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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 10 (February 1, 1928)

[section]

For behold a New Era has come;
The future all the brighter.

Should machine operators grind their own tools? In the most up-to-date and best organised machine shops the answer is in the negative. The heyday of the tradesman who ground his own tools and supervised their forging has passed. Beyond a doubt the old system engendered a sense of pride in the skilled workman, who jealously guarded the tools he used.

But a progressive age like ours is no respecter of individual sentiment. In workshop practice to-day an organised collective system of tool grinding has taken the field. The reason for the change is that the machine tool revolution, which popularised the combination lathe, the automatics and the specialised single purpose machines, has all but blotted out the old line of demarcation that a few years ago so distinctly divided the skilled from the unskilled workers. There need be no regret regarding this change which has effected both man and machine. In speeding up and increasing production, it has assisted humanity. No longer is man the toiling beast of burden as of yore; to-day the machine toils, and the operators intelligently supervise, direct and control.