422 JAMES WATT. 



Machines have given rise to a particular kind of objec- 

 tion, which I must not pass over in silence. At the time 

 of their introduction, at the time when they begin to 

 take the place of manual labour, certain classes of work- 

 men suffer from the change. Their honourable, their 

 laborious industry, is almost suddenly annihilated. Even 

 those who under the old system were the cleverest, being 

 sometimes devoid of the qualities required in the new 

 operations, remain unemployed. They seldom succeed 

 all at once in adapting themselves to a new kind of 

 labour. 



These reflections are just and true. I will add that 

 the bad consequences pointed out by them must often 

 recur : some caprice in the fashions even, suffice to pro- 

 duce deep misery. If I do not conclude from thence that 

 the world ought to remain stationary, God forbid that 

 in wishing the general interests of society to advance, I 

 would have it remain deaf to the individual sufferings 

 caused by this temporary advance ! Authority, always 

 on the watch relative to new inventions, seldom fails to 

 catch them by fiscal measures. Would it be expecting 

 too much from it, were it asked to allow the first con- 

 tributions levied on genius to be devoted to opening some 

 special workshops where the artisans who had been sud- 

 denly dispossessed of their occupation should, for a time, 

 find employment consonant to their powers and their 

 knowledge ? This method has sometimes been found 

 successful ; it would then only remain to generalize it. 

 Humanity makes it a duty, and sound policy counsels it ; 

 besides which, some terrible events, of which history pre- 

 serves the recollection, would also recommend this method 

 on the part of economy. 



The objections of theorists who feared that the progress 



