PREFACE.

...steam and electricity to perform tasks that would have required the combined efforts of hundreds of millions—if not thousands of millions—of men working alone. At every stage of progress, the energy harnessed for human use becomes an essential part of humanity itself. Our various abilities absorb their share of this energy, and as "men of power" emerge, they are prepared to direct this acquired force toward unlocking the earth's hidden original: latent potential and putting it to further use and service.* As the population increases, people are better able to work together. At each step, their capabilities are strengthened to absorb even more nourishment original: aliment; here meaning the resources or "fuel" that drive human progress. This process is exactly the same as the physical strength gained through steady exercise of the natural abilities given to the human race.

• Within twelve hours of a presidential message being delivered, its contents are known throughout the civilized world. Where did the energy come from to accomplish this wonderful work? Did it come from the printing type, the paper, the poles, or the wires that were used? Certainly not, as all of those were perfectly still original: quiescent. The power behind the pistol, the engine, and the telegraph is in the men who control and direct them, and not in the machines by which the work is done. A horse’s strength is said to be equal to that of nine average men; the man who masters original: subjugates the horse adds that strength to his own, now doing ten times his original work.

The power of a banker’s millions, an essayist’s pen, or an astronomer’s telescope lies in those who direct them, not in the instruments themselves. The power of an orator or an actor, who moves crowds to action or to tears, differs only in how it is shown from the power of an engineer who sets off an explosion and sends many people to their deaths original: to their last account. With the help of his sling, David struck Goliath to the ground. Entirely unaided, Samson leveled the pillars of the temple. One man knocks down his opponent with a blow of his fist; another does the same with a club; a third achieves the same goal using a well-designed trap. The force used is always the same. The same is true for larger operations involving massive original: monster cannons, ocean steamers, or high-speed locomotives. A soldier’s backpack original: knapsack doubles his capacity to carry things—is this new power in the man, or in the machine?