DIVISION OF LABOUR. 73 day in making a dozen of very bad ones; whereas by giving their attention exclusively to this branch of industry, and subdividing its various processes among themselves, ten men will, in a pin manufactory, make in one day as many as 50,000 well-finished pins, and their cost to the consumer is proportionately reduced. The rapidity with which the operations of some manufactures are performed, exceeds what the human hand could, by those who had never seen them, be supposed capable of acquiring. Secondly, the saving of time. An individual who carries on many different employments in places often necessarily far apart, must waste much time in moving from one to the other, which will be saved by attaching himself exclusively to one occupation. This is Adam Smith's argument, but he might have thrown a far stronger light on the economy of time that results from a well-regulated division of labour, if he had noticed the power it frequently gives to one individual to do the work of numbers, quite as effectually as they could do it themselves. An excellent illustration of this benefit is given by Dr. Whately* in the establishment of a post-office and letter-carriers, without which every letter would require a special messenger to convey it to its destination. A postman who carries a thousand letters from the city, and delivers them in the vicinity of Chelsea in the course of a few hours, may be said to do the work which, without such a contrivance, would engage a thousand persons for nearly the same time. The carriage of goods of all kinds by persons who *Lectures on Political Economy, Oxford, 1831. specially addict themselves to that calling, whether by sea or land, is, of all branches into which employment is divided, one of the most generally useful; because it operates to a vast extent in economising the time and labour of individuals. At what rate would production of any kind advance, if every labourer were obliged to proceed in person to fetch every article he required from the spot where it was raised, and to carry every thing he produces to the place where it is to be consumed? It is evident that, by these and many other contrivances, there is not only effected a vast economy of time, but of power likewise, through the division of labour. Without it a man would be often employed in doing what a child could equally well perform; and a workman of consummate skill or natural capacity for some particular branch of industry would be forced to let his great powers of production remain dormant for the greater part of his time, while he was providing for his varied necessities in a number of occupations, which might be as well done by those who are capable of nothing else. Thirdly, the invention of tools, machines, and processes for shortening labour and facilitating production. It is evident that a man who is eternally shifting from one occupation to another, for the direct supply of all his various wants by his individual exertions, will not be near so likely to invent ingenious methods for shortening or saving his labour, as one whose attention is devoted exclusively to a particular branch of industry. In fact, by far the greater number of improve DIVISION OF LABOUR. 75 ments in tools and machinery have been produced by the efforts of workmen and artificers to economize their time and trouble, and increase the productiveness of their peculiar employments. Perhaps in no trade has the division of labour been successfully carried to so great an extent as in that of watch-making. In an examination before a committee of the House of Commons, it was stated, that there are a hundred and two distinct branches of this art, to each of which a boy may be apprenticed. An equal gain results from the division of the labour of the head, as from that of the hands. 'As society advances, the study of particular branches of science and philosophy becomes the principal or sole occupation of the most ingenious men. Chemistry becomes a distinct science from natural philosophy; the physical astronomer separates himself from the astronomical observer; the political economist from the politician; and each meditating exclusively or principally on his peculiar department of science, attains to a degree of proficiency and expertness in it which the general scholar seldom or never reaches. And hence, in labouring to promote our own ends, we all necessarily adopt that precise course which is most advantageous for all. Like the different parts of a well-constructed engine, the inhabitants of a civilized country are all mutually dependent on, and connected with each other. Without any previous concert, and obeying only the powerful and steady impulse of self-interest, they universally conspire to the same great end; and contribute, each in his respective sphere, to furnish the greatest supply of necessaries, luxuries, conveniences, and enjoyments.'* The system of the division of labour might be equally called the combination of labour, since its effect is the co-operation of many labourers to produce a common result. In fact, wherever this system has made any considerable progress, the society assumes emphatically a co-operative cha racter. Every member is dependent on the aid of others in everything that he does, and for everything that he enjoys. The ploughman cannot turn a furrow without the help of the wheelwright and smith; these can do nothing without that of the timber and iron merchant, the miner, and the smelter. These again must be assisted by the rope-maker, the powder manufacturer, the engineer, the carrier, and several others; while all depend upon the baker, the mealman, the butcher, the farmer, the grazier, &c. for their supplies of food, and on the tailor, the cotton and cloth weavers, the flax and wool grower, the importer of cotton, &c. for their clothing. All society is, in fact, one closely-woven web of mutual dependence, in which every individual fibre gains in strength and utility from its entwinement with the rest. But while all the members of society co-operate for a common purpose, the increase of the general welfare, each individual is still strictly occupied in pursuing what he considers his own private and exclusive interest in whatever way he likes best. And here is to be seen the vast superiority of the principle of freedom over that of compulsion-of the system of co-operation which springs naturally * Macculloch, Political Economy, p. 95. CO-OPERATION OF LABOURERS. 77 and spontaneously from the mutual wants of men, over that artificial, forced, and premeditated system of co-operation, which of late has been put forward as the true rule of social arrangement, by the erratic and visionary philanthropist, Mr. Owen, and some of his followers. Had the wisest of mortals, at any former period in the history of this country, been entrusted with full powers to frame and organize a co-operative system, assigning to each individual in the state the task he was to perform for the common welfare, and distributing to each the share considered to belong to him of the common produce-can it be supposed for a moment that he would have been able to devise arrangements capable of securing anything like the efficacy and perfection with which the principles of free labour, private property, and free exchange perform at present the supply of all the varied and complicated wants of this vast population? If we confine our attention to the mode in which the inhabitants of the metropolis are provided with the necessaries of life, we may see in it a wonderful phenomenon strongly illustrative of the benefits of the actual system of co-operation, founded on these great principles. If the management of this important business were entrusted to a few individuals, a neglect, a mistake, an indiscretion on their part, might occasionally bring upon this mighty centre of wealth and industry all the horrors of famine, and compromise the existence of a million and a half of people. What is it, then, that performs this important function—that supplies this great population with |