The flint and fish-bone of the savage, the tool of the workman, and the steam engine of the manufacturer, have but one common object—to save the labour of man and to render it more productive : but that is the most perfect invention which attains this object the most effec tually. Can any one doubt the advan tage of abundant production ? It needs but a few words to point out its benefit. Whether it be for evil or for good, we are not satisfied with the enjoyment of the common necessaries of life ; we all desire comforts, luxuries, and ornament ; and in proportion as we desire them do we be come civilized. There are many who sneer at civilization, and unhappily it has its vices, its follies, and its absurdities ; but it seems the law of our nature to ad vance towards that state, and with the increase of artificial wants our intellects become more active and enlightened, re finement of manners succeeds to barba rism, and all those moral qualities for which man is distinguished, become de veloped. We may conceive some Utopia in which all the noble parts of man's nature are cultivated, while his wants remain simple and easily satisfied, but the world we live in presents another picture. We might wish it were otherwise ; but it is in vain to deny that refinement is the accompaniment and, in some degree, the consequence of riches, and brutality the condition of those people who have not been elevated by the increase of wealth. It follows, therefore, that to multiply the objects of comfort and enjoyment which human industry can produce, is to improve the condition of mankind, to raise them in the scale of moral and intellectual being, and to minister to their enjoyment of life. It is quite consistent to deprecate the vices and follies which are ever asso ciated with our craving for new posses sions, while we observe the benefits re sulting from it. Throughout the world good and evil are found side by side ; but the good, as we would fain believe, pre pond erates.
When once it is admitted that men are to be decently housed and clothed, and are to surround themselves with such com forts as they can obtain, it is clear that the more easily they can obtain them, and the more generally such possessions are enjoyed, the more completely are the objects of civilized life secured. If all men could obtain them easily, there would be no poverty, and infinitely less vice. Machinery, by diminishing the amount of labour required for the production of com modities, lowers their price and renders them more universally accessible to all classes of society. Working-men no longer toil for the rich alone, but they participate in the results of their own in dustry. If they desire such luxuries, "purple and fine linen" are not beyond their reach ; and their dwellings are more commodious and often more elegant than were the houses of the rich three centuries ago. If this increased faci lity of acquiring the comforts of life had been accompanied by greater pru dence and frugality, we believe that the beneficial results of machinery would have been conspicuously shown by the improved condition of all the working classes of this country ; but more money has been squandered by them in poison ous spirits, within the last fifty years, than would have sufficed to place them selves and their children beyond the reach of want.• Cheap production is
more beneficial to the poor than to the rich. The rich man is certain of gratify ing nico.,t of his wants, but the poor man is constantly obliged to forego one enjoy ment in order to obtain another. If his shoes or his coat be worn out, his dinners must be stinted perhaps until he can pay a fresh supply ; and thus, unless his wages be reduced in consequence of the cheapness of such articles, it is beyond all question that cheapness is an extraordi nary benefit to him, the money which he saves in the purchase of one cheap ar ticle is laid out upon another, and without privation or suffering he satisfies the wants which custom has made imperative. In short, he is no longer poor.
These facts are undeniable ; but it is alleged that machinery not only makes articles abundant and cheap, but multi plies them beyond the wants of the world, and by causing gluts brings ruin and misery upon the working classes. For reasons explained elsewhere [DEMAND AND SUPPLY] a universal glut of all com modities is impossible : the more men produce, the more they have to offer in exchange, and their wants are only limited by their means of purchasing. But particular commodities are frequently produced in excess, and a glut of the market ensues. In causing such gluts machinery is a powerful agent, but only in the same manner as all labour would be, if applied in excess. The results would be precisely the same if too many men were employed in any department of industry ; they would produce more than there was a demand for, and their goods would fall in value or be unsale able. Commodities produced by ma chinery are subject to the same laws as govern all other commodities. If the supply of them exceed the demand, they are depreciated in value ; but the power of producing with facility does not ne cessarily occasion an excess of production : it must be applied with caution, and its use be properly learned by experience. Suppose that the soil of any isolated coun try were extraordinarily fertile and the population very small ; but that without considering these circumstances the peo to cultivate the whole of their land and bestow upon it all their skill and labour. An excess of food would be the result—more than could be eaten within the year ; much would be wasted or sold without profit, and much laid up in store for another season. The husband men would be disappointed at the unfor tunate results of their industry, but would they complain of the fertility of the soil ? It would not be the soil that had caused the glut, but their own misapplied exer tions; and so it is with machinery, which like a fertile soil gives forth abundance: its capabilities are known and its ad vantages ought to be appreciated ; but if its productiveness be brought into exces sive activity, it causes the evils of a glut.