AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 709 



times as great. The adaptability of steam to non-agricultural 

 industries and the nature of human wants are factors of para- 

 mount importance in creating this disparity in the production of 

 agricultural and non-agricultural wealth. 



3. Another explanation of the concentrating tendency of steam 

 is found in the fact that steam power cannot be economically ^ 

 transmitted long distances. This has necessitated the erection of 

 large factories close by the power-generating plant rather than the 

 distribution of a number of small establishments at considerable 

 distances apart. 



4. Apart from the nature of steam, the factory system of 

 industry, as it exists today, is most favorable to economy of 

 production for reasons peculiar to itself. To carry out the prin- 

 ciple of the division of labor to the fullest extent, it is necessary 

 that large numbers of men be assembled for work under one 

 management in the same building. Further, in any industry 

 requiring a large amount of machinery, the cost of protecting the 

 machinery is less when it is concentrated under a single roof. It 

 is evident, therefore, that the economy of production secured by the 

 factory system inevitably tends to create urban wealth and to com- 

 mit workmen to the socializing influences of city life. There has 

 consequently resulted a '" limitation in the variety of work carried 

 on in . . . rural establishments. Of old, nearly all the articles 

 which entered into the family life of an agriculturist were made 

 in the household. Cloth of various kinds, candles, soap, the 

 greater part of the tools, even the worked timber used in the edi- 

 fices, were of domestic manufacture. This is no longer the case 

 in those parts of the country which have been subjected to mod- 

 ernizing influences. The ever-progressive division of labor and 

 the rapid extension of commerce made possible by improvements 

 in the methods of transportation have led to the removal of 

 many industries from the farm to the factory, where, by the use 

 of machinery and trained labor, many articles can be made more 

 cheaply and perfectly than under the domestic roof." 



5. As the almost indispensable motive power in transportation, 

 steam has promoted still further the aggregation of wealth in 

 cities. Reference is not here made to the effect of arbitrary and 



