Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/465

* FACTORIES. 117 FACTORIES. estimated, for by them not only was the eost of clothing wonderfully cheapened and physical comfort thereby increased, but a new system of industrial activity was developed which was d<^ lineil lo supplant the old system of master and apprentice, not only in the textile manufactures, Inil in nearly all branches of Labor, from the making of a watch to the slaughter of live stock. Tins change was a necessary accompaniment to the use of the new inventions, for machinery of itself is too expensive, and ils use involves too targe an outlay for raw material and for dis- posing of the finished producl to make it avail- able to the independent artisan. The introduction of automatic textile ma- chinery was accompanied by the opposition, and by the persecution of its promoters, which have characterized most of the great movements for the world's betterment. At lirst, too, the new system met with failure from a nut her source, the lack of sufficient capital and of a sufficiently large group of laborers to render profitable or even possible the installation of the more expen- sive power-driven machinery. Only water-power was available to drive the machinery, hence the operator must locate his factory, not at some important industrial centre, but at a spot where sufficient supply of water-power was available, and this might be an isolated place where labor was scarce. It is interesting to note that some of England's earliest factory legislation, as the Robert Peel act of 1802, was directed toward correcting the abuses in the employment of pauper and more especially child labor by these early operators, who could not procure in the neighborhood of their factories sufficient adult labor to run their machines. If, then, the first -step in the introduction of the factory system was the invention of automatic machinery — in ■distinction from tools — the second step was the application of steam as a motive force to drive this machinery. The use of steam at once freed the operator from geographical restrictions and made it possible for him to locate his factory where both labor and the demand for its fruits were most abundant. But with the slow, cumbrous, and expensive methods of transportation that were in vogue until the close of the eighteenth century the factory system could not have attained its pres- ent proportions. The output must have been regulated largely by the local demand. Hence the third step in the development of the modem factory system was made possible by the intro- duction of the steamship and the railway, by means of which the products of any locality could be -ent quickly and cheaply to all parts of the world. But previous to the appearance of steam navigation, from 1707 on, the canal system was widely extended throughout England, and, by enabling the cheap distribution of coal and iron, proved of great importance to manufacturing in large factories. A fourth factor in the development of the factory system was the evolution of the patent Bystem. Automatic machinery presupposes the work of men of inventive genius, upon whose labors it is absolutely dependent. When the fate of such men was almost certain persecution and poverty an inventor must be a hero as well as a genius, and under such conditions inventions were few and far between. As Byrne points out in his Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century, until the close oi ihc eighteenth century superstition hud so strong a hold upon the human mind that inventions were almost synonymous with the black arts, A labor saving machine was looked upon as the enemj of the working man, and many an earnest inventor, after vein- of arduous thought and painstaking labor, saw his cherished model broken up and his hopes forever blasted by the animositj of his fellow-men. But during the nineteenth century the patent system, which had long been in exis{- ence, was so fostered and developed by govern- ment that it became possible for a man not only to benefit his fellows, but to earn a comfortable and honorable livelihood by the exercise of his inventive faculties. Under this stimulating in- fluence appeared a series of important inventions which resulted in the extension of automatic machinery, and hence of the factory system, which was at first limited to textiles, to all branches of industry. Chief among the- multi- tude of important inventions which stimulated the development of the factory system were the planing-machine (1802), the circular wood-saw (introduced into the United States in 1814). galvanized iron (1837). vulcanizing of rubber I 18:1!)), Howe's sewing-machine I1H40), watch- making by machinery (1850). Bessemer process of making steel (1855), paper from wood-pulp (1804). McKay shoe-sewing machine (1861), the Siemens-Martin open-hearth steel process (1800), and the roller-mill and middlings puri- fier for making flour (1875). The conviction that the introduction of labor- saving machinery is prejudicial to the interests of the laborer still survives and is actively en- couraged by some of the trades unions. In an article on the "Business of the Factory," pub- lished in Seribner's Magazine for 1807, Philip G. Hubert comments on this fact, and gives si in- terest ing examples of its practical workings. "In some trades," he says, "the spirit that led to the breaking up of Arkwright's spinning frames be- cause they did so much work survives. The shoemakers of Lynn have not yet dared to intro- duce a certain lasting-machine largely employed in Europe and in certain Western cities of this country because the lasters' trade union forbids its use. According to the leading shoemakers of Lynn this machine would revolutionize the busi- ness. It is evident that in a big manufactory it is not everything to invent a labor-saving machine ; endless tact must be employed to in- duce the men to allow its use." Although the four steps essential to the growth of the factory system — the introduction of auto- matic machinery, the application of> steam as a motive force, improved methods of transporta- tion, and an enlightened encouragement of the patent system — had all been taken at the begin- ning of the nineteenth century, the growth of factories was slow, even in England and the United States, where it was least opposed. At first England, in which the great textile machines were brought out. jealously guarded her treasures and passed severe laws prohibiting the exporta- tion of machinery or models thereof. In spite of several attempts on the part of Americans to in- troduce English methods, the secrets were toler- ably well kept until 1700. In that year a factory was built by Samuel Slater at Pawtueket. R. I., in which Arkwright's system of water-frame spinning was introduced. From that time the