TH CHAPTER XV THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION HE place of business and industry in the whole The scheme of living is in some respects larger than new in earlier days. At the very beginning men did power not have the knowledge of nature, nor the means of communicating with each other, nor the peaceful order of society which are the necessary foundations for a flourishing condition of business and industry. During the next stage, while the state with its law and order was being established, fighting was in the foreground; military power was the great power. During the past century another great source of power has been discovered as a result of which the great mass of men have devoted less and less time and energy to fighting, more and more time and energy to the development of trade and industry. This is the power of wealth, which indeed, in one sense, is not new, for both kings and common men have sought wealth from early times; but in another sense is new, for it is within the past century that new inventions and discoveries and new kinds of coöperation have multiplied wealth so rapidly as to give it far greater significance for the life of every one than it ever had before. The general change in the ways of making, trans- Changes porting, and marketing goods which has brought about made this increased wealth, is called the Industrial Revolution. It has affected the business of living not merely by it Two aspects of the for those engaged in business and manufactures but for farmers and all the professions. It has changed not only places where men work but the homes in which they live. It has made new problems as to what is right and wrong, fair and unfair. It has formed social classes on a new basis. It has raised very difficult questions for government and introduced new causes for wars between nations. It is, therefore, very important before considering moral problems of business to understand what the Industrial Revolution was. We may broadly distinguish two aspects. The first had to do with the way in which things were made and Revolution transported. This may be called the industrial side of the revolution. The other had to do with the way in which business was carried on. It included changes in the marketing of products, in the system of wages and profits, in the use of money and credit and in the organization of corporations for management of industry. This second side of the revolution is, broadly speaking, included under the term, capitalism. (1) From tools to machines As regards the revolution in the way of making things, or manufacture, we may notice five points. First it was a change from tools to machines. Up to this time men had made many tools. The needle, the ax, the saw, the hammer, the knife, are tools. But there were few machines. A sewing machine when compared with a needle is a good illustration of the difference. With the needle the sewer can draw the thread rapidly through the cloth, but every individual stitch is done as a distinct movement which requires direction by the thought of the one who uses the tool. The sewing machine drives the needle up and down in precisely the same way so that there is no need of making any new adjustment for each stitch. There is nothing, then, to prevent it from being driven in an automatic or, as we sometimes say, mechanical way as fast as we can make it go. The process of making cloth was the first for which new machines were invented. The three main parts of this process were carding the wool to make the fibers all lie in the same direction, spinning or twisting the fibers into a strong thread, and finally weaving the threads into cloth. Inventions of weaving, spinning, and carding machines were made very nearly at the same time. to steam These machines were heavy and hard to drive (2) From by human strength. Water power had long been used man-power for such work as grinding grain, but water power is not to be had everywhere. Fortunately the great invention of the steam engine had been made and about this same time was brought so far toward perfection that it could be used for driving the new machines. Here, then, were two great kinds of discoveries-machinery and steam power-that could be combined. They multiplied tremendously the ability of man to make cloth. Later on they were extended to all kinds of manufactures. Soon they were applied to ships, which thus became steamboats, and to railways. Both of these latter uses were extremely important in America, for the steamboats made trade with Europe far more convenient and rapid, while the railways opened up the great Middle West and Far West and made it possible for the settlers there to sell their grain and cattle and thus to benefit both the Old World and themselves. The Industrial Revolution was a change from (3) From home work to factory work. For the most part, weav- home to ing and other industries were carried on in homes, and factory when machines which required water or steam power (4) Division of labor were invented it was necessary to place these in fac- On A further aspect of the Industrial Revolution is the division of labor. Under the old system of hand work a shoemaker made a whole shoe. Now the making of the shoe is divided between something over eighty men. The housewife usually knew how to do all processes of making cloth from carding and dyeing on through spinning and weaving, and even cutting and making garments. This work today is divided among a great many, each of whom does some very small part. Each one becomes very expert and rapid in his part of the work but no one knows so much about a whole process as the old-time craftsman. On the other hand, the new system is far more efficient in turning out a great quantity of goods. Finally it has brought men and women together to work in groups. In some factories thousands of workers men work in making steel or cloth or preparing food. (5) BringGreat numbers of them who do the same kind of work ing thus come to know each other. They are very likely together to organize in unions. From having the same work and wages and living in the same kind of houses and in the same neighborhood they come to sympathize with each other and thus can coöperate much more readily than could the workers who worked in scat ́tered homes. We thus have the basis for a new class. The five points which we have just stated concern Capitalism especially the changes in the way of making and transporting articles which the Industrial Revolution brought about. Side by side with these changes another great change was going on in the method of managing and financing business. The system under which business is now carried on is called Capitalism. It involves a new power in the world which is in many ways greater than the older political power which we have studied in the bands of warriors and the state. It is a power based upon wealth. Like the power of the king and the band of warriors, it is largely the result of union. But in this case, instead of a union of soldiers, it is a union of men and money, of buildings and machines. The leaders have sometimes been called captains of industry." The great problems of the present time have, many of them, come from the conflict between this new power of united wealth and the older political power which we call the state or the nation. While we cannot pretend to make any thorough study of this new power we can see how it has arisen, what its usefulness is, and what are some of the dangers that go along with this power. 66 |