Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-01-02
Machine Made.
CThe Observations OF a Philosophical
Friend of Ours.)

cnlne-Nu
CThe Observations OF a Philosophical
Friend of Ours)
THUS has he and many more Of the
same sort, that the drossy age dotes on,
only got the tune of the time and out
ward habit Of encounter, n kind Of yeasty
collection, that bears them through and
through the most fond and winnowed
opinions. But do but blow them TO their
trial, and the bubbles are out"
Shakespeare.
Mankind have more reasons than one
to be Jealous OF the advances Of ma
chinery. Continually some one Is making
something out OF wood and iron and
gutta-percha that will do the work Of a
dozen men or women. and do 1t better
and more accurately han they could pos
sibly do It,. Mules and horses have been
almost superseded by bicycles and steam
and electric engines and dynamos, and
motherly hens have been relieved of half
Of the business Of their lives by incu-
bators. More alarming still. pathology
proposes to show the human mother how
to forget her sucking child and the son
Of her womb, and feed and rear him
ain Aa 49,
When that business is perfected our
paternal government will take charge of
it. And then matrimony will be rsgu-
lated for the sovereign people as it has
long been regulated for the hereditary
sovereigns Of Europe. Niagara has been
utilized to run any number of machines
In the North. And may be, when we
-...L IL. ATl~4t. D1r- I'll G-l "a II
mirably adapted to furnish electricity
along the meridians to the whole world
Who knows? Arctic expeditions mean
something.
Some how or other, however, inventions
and labor-savers, and time-savers, and
space-annihilatOrs. and u~tilizers of weeds
and offal, and waste material, and places,
and energy, have helped and not hindered
the human race. And even the mules
ana horses and hens are still hiding
something to do in their favorite occupa-
lions. New inventions nave made new
work for employees. And new and cheap
products lave quickened and enlarged
appetites and desires, and created new
cravings and tastes. People have been
made familiar with new comforts and
cOnyeniences and pleasures, and they have
become necessities. Life in all directions
has been improved. Privileges have been
extended. In all departments the de-
mand is for the best. And all methods
that help to perfect are eagerly sought
and used. With all its labor and time
and space saving, the world has never
been as wide-awake, as busy, and as
full OF work as it is now. oilers are
laboriously and intelligently idle. Silly
people play the fool industriously. We
are familiar with brain exhaustion
and nervous dyspepsia, because So many
are overworked. Our testers are geniuses.
Our age is full Of eagerness, Industry,
and restlessness and enterprise. Every
body is more or less anxious TO have a
hand in some new undertaking. and be
doing something.
All this is taken for progress: May be
it is so. And yet the question OF wearing
out and exhaustion and local or partial
degeneracy comes up. We may be adj
vancing in some respects, and degene-
rating in others. One old authority says:
Honor sinks where commerce long pre-
walls. Mercury was the god of mer-
chandising and of thievery. Merchan-
dising not guided by principle is thieving
throughout. Another old authority says
wisdom comes Of leisure. And still
another. the very highest, warns against
eagerness and anxiety in accommodating.
Our age IS very practical. Our age is
very materialistic. Our age is full OF
machinery. Machinery. doing the work
Of man, is treated with more care and
consideration than human beings. And
man so highly honoring and cherishing
machinery is assimilating the object OF
his care and love: he is becoming q ma
chine; and wearing into hardness. He
sees no sentiment, sensibility, or con-
in a machine; therefore, he
them as superfiuOus, 'discredit TO
L businessman, and he discards them.
The world Is all full Of that sort of peo-
pie, of high and low standing. 1t Is a
observation of all who think and
What is known as Society" par excel
ence, in many points, bears a close re-
to a big cotton and woollen
'actory with it's shuttles n spinning 5
There's more humanity in one I
han the other, because they are human ]
God made them; therefore,
hey must go for men and women But
,low them to their trial: Apply any test !
r standard Of sense or sensibility TO the !
BUSINESS, and what is the result? Then /
the masses Of these very busy. s
~ractical, enterprising people. Their !
l~easures are all so systematic, regular.
and exact, that they are only /
ther forms Of business. There is little
r no humanity about them. They and q
heir lives and their pleasures and their q
orrows, almost their prayers and their t
raises, are machine made. And they
themselves are near to being machines I
T a high style, worked by compressed 4
ir and common m~otiyese, according to s
xed regulations and co~nventionalities. Il
lcapable Of honest. natural impulses, -
nd hardened against any gents thought
r devout aspiration; scared as with a