INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 333 



One fact dominates all the investigations 

 which have been made into the conditions of the 

 small industries. We find it hi Germany, as 

 well as in France or in Russia. In an immense 

 number of trades it is not the superiority of 

 the technical organisation of the trade in a 

 factory, nor the economies realised on the 

 prime-motor, which militate against the small 

 industry in favour of the factories, but the 

 more advantageous conditions for selling the 

 produce and for buying the raw produce which 

 are at the disposal of big concerns. Wherever 

 this difficulty has been overcome, either by 

 means of association, or in consequence of a 

 market being secured for the sale of the pro- 

 duce, it has always been found first, that the 

 conditions of the workers or artisans immedi- 

 ately improved ; and next, that a rapid prog- 

 ress was realised in the technical aspects of 

 the respective industries. New processes were 

 introduced to improve the produce or to in- 

 crease the rapidity of its fabrication ; new 

 machine-tools were invented ; or new motors 

 were resorted to ; or the trade was reorganised 

 so as to diminish the costs of production. 



On the contrary, wherever the helpless, 

 isolated artisans and workers continue to re- 

 main at the mercy of the wholesale buyers, 

 who always since Adam Smith's time 



