Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/43

 industry and society. The latter part of the eighteenth century was rich in the discovery of mechanical appliances, such as the spinning-jenny, the weaving machine, the printing machine, which, by making production easier and cheaper, have brought undreamt of wealth into the country and heaped unheard of benefits upon mankind. The steamship improved the means of communication with foreign lands, and compelled the ends of the earth to contribute their share to the poor man's breakfast table. The railway train broke down the boundaries of high hill and dangerous bog, of deep river and robber-haunted heath, which had effectually separated the majority of the dwellers in small communities from one another. Large cities began to make their sombre appearance all over the land. The industrial parts of the country became covered with factories. A new era opened, and the power to produce wealth promised much for the community at large.

But these promised benefits the people did not at once receive. A time of great economic change is always a time of stress and suffering. The most ardent lover of the motor-car, bowling along in luxurious speed to his destination, cannot forget the misery of the poor cabman whom the newer invention has robbed of his work. The cheapening of production