The document begins by addressing the jealousy of foreign powers and the feelings of the community.  Ure uses the word “pre-eminent” to describe the factory wealth of England to other foreign powers.  The word “pre-eminent” which is defined as, surpassing all others; very distinguished in some way, implies that other countries are jealous of England because of their success in their factory production.  However, Ure also points out that their community does not care for this new factory wealth as much as foreign powers envy it.  In fact, these community members view this pre-eminence as the source of revolution and evils against the people.

Ure then claims that this physio-mechanical science has bestowed many blessings on society.  He admits the claims that this same science has allowed the rich capitalists to harass the poor and increase the speed of the work of their employees.  However, he claims that the conditions of the factory are actually much better than those of the people who work for themselves.  Ure states that those in the factory have hardly anything to do.  They do not have any muscle and are paid guaranteed wages.  While those who work for themselves, have to work tirelessly and take many small breaks on account of how boring their task is, which adds up to a large amount of time not spent working.  Ure believes that this person will earn relatively low wages and will destroy their body.  Ure even goes so far as to claim that scientific improvement in these factories is philanthropic.  He believes that because these advances keep workers from wearing out their bodies and their minds from fatigue, it is basically charity.

Ure then begins to discuss the origin of the factory system.  He claims that the silk mills brought to England from Italian states had elements of the factory system.  However, England added to this system by making its machines more elementary.  Again, Ure discusses the first water frames for spinning cotton that were built at Cromford.  They had not been able to realize then the future that this would promise for England.  The ability to power mechanics through the use of the forces of nature replaced the need for the physical effort of workers.  Industry would no longer be hindered by the ability of the workers to produce using only their own muscular power.

Ure continues to explain the beneficial impact the modern factory has on factory owners and the quality of production.  The idea of the factory system is to replace hand skill with mechanics.  Labor had been the biggest cost of production factory owners had faced.  But, with the introduction of machines, these workers become invaluable and will be replaced by a worker who will only oversee the production of the machine.  This Ure claims, allows factory owners to replace men with women and children and trained artisans with ordinary laborers.  He even adds the statement of a factory owner who claims that by replacing these workers he would save a lot of money in wages.

Ure ends by evaluating the benefits of steam-engines.  These steam-engines create jobs for those who man them and the people who produce the fuel for them.  The use of steam power instead of horses allows more agricultural land be utilized for the production of food instead of hay.  Finally, this new way of travel allows for goods from foreign lands to be brought back to England.

In this piece, Ure touches on the pre-eminence of their factory system, the better life for workers physio-mechanical science produces, the origins of the factory system, and the benefits of the factory system to factory owners and trade.