MACHINERY. 



625 



lectual and moral improvement. But machinery, 

 doing the work, without feeling the wants of man ; 

 taking from none, yet giving to all, produces al- 

 most unmingled benefit, to an amount and extent, 

 of which we have as yet, probably, but a very faint 

 conception. 



There are several objections to this general view 

 of the effects of machinery, which we shall now 

 examine. The first and principal one is, that, all 

 labour saving inventions diminish the demand for 

 human industry, and consequently, deprive multi- 

 tudes of labourers of employment. We meet this 

 objection by denying the fact. It is not true, that 

 the demand for human industry is diminished. It 

 is not true, that multitudes of labourers are abso- 

 lutely deprived of employment. It is true, how- 

 ever, that many labourers are sometimes compelled 

 to change their employment, by the introduction 

 of new and improved machinery into a branch of 

 industry, where a great deal of human labour had 

 been previously required. And it is true, that 

 sometimes, while this change is in progress, a great 

 deal of suffering is experienced. All this we shall 

 attempt to explain. 



The earth is the great primary source of the 

 supply of human wants. It is the great laboratory, 

 where the dust we tread upon is converted into 

 life-sustaining nutriment. Whatever we eat, or 

 drink, or wear, comes originally from her bosom. 

 In the earliest stages of society, as has been already 

 said, men consume her productions in their simple 

 state. The springs supply them with water to 

 drink. They eat the fruits of the field, and clothe 

 themselves with leaves and skins. In this savage 

 state, each one supplies his own wants, and it takes 

 all his time to do it. But, after a while, some one 

 more lazy or more ingenious than the rest, dis- 

 covers some method of lightening his individual 

 labour. Then others imitate him ; and, in time, 

 machines are invented, that seem likely to super- 

 sede the necessity of human labour altogether. 

 This would, in fact, be the result, if, in this condi- 

 tion of things, men should consume no more of the 

 products of industry than before ; and, of course, 

 a multitude who had been actively employed would 

 be employed no longer. But such is not the fact. 

 The cravings of desire are never satisfied. Ex- 

 tend the supply as you may, the wish for the en- 

 joyments of life will still go beyond it, and will find 

 its only limit in the means of gratification. The 

 only effect, therefore, of increasing the productive 

 energies of labour, by the introduction of machin- 

 ery, is to distribute it into more numerous depart- 

 ments. In the savage state, all were hunters and 

 fishers ; in the civilized state some cultivate the 

 ground, some construct machines, some make cloth- 

 ing, some build houses, some make laws, and some 

 preach sermons. Each fills his appropriate place, 

 the amount. and the products of human industry 

 are incalculably increased, and the action of the 

 great social system goes on safely and harmon- 

 iously. 



The effect of machinery upon labour may be il- 

 lustrated by an example. We will take the print- 

 ing-press. It is difficult to conceive what was the 

 condition of society, when there was no printing. 

 We can almost as easily imagine the condition of 

 the world, when there was no light. Yet we know 

 that there was such a time. Then the copyist 

 performed the printer's work. Books were pub- 

 lished by copying them out with a pen. A consid- 

 erable number of persons were employed in this 



VII. 



business, and a considerable number more found 

 employment in the preparation of the materials for 

 copying. Books published in this way were, of 

 course, very expensive. The whole annual income 

 of a man in moderate circumstances would hardly 

 buy a Bible. None but princes and very rich men 

 could afford to purchase libraries. Hence, the de- 

 mand for books was extremely limited, and the 

 number of persons employed in furnishing them, 

 must have been regulated by the state of the de- 

 mand. 



When the printing-press was introduced, an ex- 

 tensive change took place. Books were multiplied. 

 The price fell. Readers became more numerous. 

 The demand for information became more urgent. 

 Knowledge began to diffuse her healing beams 

 every where, and an impulse was given to society, 

 that has ever since continued to grow in energy 

 and power. But this is not the result, though an 

 important and a glorious one, that claims our con- 

 sideration now. What we would now press upon 

 the attention of our readers, is the effect of this 

 machinery upon human industry. Is there more or 

 less of human labour employed in furnishing books, 

 since the press has lent its mighty aid to the work, 

 than before ? Where was then one author, there 

 are now, at least, one hundred. It has been cal- 

 culated that in Germany, one out of every hundred 

 of the whole population, is an author. Instead of 

 a few hundred copyists, and a few hundred manu- 

 facturers of materials for copying, there are thou- 

 sands and tens of thousands of persons, who obtain 

 a living by making types, presses, and paper, by 

 printing books, by binding them when they are 

 printed, and by selling them when they are bound. 

 It is no exaggeration to say, that this business em- 

 ploys many hundred times as much human labour, 

 as it did before the printing-press was invented. 



In this instance, then, the demand for human 

 industry has not ceased nor diminished, but is 

 greatly augmented in consequence of the introduc- 

 tion of machinery. Nor does it seem to be possible 

 that any other effect than this can be produced, 

 until every department of industry, when industry 

 shall have subdivided itself into the greatest pos- 

 sible number of departments, whether moral, intel- 

 lectual, or physical, shall be overstocked, and 

 every want of man more than supplied. This can 

 happen only when man shall cease to improve ; a 

 period, to which no philanthropist would wish to 

 look forward. 



But if this be so, some may urge, why is it that 

 almost every where, when machinery has been in- 

 troduced on a large scale, the working classes have 

 uniformly evinced dissatisfaction and hostility ? 

 Why did they destroy the spinning-jennies in Nor- 

 mandy, and the threshing machines in England ? 

 Why did the printers of Paris, after the revolution 

 of 1830, go about destroying the steam-presses? 

 Why did they petition the legislature, that their 

 use might be prohibited by law? The obvious 

 answer to all questions of this sort is, that the 

 working classes, especially of Europe, are not apt 

 to distinguish between present inconvenience and 

 permanent evil. They are not very far-sighted. 

 They do see and feel the drenching and pelting 

 storm ; but they do not see, even in remote antici- 

 pation, the renovated beauty of nature, when the 

 storm has gone by. No well-informed person ever 

 denied, that the introduction of machinery may 

 occasion temporary inconvenience. If a man, who 

 has been accustomed to employ twenty workmen, 

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