Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Industry, Morality, Human Species

    Disputing John A Roebuck's contention that 'the labouring man is "a mere brute animal"', Stephen nevertheless concedes that 'Roebuck's constituents at Sheffield [...] earn immense wages by manual labour, and spend what they earn in chronic drunkenness and low debauchery' (341–42). He observes that the 'rapid growth of our manufactures has been to several of our large towns just what the gold discoveries were to California and Australia. Society has been disorganized and disarranged, and of course individual character suffers from it' (342).