§ 1. _The Influence of Machinery upon the number of Employed, dependent on "elasticity of demand."_ § 2. _Measurement of direct effects on Employment in Staple Manufactures._ § 3. _Effects of Machinery in other Employments--The Evidence of French Statistics._ § 4. _Influence of Introduction of Machinery upon Regularity of Employment._ § 5. _Effects of "Unorganised" Machine-industry upon Regularity._ § 6. _Different Ways in which modern Industry causes Unemployment._ § 7. _Summary of General Conclusions._ § 1. In discussing the direct influences of machinery upon the economic position of the labourer we must distinguish its effects upon (1) the number of workers employed; (2) the regularity of employment; (3) the skill, duration, intensity, and other qualities of labour; (4) the remuneration of labour. Though these influences are closely related in complex interaction, it is convenient to give a separate consideration to each. (1) _Effects of Machinery upon the number of Employed._--The motive which induces capitalist employers to introduce into an industry machinery which shall either save labour by doing work which labour did before, or assist labour by making it more efficient, is a desire to reduce the expenses of production. A new machine either displaces an old machine, or it undertakes a process of industry formerly done by hand labour without machinery. In the former case it has been calculated that the expenses incurred in making, maintaining, and working the new machines so as to produce a given output will be less than the corresponding expenses involved in the use of the old machines. Assuming that the labour of making and working the new machines is paid at no lower rate than the labour it displaces, and that the same proportion of the price of each machine went as wages and as profits, it must follow that the reduction of expenses achieved signifies a net displacement of labour for a given quantity of production. Since the skilled labour of making new machines is likely to be paid higher than that of making more old machines, and the proportion of the price which goes as profit upon a new invention will be higher than in the case of an old one,[174] the actual displacement of labour will commonly be larger than is represented by the difference in money price of the two machines. Moreover, since in the case of an old manufacturing firm the cost of discarding a certain amount of existing machinery must be reckoned in, the substitution of new machinery for old will generally mean a considerable displacement of labour.