“The ingenuity of each generation has developed quicker and. . .”

“The ingenuity of each generation has developed quicker and better methods for doing every element of the work in every trade.

Thus the methods which are now in use may. . . be said to be an evolution representing the survival of the fittest and best of the ideas which have been developed since the starting of each trade.

However. . . only those who are intimately acquainted with each of these trades are fully aware of the fact that in hardly any element of any trade is there uniformity in the methods which are used.

Instead of having only one way which is generally accepted as a standard, there are in daily use, say, fifty or a hundred different ways of doing each element of the work.

And a little thought will make it clear that this must inevitably be the case, since our methods have been handed down from man to man by word of mouth, or have, in most cases, been almost unconsciously learned through personal observation. Practically in no instances have they been codified or systematically analyzed or described.

The ingenuity and experience of each generation—of each decade, even, have without doubt handed over better methods to the next.”