188 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 



master would have to undertake all the risks of pro- 

 duction himself: he would provide the thread, the 

 looms, and other machinery required for setting up 

 the warp ; he would hire the room or factory in which 

 his men were to work, and pay wages which would 

 amount to Rs. 120 or Rs. 180 a month, according to 

 the number of looms he had in work. The master 

 would then have the task of selling the manufactured 

 cloth to the cloth-dealers in the nearest bazaar, and 

 the price which he would get, minus the sum of his 

 expenses, would represent his profit. According to 

 the calculations made by Mr. Havell, the profits would 

 amount to 8 annas a day on each loom — that is to say, 

 if the master had twenty looms going he would make 

 a profit of Rs. 10 a day or Rs. 240 in a month of 

 twenty-four working days. I think it very improb- 

 able that so high a rate of profit could be maintained, 

 as there are many items of expenditure to be con- 

 sidered, such as rent, interest on capital, etc., which 

 were not in the scope of Mr. Havell s inquiry. But 

 even if very large reductions are made on this score, 

 there is still left a very considerable profit, which 

 would probably represent a larger remuneration for 

 his energy than a young Indian could secure in other 

 walks of life. If once it can be demonstrated that the 

 direction of hand-weaving factories is as profitable an 

 occupation as forensic pleading or Government service, 

 there will be plenty of young men in Indian colleges 

 to enter this line of life, and under the direction of 

 these small capitalists the industry will be developed 

 and expanded to an extent and with a rapidity which 

 cannot be expected from the artisans themselves. 



It is probable that the output of the textile industry 

 would be enormously increased by the introduction of 

 a system of small factories directed by capitalist em- 

 ployers ; but to the village weaver, with whom we are 

 here particularly concerned, this industrial revolution 

 could hardly be other than injurious. When once the 



