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56 advantage of the steam thrashing machine was proved long before the farmers could be generally induced to use it. Routine has often so dulled the minds of those who are employed in some special industrial operation, that they are reluctant to understand that any improvement in the processes of a particular industry is required.

Although division of labour may not be so entirely the cause of mechanical inventions as is sometimes supposed, yet there can be no doubt that a mechanical invention almost always induces a greater division of labour. When a machine is at work there are various operations performed by it which must be separately attended to. The machinery employed in a cotton-mill regulates the extent to which the division of labour is carried: for every process through which the cotton passes, from the time it is cleaned until it is woven into cloth, must be separately attended to, and thus, division of labour is enforced by the application of machinery. The introduction of new machinery may necessitate a much greater division of labour. Boat-building has not hitherto required any great division of labour. A most ingenious machine, however, has been invented by an American, Mr. Nathan Thompson, by which a boat may be completely built in a few hours. If boats are thus built, the nature of the machine will exactly determine to what extent division of labour will be henceforth practised in boat-building, for the distinct operations performed by the machine must be attended to by a certain number of workmen.

Mr. Babbage pointed out a most important advantage resulting from the division of labour which was altogether omitted by Adam Smith. Our former example will most clearly illustrate this advantage. The labourers who are employed in the various operations in pin-making receive wages which vary greatly. Boys can fasten on the heads of the pins with as much facility as men; girls can sort and pack the pins with great rapidity. Some of the other operations of pin-making, such as drawing the wire and pointing the ends, are performed by highly trained and very skilled labourers, and consequently the remuneration received varies from fourpence-halfpenny to four shillings per day; and in