Killing John Henry

Henry Ford, said: "There is one rule for the industrialist: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." That’s how he perfected the assembly line, the precursor of the robot. Technology must have skilled workers in order to function. Before that Henry there was John Henry of Talcott, West Virginia, who worked as a steel driver on the Big Bend tunnel in 1872 and was killed by technology. John Henry's skill as a steel-driver was tested in a race against a steam-powered hammer drill; a race that he won only to die in victory with sledge hammer in hand as his heart gave out from the stress. The event was witnessed by Neal Miller who told how he had come to the tunnel with his father at 17 and worked as a water boy. He saw John Henry every day and described the contest with the steam drill. “When the agent for the steam drill company brought the drill here," said Mr. Miller, "John Henry wanted to drive against it. He took a lot of pride in his work and hated to see a machine take the work of men like him. So, they decided to test how practical the steam drill was. The test went on all day and part of the next day and John Henry won. He refused to rest driving steel with a 20-lb sledge hammer the whole time.”  He overdid it and died trying to stem the tide of technology. They buried him on the hillside next to the tunnel with his sledge hammer in his hand. The sad thing is, it never occurred to John Henry to learn how to operate the drill. Even back in 1872, a STEM education was important; If I may hammer that concept home.