414 JAMES WATT. 
Rigorous logicians, they broke in the farms, the sickle 
intended to reap the corn, the flail that was to beat the 
corn, the sieve by the aid of which the corn is winnowed. 
And, in fact, are not the sickle, the flail, and the sieve 
means for shortening labour? ‘The spade, the hoe, the 
plough, the seedsower, could not find grace in the eyes 
of this blinded horde ; and if any thing surprises me, it 
is that in their fury they spared the horses, a sort of 
machine comparatively cheap to keep, and each of which 
could do daily as much work as six or seven men. 
Political economy has fortunately obtained a place 
among the sciences of observation. The substitution of 
machines for animated beings has been so often tried 
during many years past, that people cannot hereafter but 
perceive the general results amidst some accidental 
irregularities. These results are as follows: 
By sparing- manual labour, machines enable us to 
manufacture at a cheaper rate; the effect of this cheap- 
ness in an increased demand, sueh an increased demand 
(so vivacious is our desire to be well off) that notwith- 
standing the most inconceivable lowering of price, the 
money value of the totality of the merchandise produced, 
surpasses each year what it was before the improve- 
ment ; the number of workmen employed by each branch 
of industry increases with the introduction of means for 
manufacturing expeditiously. 
This last result is exactly contrary to what is wished 
for by those who hate machines. At first sight it may 
appear paradoxical, yet we shall soon see it proved by 
a rapid examination of the most confirmed industrial 
facts. ‘ : 
When, three centuries and a half ago, the printing 
machine was invented, copyists used to furnish books to 
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