The thing which has made Labor great & powerful is labor-saving machinery--&
nothing else in the world could have done it. It has been labor's savior, benefactor;
but Labor doesn't know it, & would ignorantly crucify it. But that is human
& natural. Every great invention takes a livelihood away from 50,000 men--&
within ten years creates a livelihood for half a million. But you can't make
Labor appreciate that: he is laboring for himself, not the breadless half million
that are issuing from his loins. They are somebody else's children; he fails
to reflect that his own are among them.
- Letter to W. D. Howells, 3/31/1888
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