There is also every reason to believe that the large body of workers whose work consists in the regular attendance on and manipulation of machinery have shared largely in the results of the increased production which machinery has brought about.
The present "aristocracy of labour" is the direct creation of the machine.

But our concern lies chiefly with the weaker portion of the working-classes.

How does the constant advance of labour-saving machinery affect these?
What is the effect of machinery upon the demand for labour?
In answering these questions we have to carefully distinguish the ultimate effect upon the labour-market as a whole, and the immediate effect upon certain portions of the labour-supply.
It is generally urged that machinery employs as many men as it displaces.

This has in fact been the earlier effect of the introduction of machinery into the great staple industries of the country.

The first effect of mechanical production in the spinning and weaving industries was to displace the hand-worker.