Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-10-23
Does Machinery Rob The laborer1 Z

Does Machinery Rob The laborer Z
The complaint that machinery robs
tho hborcr OF his only capital Is en-
tireh unfoundcd, Machinery never
lcsseurd the amount Of work To bc
done, though 1t has constantly changed
the character Of the work The labor
saving machinery employed in agri'
culture Is almost entirely the product
Of the invention OF the past thirty
years In no part ot the world has
tlIr Introduction OF such machinery
been more general or more rapid than
IN tlO graingrcwing states OF the
West. The result is shown in the
census reports. During the ten years
ending ir,'lsGO the farm hands OF
those states increased IN number more
than iihy per cent. During the next
ten, in spite Of the losses OF the war;
the increase was about thirty per
ceul. During the same twenty years,
t.t population OF tho country us a
whole increased only sixty.scven pei
cent.
When Walter Hunt invented his
sewing machine IN 1888, his wife pro
tested thai il would throw all the
sewing women out OF employment,
and persuaded him 10 suppress it,
llowcs aud Singers and no end OF
other machines have come since then
and set there is work for women to
do. Notwithstanding the thousands
'of family machines in use, the number
Of persons earning a living with the
sewing machine in this country is to-
day much greater in proportion to the
incubation than was the number OF
tailors and sewing women before the
invention of the machine, which q
recent pretended labor.lover has
classcd with the stcam.engine as one
OF the two worst evils that ever belel
mankind, In noting its influence up
Oh Tabor, we must not forget the
10000 or more mechanics employed
in our sewing machine factories, and
the thousands OF others engaged IL
mining and making the iron, cutting
aud saving the lumb-r, and in trans
porting and preparing these raw ma
,p,ial; for the machines and theil
eases; nor the men employed in max
inc the machinery used in the con
struction Ct sewing. machines, and il
transport ting and selling the finished
product. Counting these, the inyen
ton appears in its 'rae light as grea
creator of labor and the average
wages of the persons directly or indi
rectly employed by the sewing-ma-
chine is doubtless four or five time
that of the old,time sewers.
It's but little while since a met
ropoli,an paper of high rank pointe'
to the shoe business as, furnishing
folcible illustration of the disastrou
competition of machinery with men
The truth is that while within twent.
years, not less than eighty-fve pc
cent. of the work done on factor.
boots and shoes has been turned owe
to machinery, there are to day NOR
men at work in shoe factories thai
then. and more than would now b
employed except for machinery. l
is but another illustration of the oil
industrial paradox. During thes
years of rapid progress in invention
the cos. of materials has advanced
wages have nearly doubled, and tn
quality of factory boots and shoes ha
been improved twenty-five per cent.
vet the cost of manufacture has bee
so much reduced by new and improve
machinery that American shoes hav
not only excluded the foreign mad
from our market, but have successful
invaded the markets of the whol
world. AS a natural consequence
many more shops are required NJ
only in New England, but throughou
the middle states and the West
more workmen are employed in sho
l. factories higher wages are paid; an
4 GREAT multitude of other men al
3 furnished with employment in run
! nlnp the additional leather used,
packing and transporting aud ssllln