TIMELY TOPICS
TALE OF THE DAY.
MEN AND MACHINES
The effects of the increase of mech{anisation in industry have been examined from many sides (says “The Times”). For industry itself the employment of more and still more machinery has been generally accepted as inevitable. But the amazing ingenuity of much modern machinery has been a subject of misgiving as well as of wonder, for as the machine gets more and more the workman, and especially the workman with carefully acquired skill and pride of craft, has become less and less. It is not only that the number of skilled men in employment has declined; skill itself is in less demand for the new industrial processes. The man in possession of, or aspiring to, craftsmanship has found the tending of an almost foolproof machine a weariness to the spirit and much has been heard of the soul-destroying monotony of a great deal of mechanical work. Something has also been heard on the other side of the lightening of heavy manual tasks, the elimination of much that was unpleasant and dirty, and of light machines having greatly enlarged the field of employment for women and girls not only in industry, but also in offices. In industry the tendency is to remove the requirement of high skill from all but the machine-making and machine-set-ting processes. There may ve-y well be a reaction in time, and so much j machine production may give rooni j for individual self-expression in j other spheres than those of the daily I duty; but that is a forecast, and not j as yet any more than a partial realisation through some shortening of the hours of work. <s►<s> <*> <*■ WORDS OF WISDOM.
A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.—Francis Bacon.
The Elder: Why don't you get out and find a job? When I was your age. I was working for twelve and six a. week in a store, and at the end of five years I owned the store. The Younger: You can’t do that now. They have cash registers.
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Bibliographic details
Northern Advocate, 10 November 1934, Page 8
Word Count
352TIMELY TOPICS Northern Advocate, 10 November 1934, Page 8
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