472 | Canadian Record of Science. 
ON THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF 
THE SMALL INDUSTRIES; AND THEIR ENCOUR- 
AGEMENT BY CENTRAL-STATION POWER SUPPLY. 
By J. T. Nicotson, B.Sc. (Edin.), McGill University. 
I. | 
In a former number of the Recorp' the author en- 
deavoured to present to its readers two practical solutions 
of the labour troubles which now agitate the commercial 
world. The belief was expressed in that article that these 
troubles proceed from the real and actual ill conditions of 
life of the manufacturing classes, and not from an unreason- 
able and insatiable desire to possess more than their proper 
share of the world’s good things. This led to the claim 
being then made that either the artisan must become a 
partner in the profits as well as the labours of those large 
manufactories where he at present occupies such an uncon- 
sidered position; or that he must be helped to become an 
independent workman or small employer himself; so that 
in either case he may have an adequate reward for his skill 
and diligence, and may eventually look forward to a modest 
competence as the fruits of his toil. 
The former of these plans was stated to have been tried 
on several occasions, and with most successful results: the 
obstacle to its more general adoption being only the selfish- 
ness and rapacity of our capitalists, who, either in their 
own persons or their successors, must inevitably pay a 
penalty for their political short-sightedness. 
The latter method was declared to be impossible, so long 
as the cost of steam or other power remains as high as it is 
now when used in such small quantities as in the case of 
workmen desiring to be their own employers. If the idea of 
making a large number of our artizans contented because 
self-dependent be worthy of adoption, the first desideratum 
was shown to be the possibility of supplying power at such 
a low price as to enable them to compete with their, at 
Vol. v., No. 6. 
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