The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-10-23

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The subject of machinery has re-
Gently been the subject (also) of con-
siderable discussion-a discussion
started by Bishop Potter last spring
when he inveighed against certain
evils to which machinery has sub
jected man. Bishop Potter in the
October number of the North Ameri-
can Review" reviews and continues
that discussion correcting some of the
misstatements of certain newspapers
as to his sermon on toilers and ma
chinery, in which he was reported as
saying machinery is curse to man."
tits needless to say that Bishop Potter
never made such reckless misstate-
ment, but he did and does see and
state very clearly some of the evils to
which the abuse of invention has led.
The question whether machinery
has been altogether blessing to man
kind, though very old one, is still
to be classified as among the unan-
swered problems of life and civilza-
ton. The question is a ny-sided
one and in order to d correct appre-
citation of its relations the investiga-
tor must not look at one side of the
polygon only but embrace all in his
investigation. Carlyle called this
age, mot Heroical, Devotional,
Philosophical or Moral Age. but above
all others the Mechanical Age"-a
Characterization broadly true. What
this age of machinery has accom-
plished no one needs to be told even
by Carlyle, who in this case saw
with much more clearness than Rus
kin, for instance, the wonderful con-
quests man has made and is making
over nature by the aid of machinery,
and what enormous accessions of
power have thus been made to the
physical power of mankind.
The age is especially one of inven-
ton and machinery and the benefits
that have accrued to man in culture
aud power, intellectual, physical, and
moral. can scarcely be overestimated.
Myriads of tireless hands and arms
are now working for mans comfort
and convenience and are making
smooth the pathways of progress and
civilization To strip man suddenly
of these aids would be to revert to
barbarism.
But invention and machinery have
brought with them certain grave
problems, social and economic, not
SO readily disposed of, and it is chiefly
in reference to these that men like
Ruskin and Bishop Potter declaim
against machinery. Carlyle foresaw
these aspects of machinery very
clearly in his "Signs of the Tines"
as may be seen in these words:
"What changes, too, this addition of
power is introducing into the social
system; how wealth has more and
more increased, and at the same time
gathered itself more and more into
masses, strangely altering the old re-
lations, and increasing the distance
between the rich and the poor, will
be question for political economists,
and a much more complex and i'm
portant one than any they have yet
engaged with"
This the question or rather these
the questions with which the present
is justly concerning itself No in
telligent person but will admit
readily the enormous gains that have
accrued to the race from the use of
machinery. The question that re-
mains to besettled is how these gains
may be most equitably distributed,
Ina certain sense this distribution is
constantly going on. In virtue of in
vention the paper on which this article
is published the machinery by which
it is printed and circulated have all
combined to give readers today for
mere trifle what vast sums of wealth
would not have been able to give
them hundred and fifty or two hun
dred years ago. The same is true of
almost every article used in the
household; it is true of our food and
clothing; true, also, of our eiuca-
tional systems.
Yet, while acknowledging the mani
fold benefits of machinery there are
hardships inevitably connected with
the introductions of every new in
vention in labor saving machinery.
Men are displaced and this displace-
ment is sometimes so sudden that
many are crushed before they can
adapt themselves to new order of
things. And even when this adapta-
ton has been made, trusts and mo-
nopolies build up great wealth for
the few while comforting benefits on
all. 1t would seem, therefore, that