Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1906-09-21

We live in the age OF machinery.
The thinking, directing mind be-
comd daily Of mpre account. while
mere Drawn falls eorrespondingly in
yaHe from day to day. That eccen-
tft philosopher, Ebert Hubbard,
sats in one Of his essays. Where a
machine will do better work than the
haman 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, pitohfork and
hand rake. since the friction match
superseded the flint and finder; since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
Dor. 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 a 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 hun
dreds before worked in laborious
misery TO exc out pitiable exist
cnce. 1t was so with spinning and
weaving machinery, with agricultural
implements-in fact. IL is so with
every notable Improvement The
multiplication of books in the last
decade is a 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
tho consumption Of paint that the de-
mand for the services of painters
has correspondence multiplied Be-
fore the advent OF these goods
well-painted house was noticeable
from its 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
the farm laborers of old, almost to a
man, oppose the improvement 1t
is a 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 s0.OOO.OOO or 1907
100000 gallons.
Hindsishtsissalways better than
foresight, and most of US who de-
piore the short-sightedness of our an
cestors would do well to see that we
do not in turn furnish terrible ex-
amples" to our posterity