Question

question 17 of 20
read the passage below. which of the following does the author claim was the cause of englands growing wealth and power?
for several thousand years no improvement was made in the art of fabricating cotton - wool into cloth. the art was in consequence depressed, and extended itself sluggishly. a brilliant series of mechanical inventions, made during the last age, so economized labor, as to enable one man to do the work of a hundred. by this revolution in its processes the manufacture received an astonishing impulse, and in a single age eclipsed the greatest phenomena in the annals of commerce. these inventions were made in england; and they form at once the most splendid triumph of science applied to the useful arts, and an abundant source of wealth to the nation. it is not extravagant to say, that the experiments of the humble mechanist have in their results added more to the power of england, than all the colonies ever acquired by her arms.

1. edward baines, history of the cotton manufacture in great britain (london: h. fisher, r. fisher, and p. jackson, 1835), 52.

http://archive.org/stream/historyofcottonm00bainrich#page/n13/mode/2up
a. the acquisition of valuable colonies around the world
b. new inventions that made manufacturing more efficient
c. laborers being forced to work harder than ever before

Explanation:

The passage emphasizes a series of mechanical inventions that economized labor and gave a boost to manufacturing, stating they were a source of wealth for England. It also contrasts this with the idea that these inventions added more power than colonies.

Answer:

B. New inventions that made manufacturing more efficient