Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-12-17
Human Labor.


Labor is motive power. 1t aims to
produce motion. Material and implements
are moved with view to secure given re.
suit. Nature furnishes all tho material and
performs much Of the work without compen.
sation. She co5perates With man at every
step. ...... ......
Human industry is employed almost
wholly in producing motion, aud the iugenu-
ity aud Incidence Of the laborer early sought
for help to produce this motion. Domestic
animals were FIRST employed for this purpose,
and the ass in the very beginning of society
the horse and OK, some centuries later.
And these animals have ever been employed
to produce motion for man. XII.
Aud more and more as civiliza ton has ad-
vanced, have motive powers Of water, wind
and steam have been called into use, for the
same purpose. And strange as it may seem
domestic animals are now as much in demand
as ever, and their value still greater. II is
mistaken idea that the introduction Of
labor-saving machinery interferes with the
prosperity Of the labOring classes
The introduction Of the railroad threw
out Of that kind Of employment thousands
Of horses and the men who drove them, but
the vast increase OF facilities for travelling
and transportation Of merchandise so far
increased the demand for labor of beast and
man in other channels Of industry, that there
has not only been no loss, bu. great increase
of advantage to the very labOrers who were
supposed to be injured. And so it IS in
every department, as experience has demon
strated. This common error which once pre-
vailed in this country, has long been an in.
surmountable obstacle to improvement in
the old world. i.s -
Until very recently the ruling men o.
China have opposed the Introduction o.
labor-saving agents, such as steam, electricity
rifed cannon and iron clads. They have
supposed that their vast population
which depends entirely on labor for theiI
living, could be kept in existence only BY
excluding machinery that would do thi
work for them. ,t. s.....
We are told that high Chinese Oficia
in referring to the American steamers which
now run on the Chinese Mississippi, and d.
the carrying trade of that vast river, Onc'
said, "For every steamer on that river, I
million of Chinese people have persisted.
Now if this is true in tie first introduction
Of modern civilization into that country, thu
seeming evil will soon correct ITSELF The
increased facilities for labor aud the reduc
ton in the price Of products secured by the
use Of machinery, will, when the new orde
of things is established, greatly benefit th'
millions which compose the poor, labOriuI
classes Of the Chinese population. And sucl
will be the fact in regard to that vast EN-
pire with its 100000, 900 of inhabitants
before Another half century has expired.
As we have intimated, oil the auxiliarie
of labor, whether animate or inanimAte
pfoduce simple motion. This is always tn
end to DO accomplished. And the mos
complicated and ponderous machine Onl!
multiplies the motion that can be produces
by the hand of a child. ..... .....
What we call power is only motion, how
ever produced, but human labor is ndspeni
able, however extensive the application G
machinery, Labor must have thought an
skill to ada pit its motion to the end in view
and these are csHtsred only in human BRAIN
Implements of all sorts are needed, an
these are the gifts Of capital and must b
guided by humuu hands and human wisdom
The three requisites, therefore, Of materin
production, are labor, POwer-prOducing Ageu
cies and capital,