The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-08-06

there IL no escape. Human wants grow,
increase, and expand In the exact proper.
lion 70 the ability TO crafty them. When
cloth was made BY hand, suit Of clothes
NOT only served rs long Is three or four
suits now serve, but also descended from
sire 10 son, and ct best was inferior com'
pared with what IL now AttAinAble. The
household furniture Of half century
ago would be extremely plain in the
humblest houses Of to-day; homemade
carpets, the product OF long years aecu'
mutation Of rags, were then 4 luxury.
To abolish the use Of lAbor.GAying ma
chipery would be 10 turnthe world back
ward 70 comparative barbarian, and The
remanding Of the people to wooden shoes,
leather brooches, and home.spun linsey,
would In no part OF the world produce
such revolt as among the free working
people Of the United States. The comforts
and abundance, IN the matter Of clothing,
variety Of food, and household eonyenien.
ces, would never be surrendered; the steam
saw and planning mill worked revolution
10 the cost Of wooden building material,
and though II took away an immense
amount OF labor once performed BY hand,
| II increased the demand for sawed and
planned lumber, giving employment 70 an
Increased number OF carpenters and JOIN
ere, and with increased wsges. There has
been no invention for the saving oil labor
which has ever had the permanent effect
Of reducing the number Of woFkmen or
their wages. The Rranite'cutters widely
mistake The truth when they assume that
| II there were no stone.sawing machinery
Tho same amount Of stone would be con-
ahmed "A there now Is. They overlook
tbe fact that the use Of machinery has 80
reduced the price Of stone as q building
material "a to bring II into general use,
and that in nine cases out OF ten stone 10
used because Of It's cheapness when brick
wonld otherwise be used. There are pro-
badly three times "a many men now enc
gagged in preparing and laying stone in
buildings as there would be 30 engaged
II there we're no stone.sawing machinery.
Increase the cost Of stone and the de.
mand for It would cease. .t-f.
There Ia no labor saving machinery so
extensive as thai, OF the railways. The
railway train haa superseded the stage.
coach and the transportation wagon. II
has dismissed an army Of drivers and
tesmsiers, and dispensed with the use OF
herds Of horses. Railroads, however,
have given employment to coal and iron
miners; 10 manufacturers OF iron and
steel rails; has given employment 10 la
borers in building roads, and to men In
making locomotives and building cars.
They have drawn all parts OF the country
into close business relations. They have
furnished markets TO the productions OF
labor, which markets otherwise could
not have been reached. They have rem.
dered transportation OF food aud all other
commodities possible, and have given
EN- ployment to four times the number Of
persons displaced by their inyen-
lion. The railroads have so ex-
tended communication and iacilita-
ted transportation that it has enabled
millions OF persons 10 engage in agri-
culture who otherwise could not have
done so without burying themselves in
remote and almost inaccessible solitudes.
The invention Of farming machinery, in
conjunction with railroads, has increased
the means OF cultivating the vast area
penetrated by the railways. Together
they have reclaimed the wilderness Of
waste, making il remuneratiye to labor,
and contributing TO the personal and ma
tional wealth. At this moment more
than half the people OF the United States
live by agricultural labor. The farms
feed the nation and furnish $500, 100000
OF products for sale TO other countries.
This Is possible only because Of the use
Of machinery. Abolish machinery and
the area Of land under cultivation would
be reduced one-nalf, ifnot more, Abolish
railways at the same time and bread
would reach comparative famine prices.
One great advantage American labor en-.
Joys Ia an abundance Of cheap food.
The sewing.machine and the cotton and
wooden mill have in like manner
resulted in the production OF cheaper
and better clothing, and 80 vastly has the
consumption Of clothing increased that
there are more persons now engaged In
the manufacture OF those articles than
there would be Il there were no machi-
merry. The manufacture OF the machinery
itself has opened new branches OF indus,
try, giving employment to thousands OF
workmen. Half the coal mined in the
United States is employed TO run labor
saving machinery, to destroy such ma
chinery would be TO close half the coal
mines In the country. The invention Of
machinery 10 boot-and- shoe-making has
quadrupled the consumption oil boots and
shoes, and proportionately increased the
labor employed In. producing the mate
rails needed 10 the business. Without
labor.saving machinery the production Of
iron and steel would largely decline,
throwing out Of employment the immense
army OF skilled workmen, and remand.
ing civilization TO the rude product OIL
roadside blacksmith.shops.
We might illustrate the absurdity and
inconsistency Of this demand for the De.
struction Of labor-saying machinery by
reference TO every machine invented or
used. Each is benefaction to labor; it
admits reduction in the hours Of human
toll; 1t reduces the cost Of every pro-
ducuon OF labor; II increases from six TO
a hundred fold the quantity oil the things
consumed. Measuring al the necessi.
ties, comiorts and luxuries Of life BY the
standard Of the product Of a day labor,
Il gives in exchange for that days labor
an average Of fily.fold more than would
be possible in the absence Of labor.saying
machinery. The American people as a
whole are workmen, engaged in pro.
ducing, and the use Of this machinery
marks the difference in the moral physi.
cal and social condition OF the people OF
this country, and Of the rude, birbarous
and torpid races who reject such ma.
chinery as the inventions Of evil. i. 81
Returning to what we said in the be-
ginning, human wants keep steady pace