The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-06-07
BY.TnEDERIC j. HAsJxyN,

THAT the life of the world has.
lchanged more III the last century thai;
lin a thousand years before that time
lis directly due to the influence upon
Industry Of the modern system OF man
sufacturing. When the butcher. tho
baker ana the candlestick maker passed
Ioff the stage to make way for the
beef trust. the cracker trust and the
steel trust--thc change affected every
Isoul in christendom. The development
lstitutes tire modern shoe factory for
the old fashioned cobbler's bench is re-
lsponsiblc for many changes. some OF
them evil. but most OF them good.
Whatever our private opinion may be
las to the preponderance OF good or
teyiI. the change has come and the era
lof individual industry is as. much u
part OF the memorable past as the reign
lof Rameses IL.
Tho full effects of the changes
Wrought by the modern system OF col
Elective or social industry do not yet
appear. The United States iS in the.
front rank of the development by vlr
tue OF its greater ingenuity In invent
ling machinery. It is passing through
ia transitory stage IN which many
determined. During the next ninety
Years the changes In laws and customs
necessary to reimbursement OF life TO
new industrial conditions Will he COM
every. serious question affecting in
Idustry will have been settled. and the
two component factors OF industry
lcapitcl and labor-wiil be at peace.
The very first piece of machinery In
vented In tho United States which
tended toward creating the modern
System of industry was provocative of
lgreat evil, yet It's goods triumphed IN
the end. When Eli Whitney made the
first cotton gin he undoubtedly be-
ilieved he had invented great labor
Saving device. But he did not foresee
lton so profitable that 1t would re-
Istore the dying institution of African
slavery. He did not foresee that 1t
would plunge the American people into
lie did not foresee that 1T would in
iject into the American politics OF to-
day neyer-settled race problem. Yet
IN 1t had not been for the cotton gin
1.-THE South would not have planted cot
ltpn fields, slavery would have died as
1T did in New England--of It's own
Iunprofitableness-an the whole course
of our national history would have
been different.
/ When the steam railroad first came
1 to take the place OF the ancient wagon
iroad and tow-path transportation
routes the advantages were so great
that the people everywhere Willingly
taxed themselves to aid IN construc-
Z IL
TRANSPORTATION and communication re-
suited tire most modern development
of industry. Early in the century the
factory in which hundred men work
led took the place OF the nuhareu SHOPS
in which one man worked. Then came
the second development In winch q
hundred factories with n hundred men
In each wero consolidated under one
lmanagement-the trust was born.
Every political question which en-
cites the people of this country in this
Irampatgn wear Is a direct product of
THE Invention Of the steam rallroau
land the second stage OF collective OF
social development of inahutactuti ~,
birth OF the cotton gin have been prac-
ideally settled. The problems result
ling from these later and INFINITELY
more important changes wrousht py
long before the American nation be-
comes full-grown in the year 29oo.
i While life and civilization depend
Iupon the farmer the conditions OF
Living depend upon those Industries
Iiyhich we associate under the general
reader of this article VIII look apout
him in the room he is now occupying
Hit is unlikely that he will see single
Iobiect which would have been possible
NINETY years ago. t is entirely PROB
liable that the American Of ninety years
hence VIII be unable to find anything
Iof the vintage of 1908 except In a
Look about You The glass in the
). window is made by a process entirely
lunltnown a century ago. It is mueh
!, lclearer. but 1t is also much more brit
,itle and much cheaper. Glass-maKlns
/ WAS once a trade--it is now a business,
, IThe desk before you--it came from
)! Grand Rapids, and each piece of wood
I, in it was cut by a machine which GU
100000 other pieces of Identical size
land shape. And you know that there
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