In 1767 Hargreaves completed the
spinning-jenny, and in 1771 Arkwright perfected his roller
spinning machine. A few years later Crompton combined the roller
and the jenny, and after the application of steam to spinning in
1785 the power loom replaced the hand loom. The manufacture of
woolen cloth being the principal industry of England, it was
natural that machinery should first be invented for the spinning
and weaving of wool. New processes in the manufacture of iron and
steel and the development of steam transportation soon followed.
Within the course of a few decades the whole economic order was
changed. Whereas many centuries had been required for the slow
development of the medieval system of feudalism, the guild
system, and the handicrafts, now, like a series of earthquake
shocks, came changes so sudden and profound that even today
society has not yet learned to adjust itself to the myriads of
needs and possibilities which the union of man's mind with
nature's forces has produced. The industrial revolution took the
workman from the land and crowded him into the towns. It took the
loom from his cottage and placed it in the factory. It took the
tool from his hand and harnessed it to a shaft. It robbed him of
his personal skill and joined his arm of flesh to an arm of iron.
It reduced him from a craftsman to a specialist, from a maker of
shoes to a mere stitcher of soles. It took from him, at a single
blow, his interest in the workmanship of his task, his ownership
of the tools, his garden, his wholesome environment, and even his
family.
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