The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-23
Have Inventions
inbred Labor ?
From the Troy Times.

If ever there was a question that had
been thoroughly discussed and consid-
cred from all points OF view, 1t Is the
one, "Do labor-saving machines deprive
men of labor?" The discussion prob
ably began some time back in the stone
age, and 1t has continued ever since.
With the introduction OF any new de-
vice revolutionizing production, the dis
cussion breaks out with renewed force.
Only recently the invention and intro
duction of a new machine for blowing
glass Jars has stirred up trouble, the
men who have been earning liveli-
hood in this industry asserting that the
invention has deprived them of an oc-
cupation upon which they depended for
support. Very naturally they feel ag-
grieved, and both they and their friends
declare that this labor-saving device, as
well as all other labor-saving devices
Is injurious to labor. In making this
statement, however, they have in mind
only the immediate and not the perman-
ent results. Labor is an abstract term
and is applied to the workers in gen.
eral and not to a few individuals. While
the individuals may suffer from the
revolutionizing of an industry, the class,
as we'll as the race, benefits.
o
Carroll D. Wright, United States COM
missioner of labor, in a recent magazine
article takes up this question of whether
labor-saving machines deprive men of
labor, and of course he answers It in the
negative. Familiarity with the history of
industrial effort throughout all periods
of the worlds progress compels such an
answer, and no other is possible. No one
disputes that much distress is often
caused by the introduction of new ma
chnery. Men lose employment and are
forced into idleness, but in more than
ninety-nine per cent. OF these cases the
distress is only temporary. A man who
was a good workman before the intro
| duction of the new machinery finds that
| his only need is 10 turn his efforts into
| a new channel, and his services are still
| in demand Improvement in the method
| of production invariably means a greater
| demand, and with the increased demand
come greater opportunities for labor.
| The statistics show that in countries
| where machinery is most generally en-
| ployed the largest percentage of the
| population is engaged in remuneTative
occupations. The recent history of Japan
| is most interesting in this connection.
| Only few years ago the japanese did
| the great bulk of their work by hand
| employing only the rudest of tools and
appliances. Under the new order Of things
| machinery has taken the place of hand
| labor, but labor has not suffered. In
point of fact, the Japanese now receives
a wage that his father never dreamed Of
| anu, MS services are con-
| stantly in demand. What is true Of Japan
| is true of all other countries which have
shown progress. There may be a few
Industries the workers in which have Sc.
| cured no apparent gain from the intro,
duction of machinery. but these are iso
| lated cases.
Probably the chief point of dispute
concerns the effect which machinery has
upon the character and ability of tn,
workmen. 1t is contended that "the ma
chine does so much that the hand be
comes the slave of the machine"
this argument were true it would mear
that human inventiveness is waning anC
that the introduction of new machiner!
takes away from the workman his crea
| tive ability he In turn becoming a mer
machine. This is certainly not the case
The greatest of inventors are the work
men themselves. They see before then
a device which induces study of its prin
ciples and through this study they ar
unconsciously receiving a mechanical ed
ucation. There Is hardly an industry tina
can be named in which the workers ar
not more intelligent than were their pre-
decessors at the time before machine
superseded hand labor.
%
To declare that the press of new in
ventions is comprising the downfall O
free and intelligent labor is to admi
ignorance of the true facts. Concernin
this subject the Hartford Courant says
This question of the effect of machiner
on mankind is complicated one, bu
II is nonsense to say that 'machiner
degrades labor and exalts capital Ma
has been defined as the 'tool-making an
mall and civilization is accompanied b
the development and specialization c
tools. Our Yankee race is a race of ir
ventors and builders of tools, and 1t
| ~ n in itC INT tAd tS
sion. Napoleon said that God was o
the side of the strongest battalion
Nowadays progress is on the side of tn
J nation with the best machinery"
: Americans who have so much reaso
for gratitude to inventors, should be tn
| very last of all to declare that these II
| ventors have wrought harm instead {
good. With object-lessons on every han
it Is only the wilfully blind who wi
not see,