The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-10-01
Machinery the Wealth Producer.


Machinery may we'll be called the friend
Of the workingmen, and chief Evangelist
Of modern civilization. Ii has effected
more marvels during its brief existence
among us than all the ancient enginery, the
skill, and the magic of mankind put to-
gether. 1t is given, in England alone, a
creative power equal to that Of six hundred
millions Of men. Six hundred million of
pairs of hands made of cunning steel, and
doing the work Of so many intelligent, edu-
Gated, human hands, in dumb, brutal ignor-
ance Of what they do, obeying power
that they know not the passive slaves of
mans thought ald genius-compelled to
work for him increasingly, without haste;
without rest, stimulated irto this immense
and eeaseless vitality-this prodigious pro-
ductive poverty an agency as empty of
all mentalihes as it is itself, and so devoid
Of consciousness that it is ignorant Of its
faculty, and can neither rejoice over its tn
umphs nor be sOrrowful over its defeats.
These are the leading characteristics Of ma
chinery, set agoing by the monstrous fire
breathing steam engine, as the final cause
in the hands of men, to propel Its DISPOSE
ton from inertia, and compel it to produe-
ton Of manufactured articles for the wants Of
the world, which has more than quadrupled
tel times over the wealth of mankind with
in the short space Of ilfty years,
Think to what commercial and manuac
turing power that little handful Of Eng
lsh has risen within the same period AMI
through the same instrumentality. We re-
member the time when the chief sources Of
her wealth lay in the products Of the soil
when no other use could be found for coal
than to make it boil pots, cooking the din
her. Of hungry household. lguoble service
compared to the uses whcrcinto it is now
put, in feeding the Unsuitable nav Of the
steam engine to enable it to set and keep
ag0ing thousands ana tens of thousands Of
spnd,cs in the making Of cotton and yarns,
to clothc the naked backs Of mankind. Or
more Wondrous still % cocrcc the locomotive
into a speed which laughs ~ tho winds Of
heaven and says, Ia. ha! 10 the swiftcst
horse.
Labor saving machinery was a long time
ii coming, but when Il did come, i rcyolu-
tiouizcd ~, world. England became the
richest nation on the face Of the earth
through rs wonlrous wealth creations. All
through the long centuries It had waited for
the new era and agencies. Iron and coal
lay side by side since the creation thereof ;
dumb prophecies Of TIE manufacturing and
commercial prosperity which were TO come
out of them when their secrets should he
known. and the iron God, created by man,
out of the iron stone, and fed with coal 20
1iyc lin thc uecd!ul vitality should Keep
at perpetual labor, doing the work which
hundreds of thousands Of intelligent Tcn
\ did before bis apparition and advent
thousand, Of these scnsclcS~ machines, who
need d. seep and want 10 toul-thc cheap
est Kind Of lahorcrs-aad the most profitable
to the owners Of them. The displaced hu
man laborcrs cried out in pain lnd sorrow u
~Ce this iron machinery doing their work
and leaving them, as they thought, 10 starve.
/ But il was not 50. They soon turned their
labor gifts into new channels of employ
men, and III thc meanwhile they also came
N for their share Of the cheapened manu-
featuring productions. Hose was cheaper,
.- calico and wooden -o1ds, and boots and
shoes, hats, and an the insignia of a man
I Moreover, in due time, when the illusion Of
protection fell from the English eyes, they
began To exchange their manufactures for
our brcadstuds, for beef also, and for pork,
and. marvellous to relate, instead Of a ruin
ed country, this free interchange Of their
goods for those Of other nations. made and
makes wealth ana prosperity to flow over
/ that land like water.
From a country Of palaces and paupers,
novels ana warehouses, England has grown
up into fabulous wealth through this doapis-
ed machinery. Machinery has built miles
If manufactures and produced hundreds Of
millions il the place Of the prior single mil
lions Workmcn have become masters, and
built towns for their men tc live IL, and
acres Of workshops for the good Of man
. kind Scientific im.yicup.