BECOMING MODERN: AMERICA IN THE 1920S - THE “MACHINE AGE” - Will MACHINES liberate man or enslave him?

Aug 21, 2026

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Primary-source excerpts examining how the 1920s interpreted the “machine age.” The collection weighs arguments from industrialists, engineers, economists, clergymen, novelists, and other public voices on whether machines and mechanization would liberate human effort or create new forms of exploitation and spiritual emptiness. Passages address speed, time-saving productivity, power-driven production, and the moral question of liberty versus increased dependence, with illustrative commentary drawn from period writings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

THE “MACHINE AGE”

Machines: liberate or enslave

Speeding up life and saving time

Power, production, and the wage motive

Liberty versus exploitation

New standard of living

Leisure, culture, and modern entertainment

BECOMING MODERN: AMERICA IN THE 1920S PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTION THETWENTIE* S IN CO NOTEMMMPEONRTAARRYY “A vision of modern progress,” illustration in Popular Science Monthly, February 1928 (detail) —THE “MACHINE AGE” — Will MACHINES liberate man or enslave him? Will they deliver a bounteous future previously unimaginable, or a barren soulless prison of man’s making? Perennial questions. Here we examine how they were addressed in the 1920s through the writings of industrialists, engineers, economists, clergymen, novelists, a dramatist, a humorist, and other voices who cheered, mourned, or questioned the longterm consequences for man of his precocious offspring, the machine. People call this the mechanistic age, enlarge upon its many objectionable features and grumble about the acceleration of life and all that. But what would they have? Is the mechanistic age a good thing or a bad thing? Is the speeding up of life a Edward S. Martin“Model T and the Millennium” Harper’s, February 1928 basis for satisfaction or for regret? Twenty miles on the highway in old times used to be a pretty fair day’s work for a team. It took three or four hours to do it. When it was done the horses needed to rest and be fed. Now it is something to be done, where the roads are good, in half an hour or a little more by a creature that is not tired when it has done it. The speeding up of life is trying of course, but who can doubt that it is an immense achievement! Our great property in this life is time, and when we get about more quickly we save it. The mechanistic civilization has put wheels under us. We speak of a “machine age.” What we are entering is a power age, and the importance of the power age lies in its ability, rightly used with the wage motive behind it, to increase and cheapen production so that all of us may have more of this world’s goods. . . . Henry Ford“The Meaning of Power”Today and Tomorrow, 1926 The function of the machine is to liberate man from brute burdens, and release his energies to the building of his intellectual and spiritual powers for conquests in the fields of thought and higher action. The machine is the symbol of man’s mastery of his environment. . . . To release himself to more human duties, man has trained beasts to carry burdens. The ox team and camel represent man’s mind plus brute strength. The sail is man’s release from the slavery of theoar. The use of the swift horse was man’s dim sensing that time had value for himself and his concerns. Did man thus increase his slavery, or did he increase his liberty? It is true that the machine has sometimes been used to by those who owned it, not to liberate men, but to exploit them. This was never accepted by society as right. . . . The right and serviceable use of the machine always makes unprofitable and at last impossible the abuse of it. National Humanities Center, AMERICA IN CLASS,® 2012: [americainclass.org/. Title](americainclass.org/. Title) font (TestarossaNF) courtesy of Nick’s Fonts at [FontSpace.com. Punctuation](FontSpace.com. Punctuation) and spelling modernized for clarity. Complete image credits at [americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/imagecredits.htm](americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/imagecredits.htm). Stuart Chase Prosperity: Fact or Myth? 1929 Economist and consumer activist Stuart Chase published several bestselling works on consumer culture and the social effects of technological innovation (see pp. 14-16), all based on extensive research into the realities of modern American life. THE NEW STANDARD OF LIVING [I]t will be well . . . to enumerate again the specific goods, services and qualities which comprise the new American standard of living. Remember that it is not a list which all possess but only a list to which all aspire . . . . Or almost all. SHELTER More apartment living1 More attractive villas for the business class Furnaces and oil heaters Plumbing and bathtubs CLOTHING More

FAQs

What moral tension is raised about machines’ use?

The text asks whether mechanization increases liberty or slavery, noting that machines could be abused by owners, even if society rejects that abuse.

Aug 21, 2026

Upload by Finn