The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-21
INDUSTRIAL ~, CRISIS.
YOURS OF LABOR MUST BE SHORT
ENED TO RELIEVE THE PRESSURE.

The Benefits Accruing From Machinery
and Subdivision of Labor Appropriated
by the Capitalistic Class-views Of q Ca
madam Mechanic.
In my fathers boyhood days grain was
cut with sickle. When I was q boy,
grain was cut with cradle-a great i'm
provement on the sickle. In these days
grain is cut with self binders drawn by
horses-another great improvement over
the cradle. When my grandparents
thrashed, it was with fail, and this in
strument was still in use when was a
boy. Today thrashing is done with large
machines driven by horse or steam pow
er, and now large fields of grain can be
gathered and thrashed in very little
while, which has made farming on a
large scale possible. Formerly farming
was carried on on small scale on ac-
count of the crudeness of the implements
and the scarcity of laborers, as nearly all
OF the men were required to work at the
trades and professions, so that farming
was largely left to women and children.
Twenty and more years ago every farm
OF considerable size had one or more hired
men all the year around, and during har-
vest there were extra men engaged, but
today farmer with a good team of
horses and the latest machinery, and
perhaps one man during the busy season,
can do all the work Of good sized farm
and have lots of spare time during the
year. The questions naturally arise,
"What has become of the hired men and
the farmers sons who used to be so busy
on the farm? Where are they today, and
what are they doing for living?'
A wagon maker with whom was we'll
acquainted frequently told of how he
and others with him had to cut boards
and other wagon material out of whole
logs by elevating the log over pit, and
then with man on top Of the log and
another in the pit they would drag pit
saw up and down for days and almost
work themselves to cripples in order to
get the material somewhere near the re-
quired shape. Spokes were split out of
short logs or bolts and piled up for a
number of days to dry, while the fellies
were sawed out of planks with bow
saw. Just think of the hard labor and
methods of today!
The gentleman with whom | learned
my trade told very similar story. can
very we'll remember the many days had
to put in with the hand saw, jack plane
and jointer, for we had no machinery at
that time. There were in this little shop
two journeymen. the boss and myself,
the boss working at bench as we'll as
the rest of US. The effects of machinery
in factory in western town soon made
itself felt in our little town, and my en-
ployer soon found that he had to meet
the lowered prices of his large competitor
or lose his customers.
A hand power circular saw was pro-
cured, and this for time answered his
purpose, but it was not long before he
found the larger factories were making
further improvements in their machinery
and methods and were again undersell-
ing him. This necessitated further in
crease in his machinery. A horsepower
was procured, and several other machines
were added to the circular saw. With
these and reduction in wages he was en-
abled to hold his own for a time, but
there came day when he could hold
out no longer. He had to let his men go,
close up the shop and apply at one of the
large factories for work. The fate of
this man was the fate of hundreds of men
in all the known trades.
Twenty-Five years ago we had men of
all trades carrying on business in every
hamlet and town throughout the coun-
try, but today we see only the empty
shells in which they worked, and the
business they carried on is now done in
wholesale fashion by few large fac
tories in the larger cities, and to aid
these large concerns to distribute their
products throughout the land railroads
have been built, largely with the peo-
pies money and their lands.
l have always looked upon machinery
as a great boon to mankind and thor
oughly believe in the principle of doing
all the work possible by machinery, but
there have been those who looked upon
the introduction of machinery with mis-
giving and fear of coming evil, and some
in their fear and ignorance have tried to
destroy machinery which, they said,
turned them out of work and conse-
quently deprived them Of the means to
live.
What prompted men to invent labor
saving devices? Surely nothing else than
that they might save themselves manual
labor and be able to do their work in
shorter time than they had been accus-
toned to do when they worked by hand
The subdivision of labor, or piece work
system, has been only in vogue during
late years and is the natural outcome Of
our industrial system. Manufacturers
found that in this way they were enabled
to secure a larger amount of work for
their outlay. AS time went on they be-
gan to vie with each other for the trade
of the country, and cutting of prices was
resorted to in order to get the trade of
some one else. The wages of the laborer
were in almost every case lowered to
make up for the loss of the lowered
prices. The workingman, to save him
self, had to set his brain to work and in
vent more complete methods for doing
his work, and SO successful were they
sometimes in this that fewer hands could