Weavers Vs Machine Research Paper

Weavers vs. Machines

In 1786, on behalf of thousands of workers in the cloth manufacturing business, a petition was created to speak out against the invention and use of Scribbling- Machines. Although the speed of cloth production increased, as well as the amount of labor needed decreased, it ended up causing more harm than good in the eyes of the workers. The Leeds woolen workers created this petition to try and get rid of using machines, instead of humans, to create cloth. The new invention of the Scribbling- Machine changed the need for labor drastically. In the petition, they state that just seventeen miles away from the town of Leeds, close to two hundred new machines were beginning to be used. In the eyes of the cloth manufacturing companies, these new inventions are something to be proud of. They are able to have one machine do the work that would usually take ten men to do by hand. Although this seems like a wonderful new invention to the industry, the workers are stating the case
Their fears truly revolve around their families, and how they are suppose to find a way to keep food on the table when they are being replaced by machines for work. In the petition they state how they consider trying to find a new trade. Although this seems logical when their former trade is no longer providing, the time it would take to go through another apprenticeship would be long and the results would not be certain. Who knows how many more machines will be created causing other trades to be effected as well. Men were the ones who had been manufacturing, and creating by hand, cloth sense way before machines were even invented, and now machines are putting not only large amounts of men out of work but are also effecting the lives of those men's