Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/650

 6l2 Readings in European History Economic revolution caused by im- proved trans- portation. spring from the aggregation of industries, and consequently of men, in cities, accompanied by a relative diminution, of the number of tillers of the soil, and the separation of producers into two distinct classes, — the capitalists, or organizing and directing class, and the manual laborers. A mind subtle enough might trace a third and more remote series of effects to the same causes. The thought of our time, whether taking the form of literature, science, the fine arts, or political discussion, is evidently molded in great measure by the spectacle of the industrial revolution and of the phenomena induced by it. None of these changes are more characteristic or more indispensable to the state of society that we now see around us than those in the methods of moving men and things from one place to another, and of communication between men in places distant from one another. The change in industrial organization involves, above all, a greater depend- ence of each class of men upon other classes, and there- fore the necessity for more frequent interchange of goods. The manufacturing class, formerly to a great degree scat- tered over the country as small handicraftsmen, have now separated entirely from the agricultural class and gathered in factories in the great towns. Therefore the products of the loom, the mill, and the forge, which formerly, if not actually produced upon the farmer's premises, were to be had near at hand, must now be brought from the more dis- tant towns, and the farm products exchanged for them must traverse the same distance. One need only visit Mount Vernon to see an illustration of this change. George Washington lived upon his estate, surrounded by small handicraftsmen, and, as regards the commoner needs of daily life, almost entirely independent of transportation. Not only did he raise the foodstuffs for his own consumption and that of his numerous dependents, but blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, and carpenters were found among the slaves upon his plantation, and cloth for the coarser sort of garments was spun and woven in his household. Nowadays country gentlemen usually live near