A mob of Lancashire weavers rioted in 1791 and burned to the ground a cotton mill newly set up by Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom. Time and again as the Industrial Revolution spread, workmen fearful of losing their livelihood attacked new labor-saving machines with hammers and torches. Even today, some labor unions (e.g., building trades, printers, stagehands, locomotive engineers) combat technological progress with featherbedding practices; their leaders regard automation with a milder and more law-abiding version of the 18th century loom-wrecker's wild fear.
But U.S. labor has come far since...
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