Nothing therefore remains,strictly speaking,but the inconvenience of being obliged to change the occupation.Now the progress which is made in one kind in particular,is beneficial to industry in general.The increase of income,which results to society from a saving in expences,is carried towards other articles.A single occupation is interdicted to nineteen men who,till then,pounded grain,and a hundred fresh occupations,or a hundred extensions of old occupations,have been opened to them.I desire no other proof of this than the increase which has taken place in the labor and population,in every place where the arts have been improved.The constant habit we are in of seeing the productions of new arts causes us to disregard them,but how would they strike our ancestors,if they could again come amongst us!Let us picture to ourselves for a moment some of the most enlightened amongst them,such as Pliny or Archimedes,coming to walk round one of our modern cities;they would fancy themselves surrounded by miracles.
The abundance of our crystals and glasses,the great quantity of our large mirrors,our docks,watches,embroidery,iron bridges,warlike instruments,and ships,would astonish them beyond all conception.And if they were to go into our work-shops,what a multiplicity of occupations would they see of which they could not have the smallest conception.Would they even believe that thirty thousand men were nightly employed in Europe in printing newspapers,which are read every morning over the breakfast-table whilst taking tea,coffee,chocolate,or other food,quite as new to them as the papers themselves?Do not let us doubt,Sir,that if the arts still improve,as I flatter myself they will,that is,that they will produce more at less expence,fresh millions of men in the course of a few ages will produce objects,which would excite in our minds,could we see them,a surprise equal to that which the great Archimedes and Pliny would experience could they revisit us.Let us take care,we who scribble in search of truth,if our writings descend to posterity,that the apprehension with which those improvements inspire us (but which they will then have far surpassed)do not appear ridiculous.And as to the workmen of your country,at once so able and so wretched,our descendants may well look upon them as men who were compelled to get their living by dancing on the rope,with a weight attached to their feet.They will read in history,that in order that these men might continue their dance,some fresh plan was daily suggested to them,indeed every plan except the very one which would have been efficacious,viz.that of taking off the weight:then our descendants after having derided us might very well conclude the whole by pitying us.
I have said that a useful improvement may be attended with temporary inconvenience;fortunately those inconveniences which are occasioned by expeditious processes,are mitigated by some circumstances which have been already noticed,and by others of which no mention has been made.It has been said (and you yourself,Sir,look upon this circumstance as capable of over balancing the inconvenience)that the low price which results from an economical process favors the consumption of the article to so great a degree,that the same production employs more people than before;as has been remarked in spinning and weaving cotton.I shall add that,as machinery and expeditious means increase,it will be more difficult to discover fresh ones,particularly in an established art in which workmen are already initiated.The most simple machines appeared first,afterwards came the more complicated:they cost more to erect,and require more workmen to manoeuvre them,which partly recompenses that class for the occupation they have lost in the adoption of the new process.The complexity and costliness of a machine are obstacles to its too prompt adoption..The cloth shearing machine by means of a turning motion,cost in the origin from 25to 30thousand francs..Many manufacturers cannot in the first instance lay out such a sum,others consider and reconsider before they buy it,and await for a decided proof of its success.This tardiness in the introduction of new machines nearly prevents all the inconveniences attending them.
In fact,I confess to you,that in practice I have always seen new machines occasion more fear of harm,than harm itself.As to the good,it is sure and lasting.
