OBSERVATIONS 



ON TBI 



INFLUENCE OF MACHINERY 



UPON TBB 



WORKING CLASSES OF THE COMMUNITY. 



BY JOHN KENNEDY, ESQ. 



*' Read Februwy lOlh, 1858." 



A FEW years ago, I had the pleasure of pre- 

 senting to this society an outline of the origin 

 and progress of the Cotton Trade, and an account 

 of the various inventions of machinery then in 

 use in this department of British manufactures. 

 My object in the present paper is to state my 

 opinion of the influence of machinery, and to 

 lay before the society a few hints on the advan- 

 tages consequent on the introduction of mecha- 

 nical and scientific improvements into the various 

 and widely -extended departments of our Manu- 

 factures. — In the first place, the object of all 

 manufacturing machinery being the substitution 

 of some power in the place of human labour, 

 its immediate tendency is to diminish the neces- 

 sity for manual exertion, or to render it less 

 burdensome, and as a direct consequence of this 

 to enable the younger and more delicate mem- 



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