"In 1851 there were in the United States but a few thousand miles of railroad and telegraph line. There are now 170,000 miles of the former, and more than that mileage of the latter. Apart from telegraphy the uses of electricity were almost unknown. It is now applied to locomotion, the lighting of streets and buildings, and to other purposes for which but a few years ago its application would have been deemed impossible. Of still more recent origin are such marvels of inventive ingenuity as the telephone and phonograph. Meanwhile, improvements in mechanical appliances have more than doubled our volume of agricultural and manufactured production, giving to us the means of supplying all Europe with food staples and all the world with manufactured wares. The decades of the past, however, have not proved more prolific of beneficial results to the race than will the decades of the future. Following each one of these throngings of humanity, wherein all men and nations are brought nearer to one another, into closer commercial, political and social relationships, is a general awakening of intellect, and a further polish given to the surface of human affairs." (Bancroft, Hubert Howe, Book of the Fair, Chicago: BancroftCompany Publishers, 1893.)