The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-10-10
The Age of Machinery.

We live in the age of machinery.
The thinking, directing mind be-
comes daily of more account, while
mere Drawn falls correspondingly in
value from day to day. That eccen-
trio philosopher, Elbert Hubbard,
says in one of his essays, "Where a
machine will do better work than the
human hand, we prefer to let the ma
chine do the work"
1t has been but few years since
the cotton gin, the Spinning jenny"
and the power loom displaced the
hand picker, the spinning wheel and
the hand loom; since the reaper and
binder, the rake and tedder, the
moving machine took the place of
the old cradle, scythe, pitchfork and
hand rake; since the friction match
superseded the flint and tinder; since
the modern paint factory replaced
the slab and muller, the paint pot
and paddle.
In every case where machinery has
been introduced to replace hand la
bor, the laborers have resisted the
change; and as the weavers, the
sempstresses, and the farm laborers
protested against new-fangled looms,
sewing machines and agricultural
implements, so in more recent times
compositors have protested against
typesetting machines, glass blowers
against bottle-blowing machines, and
painters against ready mixed paints.
And as in the case of these short
sighted classes Of an earlier day, so
with their imitators of to-day, the
protest will be in vain. 1t is pro-
test against civilization, against the
common veal, against their own well
fare.
The history of all mechanical i'm
provements shows that workmen are
the first to be benefited by them.
The invention of the sewing machine,
instead Of throwing thousands OF
women out of employment, increased
the demand to such an extent that
thousands Of women have been en-
ployed, at better wages, for shorter
hours and easier work where hum
dreds before worked in laborious
misery to exc out pitiable exist
ence. 1t was so with spinning and
weaving machinery, with agricultural
implements fact, it is so with
every notable improvement. The
multiplication of books in the last
decade is direct result Of the in
vention Of linotype machinery and
fast presses.
The mixed paint industry, in which
carefully designed paints for house
painting are prepared on a large
scale by special machinery, is an
other improvement of the same type.
The cheapness and general excellence
Of these products has so stimulated
the consumption of paint that the de-
mand for the services Of painters
has correspondingly multiplied. Be-
fore the advent of these goods a
well-painted house was noticeable
from it's rarity, whereas to-day an ill
painted house is conspicuous.
Nevertheless the painters, as a
rule, following the example set by
the weavers, the sempstresses and
tne farm laborers of old, almost to
man, oppose the Improvement. 1t
is real improvement, however, and
simply because of that fact the sale
of such products has increased until
during the present year it will fall
not far short of 90,000,000 or 100,-
100000 gallons.
Hindsight is always better than
foresight, and most Of us who de-
plore the short-sightedness of our an
cestors would do we'll to see that we
do not in turn furnish terrible eX-
amples" to our posterity.
P. G..