4i6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



greatest possible quantity of a uniform quality; therefore, as far as 

 inventive skill will allow, the machine and natural forces, rather than 

 human skill and energy, are employed in producing goods which satisfy 

 the common needs of all men. The class of work in which skill is the 

 determining factor aims to improve the quality rather than to in- 

 crease the quantity produced. As the demand for the latter class of 

 goods increases the call for skilled workers will also increase. 



There are indications of a revival of those industries involving more 

 skilful hand work. More interest is being manifested, throughout 

 the country, in art, architecture and the products of the various handi- 

 crafts. The increased attention paid to art and drawing in our 

 public schools is another indication of the coming change in the spirit 

 and demands of the American people. The result of such training 

 on the next generation will be great, and its effect cumulative on the 

 succeeding one. Industries involving artistic ability and intricate 

 manual skill are incapable of minute division of labor. The gain 

 resulting from the centralization of industry and the division of labor 

 is very small in this class of work. It is well adapted, however, to 

 small factories and workshops, and forms an appropriate kind of 

 industry for small villages. If there is to be any considerable revival 

 of village industry, it must come through an increase in the demand 

 for the products of skilled manual work. 



The use of steam and the lack of adequate rural transportation 

 facilities forced the abandonment of village industry and built up the 

 existing great industrial centers. In recent years the increasing use of 

 electricity for the distribution and application of power is changing 

 the location and internal arrangement of our shops. This, together 

 with the rapid growth of suburban and interurban electric lines, is 

 placing the villages and rural community in a better condition for 

 industrial pursuits. The separation of agriculture and manufacture 

 will, as a result, probably be less in the future than in the present or 

 the immediate past. 



Two great forces, in addition to the work of the school, may be 

 discerned to be removing the obstacles in the path of the arts and 

 crafts movement — the decentralizing tendency of electricity when 

 used to transmit power, and the growth of the labor movement which 

 demands shorter hours and better shop conditions. Just as the 

 manual training movement was a result of economic and industrial 

 changes, so is the call for art in the crafts the result of such forces. 

 As the machine displaces workers, they are pushed higher up in the 

 industrial scale. Such a phenomenon must also be accompanied by an 

 increased demand for the products of skilled workers. This movement 

 is not something evolved out of the minds of a few thoughtful devotees 

 of art; but is in harmony with and dependent upon the needs of in- 

 dustrial and educational life. It is an evolutionary movement. 



