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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
1 The stvift machine , what cunning master framed it ? Who gave the mighty monster * " steam , " its birth ? Who to the mighty engine yok'd and tam'd it , And gave it pow ' r o ' er ocekn and all earth ? The artisan , ' twas he ! then why contemn him ? Why break his spirit , and his mind debase ? Why in cold blood to ignorance condemn him , And of the gifts of hear ' n rob his race ? And for his " sweat of brow , " give hunger and disgrace .
' O , if the sweat of brow" its wages had , Then competence the artisan would bless , His home would pleasant be , his children glad , His mourning chang'd to joy and happiness : His age of strength would be untorn with care , Untroubled too his life's last dar ke ning hour , With helpless crying offspring and despair . For this fore ' er would be his children ' s dow'r , The sweetness of each fruit , the fragrance of each flow ' r . '
We must have a word or two , before parting , with our learned Theban , touching the Steam Engine . He calls it hard names , and accuses it of ruining many to enrich one . This is one of the fallacies of which it behoves the operatives speedily to disabuse themselves . Wherever there is competition ( and where is there not ?) the Steam Engine cannot increase the rate of profit upon capital . It enriches the master manufacturer by increasing consumption , and as the consumption is increased by the reduction of price , that is a good to the public , the artisan included . As to ruining any body ' s ' wife ' s father ' s trade / that does not much signify , so long as his wife ' s father is not ruined also . Let the trade go to the dogs , so that the men employed in it find employment elsewhere . But thev cannot . And whv ? not because
machinery has reduced the demand for human labour . Machinery has done no such thing . Its effect is i quite the reverse . ' It almost invariably increases the demand . Less human labour is required to produce the same quantity of goods ; but a greater quantity of the same goods is called for . In the third edition of Mr . Babbage ' s * Economy of Machinery and Manufactures , ' there is an apt illustration of this position . At Stockport , in the year 1822 , there were 2800 hand-loom weavers . In 1832 , their number had decreased to 800 ; a diminution of 2000 , in consequence of the increase of power-looms . But then , how stood the account with the persons employed in the use of the
power-* 1 call it Monster , because it has ruined my father ' s and my wife ' s father ' s trade . But , reader , do not misunderstand me : —1 believe the Steam Kngine has the power of giving plenty to the son * of men . When it docs so , I will call it angel , archangel , prince 01 archangels , or any other proud and sounding name , which grateful men may be pleased to bestow on it . —Until it does so , 1 shall be content to characterise it as a Monster . What other power would ruin a huudred families , for the solitary purpose of enriching one ?'
Untitled Article
Saiiit Monday . 835
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1833, page 835, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2628/page/31/
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