14 LAND AND LABOR. 



that of food, clothing, and shelter and contribute 

 something to his love of luxury and the beautiful 

 and indisputably we were then we have a measure 

 by which we can gauge the extent of the change that 

 has been wrought by the introduction of mechanical 

 forces into the work of general production, and the 

 effect which the use of machinery has upon the em- 

 ployment of muscular labor. 



It must also be borne in mind that however great 

 has been the development in inventions for the em- 

 ployment of machinery, or mechanical force, it has in 

 every case been for the purpose of doing more effec- 

 tively, more expeditiously, more extensively, that 

 which was done before for the purpose of more com- 

 pletely or easily satisfying man's existing wants. No 

 inventor has yet succeeded in inventing or discovering 

 a new want ; he can only minister to those already 

 existing, and all talk about creating new wants and 

 in -w industries to employ the unemployed is absurd, 

 unless we can steal the power of the Infinite. 



It necessarily follows, then, that in exact propor- 

 tion to the introduction of mechanical force, or ma- 

 chinery, in general production, is the release or dis- 

 placement of muscular labor, unless there is at the 

 same time a corresponding increase in the consump- 

 tion of the product. But in those products where 

 man's consumption is confined within narrow limits, 

 as in his three great wants of food, clothing, and shel- 

 ter, which have h< n-tofore been in great measure well 

 plied, an.l which employs and has ever employed 

 at least nine l. nths of all the muscular and mechani- 

 cal force expended in general production and distri- 



