What can I learn about the society that produced this document?

In Andrew Ure’s 1835 article “The Philosophy of Manufacturers”, he discussed and supported the new industrial system and machinery that had developed and been a big influence in England and on English society. “The Philosophy of Manufacturers”, gives a clear insight into how the industrial revolution directly affected society in the 1830’s from the financial perspective of the manufacturers. Several workers were not in favor of the Industrial Revolution at the time due to the loss of jobs and much needed wages. Andrew Ure takes a stance that is very supportive towards the Industrial Revolution and the implementation of machinery itself.  He explains how industrialization is cheaper for manufactures, more efficient, and a greater variety of products could be produced.

Early in the document Ure refers to machinery as being, “philanthropic,” meaning that it is beneficial for the workers and in their best interest. At the time, several workers would disagree with this due to their loss of wages and financial struggles they faced at the time. Andrew Ure later mentions that the implication of machinery will, “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,” pointing out that physically it is better for the workers to not do this repeated tiring labor with their hands and instead operate the machines. He argues that the machines should give the workers a sense of relief. He also argues that machinery one day will,  “supersede human labour altogether, or to diminish its cost,” from a manufacturing perspective this shows that manufactures in this time wanted the cheapest and most efficient production for their products. The more machinery they were able to obtain the less workers they had on payroll. This idea showed the working class at this time that the machines weren’t going anywhere and that they were here to stay. The working class had to learn new skills and find new jobs.

Hiring women and children to operate the machinery was extremely cost effective. Ure mentions that a manufacturer, “would save 50.1 a week in wages in consequences of dispensing with nearly forty male spinners, at about 25s of wages each,” showing that even though the machines themselves are expensive that unskilled women and children were able to operate the machines for extremely low wages in order to save even more money for the manufacturers. 

Ure concludes his, “Philosophy of the Manufacturers,” with a list of the improvements that have been made by the machinery.  The first, was that the manufacturers  were now able to make all sorts of goods that they were not able to once produce without the machinery. The second, is how efficient the machines were, producing a greater quantity in less amount of time, requiring less physical labor, and the quality of work was consistent. And lastly, the substitution of unskilled workers for skilled workers makes a low wage for manufacturers to pay.

In conclusion, this document shows the vast amount of change that England was going through in this time period. The English working class citizens definitely struggled financially during this revolution. But this revolution was absolutely necessary for the country to advance and be able to compete with other advancing countries. There were also advances in transportation allowing for more trade with other countries making England an Industrial powerhouse.