Abstract
IN an article in the Royal Jubilee number of Engineering published on May 3, Sir Richard Red-mayne says that the mechanisation of industry tends to increase both the wages and the time available for leisure of the operatives, and thus increases their material welfare without the application of what are known as ‘revolutionary methods'. He illustrates this progress by what is happening in the coal-mining industry. The hewing of coal by pick and filling it into a tub by shovel, in a more or less confined space, is work of the most arduous nature. The great expansion during recent years of mechanical coal cutters has made this work comparatively easy. In 1900 only 1-5 per cent of the British coal output and 25 per cent of the output of the United States was cut mechanically. In 1932 this had risen to 38 per cent in Britain and 68 per cent in the United States. In the Ruhr coalfield the mechanical pick has found great favour; in 1913 only 2-2 per cent was cut mechanically, now 90 per cent is, 84 per cent being cut by mechanical picks and 6 per cent by mechanical coal cutters. The transport of the cut coal from the coal face to the shaft bottom was almost as laborious as ‘getting’ the coal. Now, owing to the perfection of electrically actuated plant, not only is the haulage on the main roads carried out electrically, but in the secondary roads also it is replacing horses and ponies. So far as creation of wealth and increase of leisure and comfort of the mass of mankind are concerned, the engineer has taken a leading part. During the last 130 years, wages in coal-mining have risen 3-2 times and the daily time of labour has been decreased 37 per cent, the return on the capital remaining on the average stationary. The chief beneficiary under the system of mechanisation has been the manual worker. There is no doubt that the rationalisation of industry tends to decrease the number of employees, but Sir Richard Redmayne thinks that the lowering of the price of the commodity, its more effective distribution leading to the increase of new industries, together with the increase in wages and leisure creating an increased demand, will result in more than the absorption of the overplus of labour.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mechanisation of Industry. Nature 135, 837–838 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135837d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135837d0