Smyrna times., 1897-05-26
BISHOP POTTER CONDEMNS MACHINERY.

From the New York Times.
Machinery and the way the capitalist
looks down upon those who labor for
him, says Bishop Potter, "are the
great causes of the general i'll feeling
and uneasiness among the laboring
classes" The chief of these two is
machinery, says the Bishop:
tt is doing away with intelligence i'll |
labor. 1t is turning the labOring man |
into a simple idiot. Not long ago l |
visited large factory in this State and |
} was much impressed with what saw.
The owner proudly showed me around
nointing out the manner in which labor
was simplifed. I saw a young man
sitting before some sort of a large ham
: mer. He sat with his legs crossed, and
all his work consisted in showing into
an opening in the machinery a small
: piece of iron. He would turn the me-
tai two or three times, throw 1t into
LARGE bOx. and take another piece.
= That was this mans work, day aItef
I dav. week after week. No wonder that
i at night time he drank, gambled and
- fought. He had too; otherwise he
would 90 mad. How many OF us
would stand this and not cry out?
:, Not one of us but would become
J striker. Myself among the first.
S Let us put the Bishops young man
l. on the witness stand and question him.
: O.-What are you making? A.-The
~ machine is making horseshOes.
: Odd your father work at that
v trade? A.-Yes; as far back as 1857,
II forty years ago, he made horseshoei
C, by hand with just a hammer and anvil
). O.-How many hours day did he
work? A.-Eleven or twelve, work
ten.
y, O.-What wages did he get compar
e, ed to the wages you are getting? A
h. Well, working ten hours day, earl
h S168. 60 in just the number of days tina
it took him, working eleven or twelv
hours a day to earn $99.2O
OF Q.-Do you happen to know the re
Is, ative cost of living in 1857 and now
me- A.-Yes; taking the general run of m
family expenses can get for 500
much as food, clothing, ETC., he coul
ilk for $115 in 1857
for On other words, you get $12
wv week, where he got about 81? A.
Yes
O.-And your-$12 will buy as mu'
ov- clothing and provisions for your faI
ar ily as he could get for $3.50 in 1876
de A.-Yes.
Q.-So that if you lived about
your father lived you can do as mu
)rm tow ard the support of your family
per six days as he could do in thirtee
davs? A.-That is the way 1 figure
:, O. This means that you can i
the better than he did and still lay
oap money? A.-Yes.
the Wages higher, prices lower-tha
Ito the young mans testimony. The
ures are from the Aldrich repC
They present the wage conditions
great number of occupations and
prices of a great number of comm
I'D tiles averaged. They represent
At average. They fit this young ms
case if he is at all representative.
Ask him if he would rather m
a.. horseshoes by hand as his father
,tOh' or ''tend machine" and the chan
are fifty to one that he will reply
machine tending is easier and s
him better.
So his work is easier, his hours
,TH shorter, his wages are higher and
= "A things he has to buy are cheaper.
The capitalist, badgered by poll
y antitrust bills, brought to the v
of bankruptcy by hard times, his
~ come diminished by low prices
checked by high wages, threatene'
compe- casionally by strikers and all the
public by the fashionable socialism of
u day, is in no condition to look
on this young machine tender.
might we'll envy him.
49, 90 We must set down Bishop Pot
lgonals, views of machinery as unsound
)ulously nnsafa The conclusion of INN,
gains in and laborious Investigators is thai
cred for effect of machinery is to lghteu /
avs cash and in general to give greater reg
If expe- ity of employment, and that, con
ng Dus- @ to a widespread belief, it has
e trade caused any net diminution of EN-
ment. 1t is admitted that the m
ony of some kinds of machine tel
lsewhere dulls the brains of the workman.
lsewhere compensation there are the 81
hours and the smaller expenditu
ise"nere nervous and muscular energy as
Elsewhere pared with hard labor. Cases of
,.......o vidual energy there must be. B
gain to the mass of wage ei
to $500, through the invention and emplo
90 Of machinery is unmistakable
TOO mn enormous.
with the Mr. Charles H. Wetzel of Sur
lllls AlloL loo -. - 49,