CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



This sort of division of labour is found to 

 have a much greater influence on the productive- 

 ness of industry than could possibly have been 

 supposed. 



The chief reasons are as follow : 



1. It saves waste of time and skill in frequently 

 passing from one process to another. After labour- 

 ing for some time at one thing, a man has 'got his 

 hand in.' If he turn to a different thing, his 'hand 

 is out* 



2. When a variety of operations are to be per- 

 formed by the same individual, he must frequently 

 readjust his tools, or pass from the use of one 

 kind of tools to another. This occasions a great 

 waste of time. By performing the same operation 

 continuously, the tools are always ready adjusted. 

 The saving is the greater where the adjustment of 

 tools requires not only time but expense, as in 

 heating a furnace. If the smith heat it, and leave 

 for the purpose of doing some other work, the fuel 

 consumed in the interval, as well as that necessary 

 to bring it again to temperature, is lost. 



3. When men confine themselves to a single 

 operation, they acquire a degree of dexterity, 

 rapidity, and nicety that is otherwise unattainable. 



4. Division of labour suggests the invention of 

 tools and machines, by which labour may be 

 rendered still more productive. As soon as an 

 operation is analysed into its separate processes, 

 it is comparatively easy to contrive machinery by 

 which to perform them. 



5. There is great diversity in the skill required 

 for performing the various parts of a process. 

 Some parts of the operation require great dex- 

 terity and training ; others can be performed by 

 the untrained, and even by children. Some parts 

 require labour worth many shillings, others can 

 be done by labour worth as many pence per day. 

 Without division of labour, all must be performed 

 by labour at the higher price. By judicious 

 division of labour, the manufacturer can employ 

 just the amount and just the kind of labour he 

 needs. This greatly reduces the cost of produc- 

 tion. 



The effect of all this is seen in the very low 

 price at which almost all articles of general use 

 may be obtained. For instance, suppose a lady 

 wanted a dozen needles, and applied to a jeweller 

 or other workman to have them made for her, she 

 could not obtain them at much less than a shill- 

 ing apiece. But needles are sold at about four 

 for a halfpenny ; and this entirely through the 

 advantage derived from the division of labour. 



But to this division of labour there is a natural 

 limit This limit depends upon several circum- 

 stances. For instance : 



1. A given process consists of no more than a 

 certain number of operations. When it has been 

 divided into as many parts as there are distinct 

 processes, and one part is assigned to each indi- 

 vidual, this is as far as division of labour can go. 

 There would be no economy in any further 

 division. 



2. Again, the practicability of division of labour 

 depends upon the capital of an individual or of 

 a country. A man must have accumulated some 

 considerable amount of capital before he can carry 

 division of labour into an occupation. For in- 

 stance, suppose that the division requires the 

 labour of ten men, he must have materials and 

 tools sufficient to employ ten hands. Nor is this 



470 



all : suppose that it take ten days to finish his 

 product, he must have material sufficient to 

 employ them during all this time before he 

 receives anything in return for that product. And 

 if it take a fortnight more before he is able to sell 

 his goods and obtain a fresh stock of material, 

 he must have a capital sufficient to employ them 

 during this time also. 



t 3. Division of labour can only be carried on 

 where there is sufficient demand for a product 

 to consume it as fast as it is manufactured. If 

 it would take ten men to manufacture pins by 

 division of labour, but only so many pins could be 

 sold as could be made by one man, the labour could 

 not be divided. This, however, depends upon 

 several other circumstances. For instance, the 

 demand depends upon the number and the wealth 

 of a community. There is a larger demand for 

 hats in a town of ten thousand inhabitants than 

 in a village of one hundred inhabitants. There 

 is also a greater demand for hats among a thou- 

 sand rich men than among a thousand beggars. 

 This is another reason why division of labour and 

 manufactures naturally increase with the growth, 

 and age, and wealth of any country. 



And hence, we see why roads, canals, and 

 railways are so beneficial to the industry of a 

 country. Facility of transport increases the 

 number of consumers, and by thus increasing the 

 demand, renders practicable the division of labour 

 in cases where before it was impracticable. 



Again, it is evident that demand must be greatly 

 affected by the cost of the article manufactured. 

 Costly articles are purchased only by the rich. 

 But the rich are only a small part of the com- 

 munity. Hence the demand for such articles is 

 but small. It is those articles which every one 

 wants, and which every one can buy, that create 

 such a demand as will enable them to be made at 

 the cheapest possible rate. Hence we see that 

 division of labour, and the reduction of price 

 which it occasions, benefits the poor much more 

 than it does the rich. We do not suppose that 

 jewellery, trinkets, rich laces, are much, if at all, 

 cheaper than they were forty or fifty years ago ; 

 while cotton cloth, hardware, woollen goods, and 

 all the manufactured necessaries of life, have fallen 

 in price from one-half to three-fourths. This is 

 an immense benefit to those of us who are obliged 

 to spend our money on necessaries and comforts, 

 and have none to spend on trinkets. 



Of Capital employed Productively. 



We have already explained the difference that 

 subsists between consumption that is unproduc- 

 tive, and consumption that is productive ; the 

 individual, while consuming his supply of com- 

 modities, may be occupied in producing by his 

 labour fresh commodities, which possess ex- 

 changeable value ; or he may spend his time 

 entirely in consumption, and without producing 

 new and useful commodities. To the extent his 

 consumption enabled him to produce new articles, 

 it is regarded as productive ; to the extent 

 it was not applied to maintain productive labour, 

 his consumption is regarded as unproductive. A 

 like distinction extends to the employment of 

 capital To the extent capital is employed in aid 

 of the production of new commodities, it is em- 

 ployed productively ; to the extent it is employed 

 apart from such an object, it is unproductively 





