Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/92

 Of Capital. 43

But although the labourers as a body are not injured by the conversion of circulating into fixed capital, through the extended use of machinery, yet particular classes of labourers often suffer a serious and permanent injury from this cause. For instance, a man may spend seven years in acquiring special skill in performing some process of manufacture. The possession of this skill may be regarded as an important property, the pecuniary value of which to its possessor can be estimated by the difference between his wages and those of an ordinary labourer. This difference may be so great that the skilled workman can earn 4l. a week, while the ordinary labourer can only earn 1l. One day a machine is introduced which performs this particular process at one-fourth of the cost at which it was performed by the skilled mechanic. He is, of course, at once superseded; his skill, which before was worth 3l. a week, ceases to have any value, and he may have to descend to the condition of the ordinary labourer. In such a case the loss to the labourer is just as real as if he had been suddenly deprived of an income of 150l. a year, or if an owner of a landed estate suddenly found its letting value diminished by three-fourths. Many striking examples might be easily given of the loss inflicted on artisans who possess some special skill which is superseded by the invention of a machine. It is, for instance, not generally known that the curve given to the brim of the best gentlemen's hats is done by hand, and requires so much skill, precision, and nicety, that those who are engaged in this particular kind of work often earn as much as 7l., or 8l. a week. A machine has already been invented which moulds brims sufficiently well for the cheaper sort of hats, and some improvement may very probably be introduced into this machine which will enable it to supersede the highly-paid labour above referred to. In this case a special class of men who can now earn 7l. or 8l. a week would have to descend to the position of ordinary workmen, and would probably not earn so much as half their former wages.

When, therefore, we hear of the opposition of certain classes of labourers to the introduction of machinery, we should remember that political economy affords no

BOOK I. CH. IV.

A permanent loss is sometimes suffered by special classes of workmen through the introduction of machinery.