352 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



paupers out of its male inhabitants ; and it is 

 quite natural that it should be opposed by all 

 means by the workers, if they have succeeded 

 in maintaining their olden trades' organisations 

 (as at Sheffield, or Solingen), or if they have 

 not yet been reduced to sheer misery (as in the 

 Jura). But under a more rational social 

 organisation the factory would find no such 

 obstacles : it would be a boon to the village. 

 And there is already unmistakable evidence to 

 show that a move in this direction is being 

 made in a few village communities. 



The moral and physical advantages which 

 man would derive from dividing his work 

 between the field and the workshop are self- 

 evident. But the difficulty is, we are told, in 

 the necessary centralisation of the modern 

 industries. In industry, as well as in politics, 

 centralisation has so many admirers ! But in 

 both spheres the ideal of the centralisers badly 

 needs revision. In fact, if we analyse the 

 modern industries, we soon discover that for 

 some of them the co-operation of hundreds, 

 or even thousands, of workers gathered at the 

 same spot is really necessary. The great iron 

 works and mining enterprises decidedly belong 

 to that category ; oceanic steamers cannot be 

 built in village factories. But very many of 



