into the manufacture of paper, with a view to still further enhance the price.”

In contrast to the challenges of today, we can look at this warning in hindsight.  Munn & Company, Editors and Proprietors successfully navigated the economic upheaval, and “The Scientific American” is still being printed today.  However, the quality of an issue from the 19th century is definitely superior…

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