It cannot but help but add to the durability of the product. Yes, it will throw many men out of employment. That is to be regretted, but I entertain no doubt but that it will ultimately result in good to the men whom it will now place at a disadvantage. The sewing machine, when it was invented, met with the same obstacles as natural gas, it being alleged that it would destroy labor and throw thousands of women who worked with the needle into destitute circumstances. It has just been opposite.
More women find work in garment-making now than before the introduction of the sewing machine.
New styles, patterns, designs, were added to the list of fashions as fast as the improvements would admit of, and even faster, for there is always a demand now for operators on sewing machines. The same objections were raised to the threshing machines. No, natural gas will oper up new enterprises. New manufactures will constantly be added to our varied manufactured articles and a demand for labor greater than heretofore will be the result. That is a question I am not prepared to answer other than so far as our men are concerned.