354 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



the pound of cotton yarn costs much less when 

 the factory doubles the number of its spindles. 

 But, in the opinion of the best engineering 

 authorities, such as Prof. W. Unwin, the 

 hydraulic, and especially the electric, dis- 

 tribution of power from a central station sets 

 aside the first part of the argument.* As to 

 its second part, calculations of this sort are 

 only good for those industries which prepare 

 the half-manufactured produce for further 

 transformations. As to those countless de- 

 scriptions of goods which derive their value 

 chiefly from the intervention of skilled labour, 

 they can be best fabricated in smaller factories 

 which employ a few hundreds, or even a few 

 scores of operatives. This is why the " con- 

 centration " so much spoken of is often nothing 

 but an amalgamation of capitalists for the 

 purpose of dominating the market, not for 

 cheapening the technical process. 



Even under the present conditions the 



* I may add from my own experience that such is also the 

 opinion of several Manchester employers : " I am saving 

 a great deal by using municipal electric power in my factory, 

 instead of the steam-engine." I was told by one of the most 

 respected members of the Manchester community : "I pay 

 for motive power according to the number of persons I employ 

 two hundred at certain times, and fifty in other parts of the 

 year. I need not buy coal and stock it in advance for all tha 

 year ; I have saved the room that was- occupied by the steam- 

 engine ; and the room above it is not heated and shaken by the 

 engine as it used to be." 



