Technological change and employment effects are not new phenomena. This paper examines some responses to technological innovation in the work situation around the turn of the century, a period of rapid and unprecedented scientific and technological development. The views of Tom Mann, an articulate British trade unionist and labour leader, on a number of subjects relating to these developments are compared with some recent writing, and are found to anticipate much of what is currently being said on these same subjects. It is shown that Mann, together with a number of other trade union representatives, basically welcomed technological innovation as a means of reducing the physical drudgery and long hours commonly associated with nineteenth century working conditions, notwithstanding frequently found assumptions of Luddite attitudes. Some comparisons with and implications for today of these positive responses from workers in the past are suggested.