The rapid progress in the fabrication of machinery in Germany is best seen from the growth of the German exports as shown by the following table:- 1890. 1895. 1907. Machines and parts thereof £2,450,000 £3,215,000 £17,482,500 Sewing-machines parts thereof 315,000 430,000 1,202,500 Locomotives and locomobiles 280,000 420,000 1,820,000 Three years later the first of these items had already reached £25,000,000, and the export of bicycles, motorcars, and motor-busses, and parts thereof, was valued at £2,904,000. Everyone knows that German sewing- machines, motor-bus frames, and a considerable amount of tools find their way even into this country, and that German tools are plainly recom...
Our Synthetic Environment Murray Bookchin CHAPTER THREE: URBAN LIFE AND HEALTH The Changing Urban Scene Man's environment attains a high degree of simplification in the modern metropolis. At first this may seem surprising: We normally associate metropolitan life with a diversity of individual types and with variety and subtlety in human relations. But diversity among men and complexity in human relations are social and cultural phenomena. From a biological point of view, the drab, severe metropolitan world of mortar, steel, and machines constitutes a relatively simple environment, and the sharp division of labor developed by the modern urban economy imposes extremely limited, monotonous occupational activities on many of the individuals who make their livelihood in a large city. These have not always been the characteristics of urban life. The metropolitan milieu represents a sharp departure from the forms and styles of...