Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-20
90 AN THY AND QUALITY
Does Hand Work Suffer by the
Competition Of Mechanism?
AN EXPERT SAYS NOT

| had been displaced by modern machinery.
| Fer this purpose Commissioner of La
! Dor Wright last fall detailed number OF
| experts and special agents of his bureau
| for this work, each agent pursuing an In
| vestigation in all industries found in the
| territory assigned him. Recently, however,
| a new departure has taken place. and each
| officer is assigned to an industry or group
| of allied industries. making a technical
| analysis of the relations Of machinery to
| hand work as to quantity and quality pro-
duced by the most modern and the most
ancient methods obtainable. Mr.. A. NJ.
| Dewey, formerly the editor of a labor
| Journal. we'll known in Washington, has
recently come to Philadelphia to inquire in
| to the use of machinery in printing, book
| bin ling. blank hook making. type founding.
etc. visit by The Star correspondent to
| the department headquarters yesterday
morning early found Mr.. Dewey busly en-
gagged in arranging pair" Of schedules on
| the binding of book.
Views of u Labor Expert.
| Asked to say something about the investi-
| cation for The Star readers, Mr.. Dewey
said:
1.-The relation of machinery to the indus
| trial question has for many years occupied
| the minds of thoughtful men and women
the world over. There has been a prevail
| ing impression that labor was being made
to suffer because of this competition with
! the inanimate piece of mechanism to be
| found in every industry. and there has been
| much strength and energy wasted by some
of the best Of the organizations Of labor in
| their efforts to suppress the machine. The
| fear of the plate printer that the machine
would displace labor has been proven
groundless, as there are more printers at
| that trade today than before steam presses
| were invented"
TypcsettinE Machines.
How about letter press printing-print-
| Ing from type?"
80 far typesetting is concerned" re-
| piled Mr.. Dewey, the machine which does
| the work successfully is of recent discov-
| cry; BUT all papers nearly. and many book
| offices, are getting them In as fast pos
| sIble. The printers held out for long
| time, and declared not long ago that the
machines should no; be permitted to enter
the composing room of a union office. but
| they have realized the mistake, and the
machines are now operated by Union print
| ers everywhere. AS a matter of fact, when
| all employees are taken into consideration
| the machines in the printing business en-
| ploy more than they displace. Were it not
| for the cheap composition made possible
| by the machine. many daily papers must
| certainly suspend, for the composition bill
| is the item that swamps the business Of
| flee. But even then says the printer, we
| would be the gamers. as there would yet
| be employed more printers than now on
ALL Which would be true If the printer
were the only one entitled to consideration
| But when all are considered, pressmen.
proof readers. reporters, editors, circulat-
| ors, bookkeepers, newsboys and the thou
| sand and one other people employed about
a newspaper office. 1t is easy to discover
| that the typesetting machine employs la
Dor rather than displaces it. And there
&c fhnr iIaro NIT na6- fhn
| public welfare. Many papers make good
| papers through competition. Good papers
| educate the people. and society reaps a
| direct benefit from the Introduction Of the
machine.
In Every Trade.
"And this evolution, or revolution, which
ever you choose to call it, permeates every
| trade. The old rat-tail type-making ma
chine has given way TO an automatic type
casting and finishing machine, which turns
out the finished work with one operation.
There is a book-printing press now rum
| ming in Philadelphia which prints the sec
lions, gathers them for binding and fields
| the gathered sheets ready for stitching,
and this too, at the rate of 10000 hooks
per hour. 1 am told that firm at Lowell.
Mass, has in operation machine which
does all this one can do, and in addition
prints q cover in two colors, and pYs the
cover on the book, leaving it ready for the
trimming machine, and does this twice as
fast as the Philadelphia press mentioned.
The possibilities Of the printing press are
almost unlimited, since by simply an extern
sion of principles already discovered there
seems to be no limit to the quantity of
work which can be produced in a given
time. Perhaps the most remarkable dis
placement of all is to be found in the wood
working trades" continued Mr.. Dewey,
after a pause THE planer and sticker,
mortiser AMI tennoner have rendered prac-
"a Ia nj vxyff1,
| which the carpenter and Joiner formerly
piled his vocation. The work of making
sash, doors and blinds is today almost en-
tirely in the hands of machine operators.
A six-panel, o. G. pine door, which would
| require good man from ten to twelve
hours to build by hand, is made by the
hundred in from ten to twelve minutes
each; that is, one hundred doors will be
run through a modern factory and COM
pleted in from ten to twelve hundred min
utes of working time when reduced to the
work of one man."
How about the quality of the work pro-
duced?"
Quality of Machine Work.
LAS to the quality, there are a few
general principles which will apply most
anywhere. A machine mortised and tenon
is admittedly better than If made by hand
The reason is clear. In mortising for
tenon the hand workman cuts his NOR
tise little large on the inside. to make
sure of an easy fit, and he likewise cuts
his tenon little small for the same rea-
son. Together they make a loose joint
Put the machine work is arbitrarily exact
in both cases every time. hence a closer
and stronger joint. In iron work the more
the iron is hammered the better 1t be-
comes, and, therefore, hand work is strong
er than machine work, except in special
cases, where the trip hammer Is used to
beat the iron well. In sewing on leather
or cloth the hand stitch Is the best, though
the machine does the best looking work
and for most purposes 1t is good. But
where there is strain on the stitch in
hand work it comes on the goods and not
on the thread. while in machine, with the
lock stitch. one thread will cut the other
as can be easily demonstrated by break
ing a piece of thread or Irvine across the
hand. A strand which would cut the flesh
without breaking when drawn without
crossing can be easily broken by taking a
hitch around the hand and bringing the
| thread across itself. But machinery les
sens tie price Of the product and brings
| 1t within the reach Of the masses. This