Knowledge is power : $b A view of the productive forces of modern society and the results of labor, capital and skill.Knight, Charles
Philosophy
Knowledge is power : $b A view of the productive forces of modern society and the results of labor, capital and skill.
Knight, Charles
Industrial arts; Industries
back to very nearly the same consumption that existed before Arkwright's
invention, that is, to the consumption of the year 1750, when the whole
amount of the cotton manufacture of the kingdom did not exceed the
annual value of two hundred thousand pounds. At that rate of value, the
quantity of cloth manufactured could not have been equal to one
five-hundredth part of that which is now manufactured for home
consumption. Where one person a century ago consumed one yard, the
consumption per head has risen to about twenty-six yards. This vast
difference in the comforts of every family, by the ability which they
now possess of easily acquiring warm and healthful clothing, is a clear
gain to all society, and to every one as a portion of society. It is
more especially a gain to the females and the children of families,
whose condition is always degraded when clothing is scanty. The power of
procuring cheap clothing for themselves, and for their children, has a
tendency to raise the condition of females more than any other addition
to their stock of comfort. It cultivates habits of cleanliness and
decency; and those are little acquainted with the human character who
can doubt whether cleanliness and decency are not only great aids to
virtue, but virtues themselves. John Wesley said that cleanliness was
next to godliness. There is little self-respect amidst dirt and rags,
and without self-respect there can be no foundation for those qualities
which most contribute to the good of society. The power of procuring
useful clothing at a cheap price has raised the condition of women
amongst us, and the influence of the condition of women upon the welfare
of a community can never be too highly estimated.
That the manufacture of cotton by machinery has produced one of the
great results for which machinery is to be desired, namely, cheapness of
production, cannot, we think, be doubted. If increased employment of
human labour has gone along with that cheapness of production, even the
most prejudiced can have no doubt of the advantages of this machinery to
all classes of the community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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