LABOUR. 



LABOURER. 



Labour is the sole source of exchangeable 

 value, and, consequently, of wealth. It is the 

 talisman that has raised man from the condi- 

 tion of the savage ; that has changed the desert 

 and the forest into cultivated fields ; that has 

 covered the earth with cities, and the ocean 

 with ships; that has given us abundance, com- 

 fort, and elegance, instead of want, misery, and 

 barbarism. Labour, according as it is applied 

 to the raising of raw produce, to the fashioning 

 of that raw produce, when raised into articles 

 of utility, convenience, or ornament, or to the 

 conveyance of raw and wrought produce from 

 one country or place to another, is said to be 

 agricultural, manufacturing, or commercial. 

 An acquaintance with the particular process, 

 and most advantageous methods of applying 

 labour in each of these grand departments of 

 industry, forms the peculiar and appropriate 

 study of agriculturists, manufacturers, and 

 merchants. 



In thus endeavouring to exhibit the import- 

 ance of labour, and the advantages which its 

 successful prosecution confers on man, it must 

 not be supposed that reference is made to the 

 labour of the hand only. This species, indeed, 

 coni''> tnostunder our observation; it is that, too, 

 without which we could not exist, and which 

 principally determines the valueof commodities. 

 It is questionable, however, whether it be really 

 more productive than the labour of the mind. 

 The hand is not more necessary to execute 

 than the head to contrive. All the means by 

 which labour may be facilitated and wealth 

 increased resolve themselves, 1st, into the 

 better division and combination of employment 

 anuui'/ individuals and nations; and 2d, into 

 the more extensive or more judicious applica- 

 tion of capital or stock in industrious under- 

 takin 



Tin- division of employments can only be 

 imperfectly established in rude societies and 

 thinly-peopled countries; but in every state of 

 society in the rudest as well as the most im- 

 proved we may trace its operation and effects. 

 Even in the simplest business this co-operation 

 and subdivision is required; neither hunting 

 nor fishing, any more than agriculture or ma- 

 nufacture, can be advantageously carried on 

 by solitary individuals. As society advances, 

 this division of labour extends itself on all 

 sides ; one man becomes a tanner or dresser 

 of skins, another a weaver, a third a smith, 

 and so on. The wealth and comforts of all 

 classes are, in consequence, prodigiously aug- 

 mented. In countries where the division of 

 labour is carried on to a considerable extent, 

 agriculturists are not obliged to spend their 

 time in clumsy attempts to manufacture their 

 own produce, and manufacturers cease to in- 

 terest themselves about the raising of corn, and 

 the fattening of cattle. The facility of ex- 

 changing is the vivifying principle of industry ; 

 it stimulates agriculturists to adopt the best 

 system of cultivation, and to raise the largest 

 crops, because it enables them to exchange 

 whatever portion of the pr.-Juce of the land 

 exceeds their own wants for other commodities 

 contributing to their comforts and enjoyments, 

 and it stimulates manufacturers and merchants 

 to increase and improve the quantity, variety, 



and quality of their goods/ thixt they may 

 thereby obtain greater supplies of raw pro- 

 duce. A spirit of industry is thus universally 

 diffused ; and that apathy and languor which 

 characterize a rude state of society entirely 

 disappear. 



Besides that sort of division of labour which 

 enables each individual in a united society to 

 confine himself to a particular employment, 

 there is another and most important branch of 

 the division of labour, which not only enables 

 particular individuals, but the inhabitants of 

 entire districts, and even nations, to addict 

 themselves in preference to certain branches 

 of industry. It is on this territorial division of 

 labour, as it has been appropriately termed, 

 that the commerce carried on between differ- 

 ent districts of the same country, and between 

 different countries, is founded. The variations 

 in the situation, soil, climate, mineral products, 

 &c. of the different districts of an extensive 

 country, render them more suitable for some 

 than for other species of industry. A district 

 where coal is abundant, which has an easy 

 access to the ocean, and a considerable com- 

 mand of internal navigation, is the natural seat 

 of manufactures. Wheat and other species of 

 grain are the proper products of rich arable 

 soils ; and cattle, after being reared in moun- 

 tainous districts, are most advantageously fat- 

 tened in meadows and low grounds. Nothing 

 can be more obvious than that the inhabitants 

 of these different districts will be able, by con- 

 fining themselves to those employments, for the 

 prosecution of which they have some peculiar 

 capability, to produce a much greater quantity 

 of useful and desirable articles than they could 

 do were they to engage indiscriminately in 

 every possible employment. 



Providence, by giving different soils, cli- 

 mates and natural productions to different 

 countries, has evidently provided for their mu- 

 tual intercourse and civilization. By permit- 

 ting the people of each to employ their capital 

 and labour in those departments in which 

 their geographical situation, the physical capa- 

 cities of the soil, their national character and 

 habits fit them to excel, foreign commerce, or 

 the territorial division of labour, has a won- 

 derful influence in multiplying the products 

 of arts and industry. 



Having been led thus far into this fertile 

 subject, I will conclude with some apposite 

 and excellent observations by Dr. Paley: 

 " Every man has his work. The kind of work 

 varies, and that is all the difference there is. 

 A great deal of labour exists besides that of 

 the hands ; many species of industry besides 

 bodily operation, equally necessary, requiring 

 equal assiduity, more attention, more anxiety. 

 It is not true, therefore, that men of elevated 

 stations are exempted from work ; it is only 

 true that there is assigned to them work of a 

 different kind: whether more easy or more 

 pleasant may be questioned; but certainly not 

 less wanted, nor less essential to the common 

 good." (Brandt's Diet, of Lit. and drt.) 



LABOURER. One who is employed in 

 coarse and toilsome work. But, in agricu 1 

 ture, the term is applied to a person who per 

 forms the manual or most laborious part t f 



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