But back then, people were much more capable of building a functioning economy that America is today. Therefore, any jobs being replaced by machines cannot really be considered a good thing.
People don't build an economy, though they sure can muck it up.
An economy is just the collective business, farming, trading, hunting activity of a people, a community, a region, a nation, a world.
Invisible hand and all that.
You sound like a farmer circa 1911. Net, net we’re all better off. We’re going through a transition period made worse by a Great Wall of Regulation that blocks job seekers from the skills needed in today’s jobs. The market will solve these problems. Faster if government gets out of the way, slower if it is status quo.