The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-02-12
LabOr.Saving Machinery.

Labor saving machinery was never so
much used as it is to- day along the lines of
almost every industrial pursuit, and wages
were never so high as they are now, espe-
cially in the United States. Before the in
ventiOn of the mower and the reaper, men
could be hired to swing the scythe for fif-
teen hours in a day for seventy five cents
and board, and there are men alive now
who have welded the old fashioned sickle
for the same amount of money for the same
length of time, and there were no strikes
for higher wages or for the reduction of
hours. From sun up to sun down was
the motto in those days, and it Was well
that it was so. for eight hours for days
work then would have ruined any farmer in
the United States Then, in the good old
days. a stalwart youth of twenty or twenty
five could be hired the year round for $40 per
month and board; now he wants double that
sum. Now the man that rides and drives
the self binder generally receives twice or
three times the wages that his father did
when he piled the sickle or swung the five
fingered cradle among the golden grain.
So the expert on the sewing machine gets
double the wages and does five times the
work that seamstress could accomplish in
the same length of time before the sewing
machine was invented. So it is all along
the line. The introduction of all these cum
ming devices for saving work has made it
possible to multiply products UNNECESSARILY,
and at the same time afford better wages to
the employees. 1t often happens that
labor saving invention which economies ef-
fort in one case gives employment in other
HjrQofiOpC hat hrn Of
in labor circles is properly maintained and
made self-adjusting. Look at the tens of
thousands of men and women now regularly
engaged in manufacturing, selling. repair
ing, transporting and improving the sew
ing machines. Think of the great army of
skilled wOrkmen that is required to make
and sell the immense number of mowers
and reapers that are now annually manu-
featured in this country. The invention Of
the self binder has greatly increased and
eheapened the production of wheat on the
Western prairies. and it has also very much
cheapened the bread of the New England
mechanic. There is not man, woman. or
child in all this broad land whose comfort,
success, and happiness have not been in
some manner enhanced by the labor saving
cOntrivanceS that have been perfected dur
ing the last fifty years. Anxiety was man.
ifeSted when steam was first employed as
motive power, and it was predicted that the
locomotive and the railroad would ruin the
market for horses, and great agricultural
industry would be wiped out. But the fact
remains that horse of any kind is worth
to- day about twice what the average price
was in 1910, and that the construction of
100, 900 miles of railway in this country has
increased the demand for horses more than
any other factor in the case. The abolition
of the stage coach as means Of travel by
the substitution of more rapid mode of
transit has not lessened the value of the
power that drew the stage, but turned it to
more remunerative uses. And now cleo
tricity comes forward to relieve the poor
horses on our street railways. and the farm
ers may possibly bemOan the change as
being incompatible with their interests
The Milwaukee Evening. Wisconsin.