Effects of Technology on the Poor


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Effects of Technology on the Poor

The Coming of New Technology: The expansion of wheat production was made possible by new technology. In the 19th century, as the settlers moved into new habitats and new lands, they modified their implements to meet their requirements. When they entered prairie grasslands, their traditional tools became ineffective as prairie was covered with a thick mat of grass with tough roots. To break the sod and turn the soil, a variety of new ploughs were devised. Some of them were about 12 feet long. In the early 20th century, farmers were breaking the ground with tractors and disk ploughs, clearing vast stretches for wheat production. Before the 1830s, the grain used to be harvested with a cradle or sickle. The new machines allowed big farmers to rapidly clear large tracts, break up the soil by removing the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation. With power - driven machinery, 4 men could plough effect seed and harvest 2000 to 4000 acres of wheat in a season.

Invention of Reaper: In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented the first reaper which could cut in 1 day as much as men could cut with cradles and 16 men with sickles. With one of these machines, 500 acres of wheat could be harvested in 2 weeks.

Effect of New Technology on the Poor:

  • For the poor labourers, the use off mechanical threshing machines brought miseryin its wake.They were shunted out of their jobs because a single machine could do the work of twenty laourers or so.
  • The use of machinery led to the so-called Swing Riots when the poor peasants and labourers not only burnt the very farmhouse of the landlords but also broke the threshing machines. 
  • Small farmers were also hit hard by the coming of new machines. They borrowed money from the banks to buy new machinery but when they could not repay of the they had to desert their farms and seek jobs elsewhere.
  • Most of the so called rich farmers also faced trouble when the boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries came to an end by the mid 1920s.
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