Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-25
7HE INbrsrRIlL EroLt rloy'

The nineteenth century has witnessed
/ more momcntous changes in the organi
/ zatiom of industry than have taken
! place in the 5000 years of previously
/ recorded history Of mankind. The in.
| vcntions of labor saving machinery,
operated by steam and electricity. have
completely revolutionizcd production
and displaced handicraft from It's
sphere OF individual competition. one
Ivy one all the trades which for cen
I turtles had offered an incentive to mt
/ chanical skin and ingenuity have been
forced to give way to the machine. And
the man operating the machine has be.
come more and more n mere autonatOn.
The forces that brought about this
revolution in the mechanical arts have
also called into existence the conccn-
tration of capital essential for carrying
on production under the new cUudi-
tons. The corporate form of capitals
tic enterprise has gradually supplanted
individual effort, just as the automatic
machine has supplanted the mechanic.
These tendencies toward Capitalization
iblc and manifest themselves in every
branch of industry and commerce.
The department store is the natural
outgrowth of modern demands and con
ditions as much as Is the skyscraper
Office building, the rapid transit street
railways and the modern beef butcher
ing and meat-packing house. Industrial
evolution is no respeCter of persons or
places. With resistlcss force it crushes
the weak and builds up the strong; re-
juvenates and invigorates enterprises
adapted to the new conditions and pros
trates and paralyzes the insists thar
stand in the way of progress
The manifest duty of intelligent men
is to accept the inevitable and battle
manfully for the betterment of their
own condition and the advancement OF
the human race. Intelligent bread
winners, whether earning a livelihood
in the mill, factory, business office or
store, should not allow themselves to
be hoodwinked or humbugged by polit-
ical rainmakerS who seek to impose
upon their credulity by ascribing the
marvellous changes constantly taking
place in the industrial world to causes
that have not the remotest relation
thereto.
These political mountebanks are
about as unreasoning as was the
blacksmith who introduced Il resolution
last week at Chicago labor meeting
to prohibit the use of the streets and
public highways to horseless carriages
and vehicles. What is to become of
the horseshoers and harness makers"
exclaimed this mechanic, "if horses are
done away with?" This query was
answered by another me-
chanic who called attention to the fact
that the demonetization of the horse
and the mule would open employment
for builders of electrical carriages and
electrical machinery and in the end en-
large the circle of employment at better
wages. In other words the attempt to
obstruct the introduction and use of
the automobile is no different from an
to obstruct the advent of the |
locomotive fifty years ago or the intro |
duction of the electric motors in place !
OF the horsecars.
The trend of the times is in the direc-
ton of condensed production and ell
larged consumption. The machine-made |
goods crowd out the handmade goods |
because they are cheaper and the |
cheaper they are the more people will |
use them, thus increasing the demand |
and compelling the enlargement of the |
factories and mills. There is an old |
adage that revolutions never go back
wards. For the same reason the tide of
industrial evolution cannot be stemmed. |
All that can be done and all that should |
be done is to check its aggressive force
wherever it becomes detrimental to any
class and wherever it is used for the
of the few and the i'm
poverishment of the many.