Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1880-02-20

'babor.saving naebinery' is a mis-
noa-er. II 10 unfortunate that il is so
mt has created pfeiudice against ma
chinery and improved appliances fol
obtaining the best economic feeullB from
labor. Men have reasoned that the
device which saves labor robs the
laborer. And it does look, upon the
surface Of things, that the laburer must
be the loser by having less work to do.
For, il two men can plant four acres ol
corn in day, one using the hoe the
other dropping, while two men with two
planters can put in twenty acres; and
one man with q scythe can cut, say, one
care of grass in a day while one man
with a mower can cut ten acres; and if 9
woman with sewing machine can do
five to ten times as much work in a day
as woman with only needle; and il
in all other kinds OF work a similar dis
parity of results as between hand labor
and machine work exists, does not the
labor-eavipg appliance crowd the work.
man and cause surfeit Of labor7 And
II surfeit, then decrease IN wagesi
This looks plausible, and ignorant men
have believed it, and interruptions men
have tried 10 instil the belief into the
minds Of workipemen.
Bat history, experience, inconttovert-
ible facts as well as the philosophy Of
he worlds economies are all adverse to
such conclusion. And, to get at the
foundation principle Of political econo-
my, there can not be any such thing as
oyerproduction Of the necessities of life,
and, consequently, there can not be an
excess OF labor or lack OF field for work.
There may be overproduction Of any one
or more articles; there may be an excess
OF labor in any one or more trades, but
there is not an excess OF all kinds OF
articles that are neeiful for mans com
ort ani progress in life, and there is
not an excess Of all kinds of LABOR il
rightly directed. II all men we're tail
rs, or if all men were cooper5, or if all
were common laborers, the supply would
undoubtedly exceed the demand. In
the more primitive days there were but
few trades and professions, and there
was far more limited demand for the
products OF labor than there is nov,
But as the labor has increased by the
increase Of population, end as its pro-
ducts have been multiplied ten and an
hundred fold and more by machinery
and ingenious tools, the wants of people
and the demands OF society have multi.
piled in full proportion. Wages have
not decreased; on the contrary, they sre
higher than before the era OF labor saw.
ing machinery, The condition of the
vorkipgmnn is rot worse but better than
it used to bo. Tie whole logic OF the
history of the labor question is that the
laborer has been dignided and elevated
by the offspring Of mems inventive
genius. Llbor-saving appliances have
lifted men TO higher planes Of life, and
have blessed the world far beyond the
possibilities of the old-time servitude Of
muscle to tue less varied wants of hu-
mainly. Men stlll earn their bread by
the sweat Of their BROW Rut they have
better bread ard moro Of it, and a greai
ary creature comforts and haneful op-
Yporiunitiss which their foreiathers did
not have. T1e labor.saving tools have
blessed man by multiplying the oppor
tunities for labor and increasing tht
reward of toll,