Suppose a Watt, with all his inventive power, living in a tribe ignorant of iron, or in a tribe that could get only as much iron as a fire blown by hand-bellows will smelt; or suppose him born among ourselves before lathes existed; what chance would there have been of the steam-engine?" Enlarging upon the eloquent words of Carlyle, "Infinite is the help that man can yield to man," we may add that infinite is the help that society can give to man, and that man can give to society. Sec. 12.-The Economics of the Revolution. The second phase of the Industrial Revolution, which is to be described by figures, does not derive its interest, so far as this work is concerned, from the number of tons of stuff produced, but from the relative increase in the productive capacity of man. Herein lies the problem; for, as Thurston says: "Human progress depends upon the ability of mankind to do more work, and to accomplish greater tasks, to supply the necessaries of life with less expenditure of time and strength, thus to secure leisure for thought, invention, and intellectual development of every kind." To show the expansion of trade and development of industry which produce the alteration in the structure of society described hereafter, it is necessary to give a few statistics. When machinery was introduced into the textile industry, the output of manufactured goods increased by leaps and bounds. In 1764, the cotton imported into England amounted to 3,870,392 lbs.; in 1841, it had risen to 489,900,000 lbs. In 1792, the amount of cotton imported into Lancashire alone from the United States was 138,000 lbs., and in 1800 it was 18,000,000 lbs. The calico sold in the Blackburn market during the year 1805 amounted to one million pieces. Seventy-nine years later the expor tation of piece goods was nearly four and one-half billion yards, and this was exclusive of that produced for home consumption. In the ten years from 1790 to 1800, the woollen import rose from 2,582,000 to 8,609,000 lbs. In 1788, the iron output was 61,300 tons; in 1839, it was 1,347,790 tons. One hundred years after Crompton invented his spinning mule there were in Lancashire 2,655 cotton mills running a total of 37,515,772 spindles and 463,118 power looms. In the twenty-two years from 1793 to 1815, the exports, according to official valuation, rose from £17,000,000 anually to £58,000,000. These figures give an inkling of the industrial transformation which succeeded the great inventions. Now, let us turn to the real increase in productive capacity of the individual. In other words, let us see whether productive capacity has grown more rapidly than the population, for this is the vital question -the one which throws clearest light on the condition of the workers at the present time, and upon the possibilities of increasing the amount of necessaries and comforts. Unfortunately, elaborate compilations of statistics are only of recent date, and we are compelled to base most of our comparison upon the developments between the early portion of this century and the present time. Hargreaves' first jenny worked only eight spindles; the number was gradually increased to 120; and by the beginning of this century, to 200. The jenny has now more than a thousand spindles, each revolving at the rate of 10,000 revolutions per minute. A man and two piecers can work two thousand spindles. Fifty years ago the most improved power loom made only about 100 picks or throws of the shuttle per minute; to-day the highest grade loom runs at the rate of about 400 picks a minute, and along with the increase in the productive capacity of the machines has gone a decrease in the amount of human labour required in the operation. In 1819-21, the amount of yarn produced per hand was 968 pounds; in 1886-8 it had risen to 5,900 pounds. So great has been the increase in the efficiency of textile machinery that a single operative can supply 250 persons with cottons, or 300 with woollens. In every branch of industry attention has been devoted to increasing productive powers, until almost marvellous results have been secured. In the continuation of the construction of the Cologne Cathedral in 1870, two men with a crane lifted as much stone in a day as 360 men did in the same time in the Middle Ages. The old craftsman produced three pairs of boots daily; the modern worker, with the best machinery, can turn out 300 pairs per day. In one year, six English workmen can produce enough bread to supply 1,000 people a year. This estimate includes all the labour processes, from the breaking of the soil to the delivery of the bread to the consumers. The labour necessary to construct a house with modern equipments for an average family is equal to one man's labour for about twenty months, yet each workman must give about three months of his labour annually throughout his life as rent for a more or less desirable house which never becomes his property.1 an advanced industrial country two months' work will produce the yearly supply of good animal and vegetable food for a family, but the average workman has to expend about six months' earnings for his annual food supply, which, to put it mildly, is not extravagant. 1 Kropotkin, "Fields, Factories, and Workshops." In Sec. 13.-Substitution for Hand Power. The progress of industry is based upon the application of power to matter. It is necessary to grasp the fact that all power is the same; it matters not whether it be muscular activity of man or beast, or the lightning's flash released in the swiftly flying motor. The question in which we are vitally interested is this: Has the power of the world increased more rapidly than the population? Since 1831 the population of the civilised world has not quite doubled, while since 1840 the power of steam alone has risen from 1,647,000 horse-power to more than 55,580,000 horse-power. Mulhall says: "In little more than half a century the working power of nations has trebled in Europe and multiplied eight-fold in the United States. Taking the nations of Christendom in the aggregate, the average energy per inhabitant has more than doubled since 1840; that is to say, five men can now do as much as eleven men could fifty years ago." According to the report of the United States Commissioner of Labour, there was in the United States, in 1886, machinery equivalent to 3,500,000 horse-power. If this power had been supplied by the muscle of men, it would have required 21,000,000 to produce the output, whereas, under the machine system, only 4,000,000 men were employed. "To do the work accomplished in 1886 in the United States by power machinery, and on the railroads, would have required men representing a population of 172,500,000. The actual population in the United States in 1886 was something under 60,000,000, or little more than one-third." The extent to which the tireless power of Nature can be substituted for manual labour depends upon the ability of man to build and adjust his machinery. Here is the material key to man's spiritual progress The ploughing of a furrow, the sowing of the seed, the reaping of grain, the transportation of grain from one market to another, the weaving of a fabric, and the making of a coat all represent in the final analysis the application of so much power to matter. The past achievements of inventors have shown us that there are no limits to the ways in which the exhaustless forces of Nature can be applied to do man's work. If we turn to the past, we see man struggling to maintain life by the sheer strength of his muscle; but if we look along the centuries of the future, we see the struggle for existence taking only a small portion of man's energy, leaving all the remainder of his illimitable powers of heart and brain free for the extension, enlargement, and enriching of life. Instead of man wrestling with his brother to wrench from him wealth which is already created, we see all men united and organised to wrest from the boundless and exhaustless stores of Nature the means of life. "The daily bread being certain, the tyranny of pecuniary gain will be broken; and life will begin to be used in living, and not in the struggle for the chance to live." This is not merely a Utopian dream, but is a vision having its foundations on the immovable, established rock of human achievements in science and mechanics. Sec. 14.-Agriculture. Notwithstanding the fact that man is a land animal, deriving his food stuffs largely from the soil, comparatively little attention has been paid to increasing the output of agricultural produce, though it is true that a great deal of improved machinery has been introduced to save labour. Though manufac-1 turing, commerce, and wealth in England have increased rapidly, agriculture has actually been on the decline. The productive area of the United Kingdom has |