Question

Discuss how the innovations in production and management pioneered by Francis Cabot Lowell – the New England merchant – fostered the emergence of large-scale manufacturing and the Industrial Revolution in the US.

Answer 1

The industrial Revolution in America commenced in the 18^th century. This indicated the transformation of the manufacturing industry from manual labor to automated production. Its beginning can be traced to the introduction of British model of textile manufacturing in US.

Francis Cabot Lowell was an American merchant who was one of the main factors after Samuel Slater who influenced the country to develop their textile industry. He introduced “The Factory System” where by large scale production was carried out with reduced investment in the manual labor. America was backward in manufacturing and trading as they relied on their imports from Europe with whom they were engaged in political rivalry

Mr. Francis concentrated on importing raw materials from various countries and manufacture the goods in Boston where he had set up the dock for the products to be unloaded. For Eg: he used to important cotton from India and silk from China and molasses from Caribbean islands for his distilling factory.

He travelled to Europe to learn about France, Spain and Great Britain and their trade practises. Great Britain was a pioneer in textile industry in that period. He memorised the functioning and the system of the textile looms in Scotland and used these models as the basis to design his first textile factory in Boston. He set up an 'integrated' system where all the operations which converted the raw cotton into the final product could be performed in the same building. The Lowells system concentrated on efficient machinery and efficecient management of labour resources giving importance to moral and ethical conduct.

Mr. Lowell’s machinery used the power of running water instead of manual peddling which increased the speed of the process a 1000 manifold and saved manual labor. This machinery is considered to be the most important invention during industrial revolution. He focused on mass production.

His management of the human resources also led to the success of his business and changed the labor policies of the country eventually. In order to solve the problem of labor he hired women who were experienced in spinning and weaving from their home. Due to the efficiency of his machines, it did not require the labourer’s strength to run them. Hence these women were able to manage the machinery and worked at cheaper wages than their male counterparts.