2. Every Man for Himself
The development of American industry, during the hundred years that began with the War of 1812, led inevitably to the unification of business control in the hands of a small group of wealth owners.
"Every man for himself" was the principle that the theorists of the eighteenth century bequeathed to the industrial pioneers of the nineteenth. The philosophy of individualism fitted well with the temperament and experience of the English speaking peoples; the practice of individualism under the formula "Every man for himself" seemed a divine ordination for the benefit of the new industry.
The eager American population adopted the slogan with enthusiasm. "Every man for himself" was the essence of their frontier lives; it was the breath of the wilderness.
But the idea failed in practice. Despite the assurances of its champions that individualism was necessary to preserve initiative and that progress was impossible without it, like many another principle—fine sounding in theory, it broke down in the application.
The first struggle that confronted the ambitious conqueror of the new world was the struggle with nature. Her stores were abundant, but they must be prepared for human use. Timber must be sawed; soil tilled; fish caught; coal mined; iron smelted; gold extracted. Rivers must be bridged; mountains spanned; lines of communication maintained. The continent was a vast storehouse of riches—potential riches. Before they could be made of actual use, however, the hand of man must transform them and transport them.
These necessary industrial processes were impossible under the "every man for himself" formula. Here was a vast continent, with boundless opportunities for supplying the necessaries and comforts of life—provided men were willing to come together; divide up the work; specialize; and exchange products.
Coöperation—alone—could conquer nature. The basis of this coöperation proved to be the machine. Its means was the system of production and transportation built upon the use of steam, electricity, gas, and labor saving appliances.
When the United States was discovered, the shuttle was thrown by hand; the hammer was wielded by human arm; the mill-stones were turned by wind and water; the boxes and bales were carried by pack-animals or in sailing vessels,—these processes of production and transportation were conducted in practically the same way as in the time of Pharaoh or of Alexander the Great. A series of discoveries and inventions, made in England between 1735 and 1784, substituted the machine for the tool; the power of steam for the power of wind, water or human muscle; and set up the factory to produce, and the railroad and the steamboat to transport the factory product.
American industry, up to 1812, was still conducted on the old, individualistic lines. Factories were little known. Men worked singly, or by twos and threes in sheds or workrooms adjoining their homes. The people lived in small villages or on scattered farms. Within the century American industry was transformed. Production shifted to the factory; about the factory grew up the industrial city in which lived the tens or hundreds of thousands of factory workers and their families.