40 SCIENCE REMAKING THE WORLD 



Taking the locomotive off the rail and putting it on 

 the road is in itself a revolution of wide-reaching in- 

 fluence. With a network of good roads covering the 

 country and with vehicles that require no other track, 

 our population has acquired a flexibility of movement 

 that has amazing consequences. The jitney can shift its 

 routes from day to day according to where the people 

 want to go, while the tramcar must stick to its trolley 

 and track regardless of traffic. A touring car can 

 change its mind in a moment's caprice while the rail- 

 road train must follow the time-table. In England 

 the rural districts are getting disturbed by the inva- 

 sions of cockneys in the char-a-banc or motor lorry. 



The transformation of the farm by motor fuel, strik- 

 ing as it seems, is only beginning. Agriculture has so 

 far been comparatively little affected by the industrial 

 revolution. This is because the revolutionary agent, 

 the steam engine, has not found a place upon the farm 

 as it has in the factory. Farm work is too varied and 

 scattered to be run by a central power plant. Look 

 into one of our big steel plants or machine shops and 

 you will be struck by the scarcity of men. The building 

 seems deserted when it is really most active. Here and 

 there is a man moving about looking after things. 

 Groups of three or four may be standing by a process 

 and occasionally intervening. If you find a bunch of a 

 dozen straining their muscles in lifting or pulling you 

 may be sure that something has gone wrong with the 

 machinery and they are fixing it up. 



The human muscular labour that has been so largely 

 eliminated from the factory is still the mainstay of 



