MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 31 



expand our consumption of commodities without increasing tlie human effort. 



We see both of these proceeding simultaneously in current life in that the 

 hours of labor are steadily decreasing while the standard of living is steadily 

 rising. 



Decline of Apprenticeship atid Trade Skill. The first natural effect of the 

 ability to produce commodities by unskilled workers was to give the death 

 blow to the whole previous system of apprenticeship in the various trades 

 affected. That is, if a worker can be trained to make commodities of one 

 kind after a short period of instruction, naturally he can be re-trained in 

 another similar occupation in a not longer time. The knowledge which was 

 imparted to him under the apprcenticeship system ceases to be necessary and, 

 therefore, the system becomes obsolete. Now. the social consequences of this 

 have been very considerable. The old apprenticeships provided in themselves 

 a certain sort of culture. The skilled worker was a distinctive personality. 

 In its higher aspects, craftsmanship took on the attributes of art. It pro- 

 vided in large measure for the satisfying of ambition, for an expression of 

 idealism. Craftsmanship bespoke long training and intelligent application. 

 It represented a very definite achievement and position in a scale of social 

 values based upon natural ability. A machinist was not a little an aristocrat 

 in his own circles. 



All this is absent in the "tender" of the Automatic tool because, as I have 

 pointed out, he may be trained for his work in anything from a few. hours to 

 a few days. He really puts nothing into this training except merely the 

 acquisition of a manual dexterity, which can be quickly diverted to any other 

 similar process of work. So the modern industrial worker may be a foundry 

 worker, a machine worker, a wood worker, or a worker in any other special- 

 ized trade, or in any half a dozen specialized trades, all within say. a month's 

 time. The old demarcations have ceased to exist. 



Rise of an Un^skilled Body of Industrial Workers. What I have previously 

 said of course had the immediate effect of breaking down the old trade dis- 

 tinctions and consequently of weakening the trade union idea. We fee the 

 results of this in trade union statistics. I believe that the high water mark in 

 the membership of the American Federation of Labor was reached in 1904 

 and that since that year they have hardly held their own and of course, rela- 

 tively to the growth of industrial activity, such standing still means in effect 

 a great falling off. 



On the other hand, the number of industrial workers has vastly increased. 

 These workers are not afiiliated with any of the old time trade unions. None- 

 theless, any group of men engaged in similar occupations and under the same 

 general surrounding.-^ have a distinct tendency towards a solidarity of feeling, 

 and we see such a feeling markedly gi-owing in this country since 1905. I 

 shall deal more particularly with this important phase further on. 



