Carveth Read on accuracy.

“It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong.”

– Carveth Read

Carveth Read (1848-1931) was a British philosopher and logician.

Otto von Bismarck on the role of politics.

“Die Politik ist die Lehre von Möglichen. (Politics is the art of the possible.)”

– Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was the first chancellor of a united Germany. He also served as diplomat and legislator.

Lady Bird Johnson on Libraries

“Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.”

—Lady Bird Johnson

Slater Opens America’s First Water Powered Mill

December 20: On this day in 1790 the first American water-powered textile mill opened with machinery for spinning, roving, and carding cotton. The mill was situated on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtuket, Rhode Island.

Samuel Slater

Based on designs of the English inventor Richard Arkwright, the mill was built by Samuel Slater, a English immigrant who had apprenticed with Arkwright’s inventing partner, Jebediah Strutt.

Slater emigrated from Great Britain to America in defiance of the British laws in place at the time that forbid the emigration of textile workers. Britain feared (correctly) that the loss of their mechanical skills and technical knowledge would harm the British textile industry. Despite the laws, Slater migrated America to seek his fortune. He is considered a central figure in the birth of the American textile industry. He eventually built several successful cotton mills in New England and established the town of Slatersville, Rhode Island.

Prior to the Civil War, textile manufacture was America’s most important industry.

James Fallows on accountability of public officials.

“Democracy depends on accountability, and accountability depends on knowledge.”

– James Fallows

James Fallows (1949- ) is an American journalist and author. He is a Washington based national correspondent for The Atlantic.