What is the story line?

In Andrew Ure’s The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, Ure details the necessity for new machinery and technology in the workplace, and the positive impacts it can have in all aspects of society. This document was written in 1835, during which the Industrial Revolution was far underway and most of Europe had experienced a boom in manufacturing and improvement or efficiency in industrial production; this marked the process of mechanization in the factory or textile workplace. The new advances in technology, Ure cites the “water-frames for spinning cotton” and “steam-engines” as two examples of the new technology, caused significant discourse on whether these machines were a positive invention for society.

One of the main arguments against the machines was that they were going to take the place of workers, causing many people to lose their jobs. In the already harsh time period for laborers (dangerous work environment, low wages, hard/tiresome labor), the lack of job security would be a cause for protest against new machinery. Ure counter argues this idea by writing, “It is, in fact, the constant aim and tendency of every improvement in machinery to supersede human labour altogether, or to diminish its cost, by substituting the industry of women and children for that of men; or that of ordinary labourers for trained artisans.” By this he means that women and children — who often are the spinners — could, in partnership with the machines, eliminate the need for men spinners, which could improve the quality of the work. He backs this statement up by writing, “substituting the self-acting mule for the common mule, is to discharge the greater part of the men spinners, and to retain adolescents and children.” Ure also mentions that this substitution would save factory managers and owners a lot of money, because as the machinery develops and advances, the need for higher skilled workers decreases greatly. Thereby, without lowering the production or quality of goods by dismissing these men, societal development still vastly increases, and is less costly than prior to the use of machinery.

Ure also touches on the physical relief machines would allow. For example, he writes, “they tend to relieve the workmen either from niceties of adjustment which exhaust his mind and fatigue his eyes, or from painful repetition of efforts which distort or wear out his frame.” Though it would appear that Ure supported the improvements for the worker’s benefit, according to the ODNB biography, he was known to have made many “patently absurd” comments on the working conditions, like that working in 150 degree rooms was not harmful to their health or that workers are less likely to get cholera. Therefore, it does not appear that this appeal for machinery holds much value due to the contraction of statements Ure has made. Overall, the main storyline of The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, whether valid or not, is that machines in the workplace vastly improve society for all people; workers endure far less physical exertion, and the production of goods increases in quantity without diminishing the quality of the items.