Chapter 2 PART ONE CHAPTER ONE ON THE DIVISION OF LABOR

The greatest increases in the productivity of labour, and the greater dexterity, skill, and judgment in the exercise of labour, seem to be the result of the division of labour. In order to make it easier for readers to understand the results of the general division of labor in society, I will now discuss the division of labor in individual manufacturing industries.The manufactures in which the division of labor is most complete are generally considered to be those of the most insignificant importance.The division of labor in unimportant manufactures is in fact no more thorough than that of important manufactures.But insignificant manufactures, aimed at supplying the small wants of a few, necessarily employ only a small number of laborers, and the workmen engaged in various branches of work may often be assembled in the same factory, so that the observer can see them all at a glance.On the other hand, those large manufactures supply the great needs of the great number of people, so that there are so many laborers employed in every branch of work that it is impossible to gather them together in one factory.It is impossible for us to see workers in more than one department at the same time.The work of such a large manufacture, though in fact divided into much greater parts than that of a small manufacture, is less noticed, as this division is not so sharp as that of a small manufacture.

The pin-making industry is extremely small, but its division of labor often calls attention to it.So, I cite it as an example.If a laborer has not received considerable training for this occupation (the result of the division of labor, making the manufacture of pins a specialized occupation), and does not know how to use the machinery of this occupation (which makes it possible to invent this machinery), I am afraid division of labor), then no matter how hard you work, you may not be able to make a single pin in a day, and of course it is absolutely impossible to make twenty.But according to the present method of business, not only is the whole of this work a specialized occupation, but it is divided into several branches, the majority of which are likewise specialized.One draws the wire, another straightens it, another cuts it, one sharpens one end of the wire, and another grinds the other end for the ball end.To make a round head, two or three different operations are required.Putting round heads, painting white, and even packaging are all specialized occupations.Thus, the manufacture of pins is divided into eighteen operations.In some factories, these 18 operations are divided into 18 specialized workers.Of course, sometimes one person also serves as the second or third door.I have seen a small factory of this kind employing only ten workers, so that in this one factory several workers were employed in two or three operations.The workmen of such a small factory, though poor, with the rudimentary machinery necessary for them, can, if they are diligent and diligent, make twelve pounds of needles in a day.Considering that there are 4,000 medium needles per pound, these ten workers can make 48,000 needles a day, that is, one person can make 4,800 needles a day.If they work independently and do not specialize in a special business, then no matter who they are, they will definitely not be able to make twenty needles a day, maybe even one needle a day.Not only would they not be able to produce one-two hundred and fortyth of the quantity that can be produced today by a proper division of labor, they would probably not be able to produce even one forty-eight hundredth of this quantity.

As far as various other crafts and manufacturing industries are concerned, although there are many that cannot be divided into such a fine division of labor, and the joint operation cannot be made so simple, the effect of the division of labor is always the same.Any technology that can adopt the division of labor system will increase the productivity of labor correspondingly once the division of labor system is adopted.The separation of the various trades also seems to have been due to this advantage of the division of labour.If a country's industrial and labor productivity increases are extremely high, the division of labor in its various industries will generally also reach an extremely high degree.What is the work of one man in a savage society becomes generally the work of several in an advanced society.In progressive societies, farmers are generally just farmers, and makers just makers.Moreover, the labor necessary for the production of a complete manufacture is often divided among many labourers.Take, for example, the linen and woolen industries, from the production of flax and wool to the bleaching and ironing of the linen, or the dyeing and finishing of the woolen cloth, how many different arts are employed in each branch!Because of its nature, agriculture cannot have such a fine division of labor, nor can all kinds of work be so sharply divided, like manufacturing.The trade of a carpenter is generally as distinct from that of a blacksmith, but the business of a cattle herdsman cannot be so completely separated from that of a rice grower.Spinners and weavers are almost two separate people, but hoeing, raking, sowing and harvesting are often performed by the same person.All kinds of labor in agriculture are itinerant with the passage of seasons, and it is absolutely impossible to designate a person to only do one kind of labor.Therefore, the main reason why the increase in labor productivity in agriculture cannot always keep up with the increase in labor productivity in manufacturing may be that agriculture cannot adopt a complete system of division of labor.The richest country at present, though superior to its neighbors in both agriculture and manufactures, must be more superior in manufactures than in agriculture.The land in rich countries is generally better cultivated, more labor and expenses are invested in the land, and the products produced are also more in proportion to the area of ​​​​the land and its fertility; Less in proportion greatly outweighs the greater labor and expense involved.The labor of rich countries is not always much more productive in agriculture than in poor countries, at least not as it is generally the case in manufactures.Therefore, if the quality is equally good, the price of wheat in the rich country may not always be lower than that in the poor country.France is far superior in wealth and progress to Poland, yet the price of Polish wheat is as cheap as that of French wheat, which is of an equally good quality.France may be less rich and more advanced than England, but the wheat of the French provinces produces wheat of exactly the same quality as that of England, and, in most years, about the same price.England, however, is better cultivated than France, and France, it is said, is much better cultivated than Poland.Although the cultivation of the poor countries is not as good as that of the rich countries, the wheat produced by the poor countries can compete with the rich countries to a considerable extent in terms of good quality and cheap price.But the poor country cannot compete with the rich country in manufactures;The reason why French silk is better and cheaper than English silk is that the silk weaving industry, at least under the conditions of today's high import duties on raw silk, is more adapted to the French climate than to the English climate.But England's ironware and coarse woolen fabrics are far superior to those of France, and British goods of the same quality are much cheaper than France's.It is said that Poland has almost no manufacturing industry, except for a few crude domestic manufacturing industries necessary for the founding of the country.

With the division of labor, the same number of workers can accomplish much more work than in the past. There are three reasons for this: first, the skills of workers are improved by specialization; A great deal of time must be lost, which can be avoided by the division of labor; thirdly, the many mechanical inventions which simplify and reduce labour, enable one man to do the work of many. First, The increase in the skill of the laborer necessarily increases the quantity of work which he can perform.As a result of the implementation of the division of labor, each laborer's business, since his life is limited to a single operation, can of course greatly improve his proficiency.An ordinary blacksmith who is accustomed to using a hammer but has never practiced making nails, when he has to make nails due to special accidents, I dare say that he can only make two or three hundred needles a day, and the quality is extremely poor.Even if you are accustomed to making nails, if you do not take nail making as your main occupation or profession, even if you work hard, you will not be able to make more than 800 or 1,000 nails in a day.I have seen several young people under the age of twenty who specialized in making nails. When they worked hard, each of them could make more than 2,300 nails a day.However, nail making is by no means the easiest operation.The same laborer has to drum the furnace, adjust the firepower, burn iron and swing a hammer to make nails, and have to change tools when making nail heads.In comparison, the operations required for making pins and buttons of metal are much simpler, and the man who makes it his life's business is generally much more proficient.In such manufactures, therefore, there are several operations which are so inconceivably swift that, if you had not seen them, you would never believe the power of the human hand.

Secondly, the advantage gained by saving the time which is always lost in passing from one employment to another, is much greater than we at first glance imagine.It is not possible to quickly switch from one job to another with completely different tools and in a different place.The country weaver who cultivates a small farm must waste a great deal of time in passing from his loom to the field, and from the field to his loom.It is true that if these two techniques can be carried out in the same workshop, the loss of time will undoubtedly be much less, but even so, the loss is still very large.When a person passes from one job to another, he usually hangs around for a while.At the beginning of a new job, it is difficult to concentrate on active work immediately, and it is always absent-minded.And for quite a while, he was joking rather than working.Habits of loitering, laziness, and casualness are, so to speak, acquired naturally, and even inevitably, by the rural laborer who has to change his job and tools every half hour, and who has to perform almost twenty different jobs every day of his life. cultivated.All these habits make rural laborers often slow and lazy, and even when they are very stressed, they will not work vigorously.So, even if there were no defects in skill, these habits alone must greatly reduce the amount of work he can perform.

Thirdly, the extent to which labor can be simplified and saved by the use of suitable mechanical energy is of course known to all without needing examples.All I have to say here is that the invention of machinery, which simplifies and saves labour, also appears to have arisen from the division of labour.Human beings find easier and more convenient ways of attaining their goals by concentrating their attention on a single object than by dividing their attention on many kinds of objects.As a result of the division of labor, the whole attention of each person will naturally be poured into one simple thing.So long as there is room for improvement in the nature of the work, some of the laborers employed in the various branches of labor will soon discover easier and more convenient means of performing their respective jobs.It is only so that a large part of the machinery used in the various manufactures in which the division of labor is most closely divided today was originally the invention of common workers.They are engaged in the simplest operations, and of course they will invent easier methods of operation.Whoever visits a manufactory frequently will see very fine machinery, invented by common workmen to make their part of the work done easily and quickly.In the first steam engine, it was necessary to hire a child to continuously open and close the passage between the boiler and the steam cylinder according to the lifting and lowering of the piston.Once a certain child who was in charge of this job, because he loves to play with his friends, tied the handle of the tongue door that opens and closes the passage with a rope to another part of the machine, so that the tongue door can be opened and closed by itself without manpower.The method originally thought of for fun has become one of the great improvements of the steam engine.

All mechanical improvements, however, are by no means exclusively invented by the users of the machines.Many improvements are the result of the ingenuity of the specialized mechanic; others are the result of the wisdom of the philosopher or thinker.The task of philosophers or thinkers is not to make anything but to observe everything, so they are often able to combine and use various completely unrelated and very dissimilar physical forces.Philosophy or speculation, like every other profession, becomes, with the progress of society, the chief business and special occupation of a definite class of people.- Besides, this business or work, like other professions, is divided into many branches, each of which becomes a kind of philosopher's trade.This division of labor in philosophy, like that in industry, increases skill and saves time.Special workers who are good at each not only increase the achievements of the whole, but also greatly enhance the content of science.

The general opulence which, in a politically enlightened society, spreads to the lowest ranks of the people, is caused by the great increase of the output of all trades through the division of labour.Each laborer has a great deal of produce to sell besides what he himself needs; and, as all other laborers are in the same position, each can exchange the great produce of himself for the great produce of other laborers. , in other words, can be exchanged for the price of a large number of products of other laborers.What others need, he can fully supply; what he himself needs, others can also fully supply.As a result, all classes of society are generally prosperous.

Consider the commodities of the commonest artisan or day-worker in a civilized and prosperous country; and you will see that the number of persons who employ a part, though only a small part, of his labor to produce such commodities is innumerable.For example, the coarse woolen coat worn by the day laborer is the product of the joint labor of many laborers.To complete this modest production, there must have been the combined work of the shepherds, the pickers, the carders, the dyers, the carders, the spinners, the weavers, the bleachers, the tailors, and many others.In addition, the places where these laborers live are often far apart. How many merchants and transporters are needed to transport materials from A to B!How much commerce and shipping would be required, how many boatmen, sailors, canvas-makers, and ropes should be employed, for the materials which the dyers used had to be procured from various distant parts of the world. Maker!What a variety of labor is required to produce the tools of the most common labourers!Complex machinery, such as the sailor's boat, the fuller's waterwheel, or the weaver's loom, let alone simple instruments, such as the scissors with which the shepherd shears wool, require many kinds of labour.To produce this very simple pair of scissors, miners, builders of iron furnaces, woodcutters, charcoal burners in iron furnaces, brickmakers, plasterers, workers who serve iron furnaces, machine fitters, blacksmiths, etc., It is necessary to connect their various skills.Likewise, if we examine the clothing and domestic implements of a laborer, such as the linen shirt he wears, the shoes on his feet, the bed in which he sleeps and all the fittings for the bed, the stove with which he prepares his food, quarried from the ground and perhaps Coal for cooking, all other utensils in the kitchen, all utensils on the table, knives and forks, earthen and pewter utensils for holding and serving food, making bread and The various workmen with whom he feeds and drinks the ale, the windows of glass that let in heat and light and keep out the wind and rain, and all the knowledge and skill necessary for the great inventions that make the north of the world a very comfortable place to live Various utensils and the like used for these convenience items.In short, if we consider all these things, and take into account the various kinds of labor invested in each of them, we shall see that without the help and co-operation of thousands of men, the worthless man in a civilized country, Even in the comfortable and simple manner to which he is generally accustomed (which we very wrongly imagine), he cannot obtain his daily supplies.