Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Some origins of American technology
- 1 Technological change in the machine tool industry, 1840–1910
- 2 America's rise to woodworking leadership
- 3 Anglo-American wage differences in the 1820's
- Part 2 The generation of new technologies
- Part 3 Diffusion and adaptation of technology
- Part 4 Natural resources, environment and the growth of knowledge
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
3 - Anglo-American wage differences in the 1820's
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part 1 Some origins of American technology
- 1 Technological change in the machine tool industry, 1840–1910
- 2 America's rise to woodworking leadership
- 3 Anglo-American wage differences in the 1820's
- Part 2 The generation of new technologies
- Part 3 Diffusion and adaptation of technology
- Part 4 Natural resources, environment and the growth of knowledge
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Index
Summary
In 1829 Zachariah Allen, a lifelong resident of Providence, Rhode Island, published his book, The Science of Mechanics. Neither the title nor a casual glance at the contents of the book suggests that it contains material of major interest to economists or economic historians. Allen's book was intended as a manual for American mechanics and manufacturers. It summarized that portion of the industrial arts of its day which the author considered most useful and relevant for the edification of his American readers. The book contains elementary tables of conversion, arithmetic and geometric rules and formulas, a good deal of simple physics, and extensive descriptions of the workings of machinery – especially water wheels, steam engines, and mill work generally. In particular, Allen attempted to summarize much of what he had learned during a recent tour of the major manufacturing districts of England and France, so as to bring Americans up to date on the “latest improvements in mechanical invention in those countries.” Unobtrusively placed in the back of this book, however, is a chapter, “Comparative View of the Relative Advantages Possessed by England, France and the United States of America as Manufacturing Nations,” which records his more strictly economic impressions of his tour, taken in 1825. His observations in this short chapter, often trenchant and occasionally pungent, invite comparison with some of the better known European travelers to the United States. Anyone who can write, as Allen does (p. 355), that “An industrious New-England mechanic commonly appears to take pleasure in his business; but the French mechanic is rather inclined to make a business of his pleasures,” is obviously entitled to a sympathetic hearing.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Perspectives on Technology , pp. 50 - 58Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1976