Evaluate the Extent to Which Technology Transformed the U.S. Economy (1865-1898)

The scarcity of labor in America and, the difficulty of procuring help in the work of the farm, the mill, and the forge, develops the intellect of the people; and far away in the backwoods many an acute pioneer of civilization invents and patents some ingenious machine for rendering men and women independent of the hired service so costly and so difficult to obtain in a new country. The mechanical skill of the Americans is unequaled in the world, and never likely to be rivaled in the old countries of Europe, where labor is cheap. The Patent Office at Washington—that marvelous repository of contrivances, from the simplest to the most elaborate machine that the cunning hand and the busy brain can construct—and all devoted to the one great end of facilitating work, and economizing manual and other bodily exertion—is sufficient proof of . . . the practical and material, as distinguished from the scholastic, education of the American people.

This time Edison thinks he has hit upon a perfectly feasible process by which he can and will drive gas out of our streets and houses, and give us the electric light in its stead. The new light, he says, besides being a great deal more brilliant, will be a great deal less expensive than the old one. Moreover, the same wire is to bring power and heat into the house as well as light, and be as available for cooking or running a sewing machine as for illumination. If Edison is not deceiving himself, we are on the eve of surprising experiences.

Perhaps no invention of modern times has done so much to relieve business men of the great amount of pen-work drudgery to be done in every business, as the standard Remington type-writer. Thousands of these excellent machines are in daily use throughout the country, giving the utmost satisfaction claimed for them. An office boy, for instance, with but two month practice on one of these machines can accomplish more work than two rapid penmen; and besides do it in a neater, and more attractive and legible manner. With but little more practice he can perform more than three men’s work. Half a dozen copies may also be written at once as easily as one.

Business men are fully aware of the many advantages in these writers, and are very generally adopting them as veritable savers of time, money, and labor.

The East [of the United States] is driving back the West. As the land becomes peopled, as the soil gets exhausted, as the towns grow and as industry develops, the country assumes a new aspect and becomes Eastern. . . . The region is no longer tributary to its older neighbors for the manufactured goods it needs, but develops industries within its own borders. . . .

It is quite certain that the West will not always be dependent on the Eastern manufacturer; and factories, which by their location should soon supply the needs of the Mississippi Valley, are being built at present in St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, etc. . . .

At St. Louis I visited a shoe-factory where 400 men were employed. If it succeeds it will be three or four times as large in a few years. To do this it is necessary to put it in the best condition for turning out goods cheaply—to introduce every mechanical invention which will do away with handwork. For instance, ingenious machines fix the heel of a shoe in one movement, cut and sew 4,000 buttonholes in a day, shape the soles, stitch, tack, polish, cut the bits of leather given, etc., without the workmen who look after them being shoemakers. It thus happens that very elegant shoes can be bought at very moderate prices—about the same as in Europe.