miserable and scanty subsistence of the laborers. Many would not be able to find employment even upon these hard terms, but would either starve, or be driven to seek a subsistence, either by begging, or by the perpetration of the greatest enormities."

That "the liberal reward of labor, as it is the effect of increasing wealth, so it is the cause of increasing population. To complain of it is to lament over the necessary causes and effects of the greatest prosperity."

These principles, as laid down by the greatest of human political economists, require no interpreter. But there is an older law in economics which, whether a formal declaration by the Almighty, or something that has grown out of the workings of an experience simply human, is generally received as of Divine origin, and accepted as the law of our existence, and that is:

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground."

In the light of these principles, as fixed by a higher than human power, and approved by human experience, that only in universal labor, liberally rewarded, is to be found life and prosperity, not only for the individual but for society, we will examine the facts of our present condition.

Starting from the time in which Adam Smith wrote we will endeavor to note a few of the changes in methods and increase in power of production that have resulted from the invention and use of machinery, as a basis upon which to estimate its effects on the demand for man's labor in the supply of his wants, and of his present employment. But first we will note that at

the time of Adam Smith man's power of production had already been so greatly developed as to enable a fraction of the human family to provide for the wants of all, a large portion not being productively employed, but either absolutely idle, or engaged in the most destructive pursuits.

In discussing this matter it must be borne in mind that we, like every other people, have a certain amount of work to do neither more nor less; and that is, to supply ourselves with the necessaries and comforts of life to produce of all that is useful and beautiful to the extent of our ability to use and consume. We can not do less than that and prosper; neither can any other people. Nations, like individuals, can exist only by and through their own industries. Our people can not exist upon the industries of any other society, and no other people can be permitted to live upon us. Every independent nation can, must, and will, if wise, use its utmost power to protect its own people in the work of providing for their own wants. In view of these self evident principles there can be no greater folly than that of hoping to be permitted to produce and manufacture for others, except to a limited extent and for short and most uncertain

very

periods.

Having the necessity of providing for ourselves only, it follows that the amount of work required to be done, whether by muscular or mechanical force, must be measured by the amount that will supply the liberal use and consumption of our own society. If at any time before the present century we were able to produce sufficient to supply the three great wants of man

- that of food, clothing, and shelter- and contribute something to his love of luxury and the beautiful — and indisputably we were then we have a measure

by which we can gauge the extent of the change that has been wrought by the introduction of mechanical forces into the work of general production, and the effect which the use of machinery has upon the employment of muscular labor.

It must also be borne in mind that however great has been the development in inventions for the employment of machinery, or mechanical force, it has in every case been for the purpose of doing more effectively, more expeditiously, more extensively, that which was done before for the purpose of more completely or easily satisfying man's existing wants. No inventor has yet succeeded in inventing or discovering a new want; he can only minister to those already existing, and all talk about creating new wants and new industries to employ the unemployed is absurd, unless we can steal the power of the Infinite.

It necessarily follows, then, that in exact proportion to the introduction of mechanical force, or machinery, in general production, is the release or displacement of muscular labor, unless there is at the same time a corresponding increase in the consumption of the product. But in those products where man's consumption is confined within narrow limits, as in his three great wants of food, clothing, and shelter, which have heretofore been in great measure well supplied, and which employs and has ever employed at least nine tenths of all the muscular and mechanical force expended in general production and distri

bution, it will be readily seen that though there has been a very considerable increase of consumption, it bears no proportion to the increase of production. This fact is so self evident that it is clearly stated in the Introduction to the Agricultural volume, United States Census Reports, 1860, page xi, as follows:

"Thus every machine or tool which enables one farm hand to do the work of two, cheapens the product of his labor to every consumer, and relieves one in every two of the population from the duty of providing subsistence, enabling him to engage in other pursuits," etc.

The weak point in this statement is, that the author does not point out the "other pursuits" that are not similarly affected, in which the "relieved" man may "engage." No argument is required to show that where one man is enabled, by the use of machinery, to do the work of two, one is released or displaced, and must find other employment or remain idle, be it in farm work or any other. So, also, if one man becomes enabled to do the work of twenty, nineteen out of the twenty are displaced. The only exception is to be found in the cases where a corresponding increase takes place in the consumption of the products, if there are any such cases. Yet, notwithstanding the absolute certainty of this principle, nothing is more common than to hear it said that labor saving machinery creates work—that it gives more employment to manual labor, and throws no one into idleness. But it is rare that this fallacy can be found in print, in any publication carrying the least weight of authority. Perhaps the most notable instance in which this absurdity has been broadly stated, with an

attempt at demonstration, is to be found on page clxiv, of volume 2, Agriculture, United Census Reports for 1860, as follows:

"The first impression made on the popular mind, by any great improvement in machinery and locomotion, after the admission of their beneficial effects, is that they will, in some way or other, diminish the demand for labor or for other machinery. It is now established as a general principle, that machines facilitating labor increase the amount of labor required.

There was an idea that the transportation of agricultural products [by railways] would result in diminishing the number of horses, wagoners, and steamboats. The result, however, proves precisely the contrary. Horses have multiplied more rapidly since the introduction of locomotives than they did before. . . road have been made since 1850; and we see that since then the increase of horses has been the greatest. Hence it seemed that railroads must diminish the number and importance of horses, but such was not the fact."

Three fourths of all the miles of rail

. . .

This evidence and argument are deemed by those who use them as proofs that will not leave a peg to hang a doubt upon, that no "great improvement in machinery or locomotion," will in any "way or other, diminish the demand for labor."

Those who use this argument have not yet discovered that the locomotive and railroad have come into competition with the horse only on the great roads and routes of travel and transportation for long distances, from which he has been undeniably driven, but leaving him in undisputed possession of a thousand and one other employments; whilst machinery has come in direct competition with manual labor in every place where force or power is used, from the manufac