Page:Manual of Political Economy.djvu/113

64 quarter of the world, but at the same time she equally enriches the countries with whom she trades.

In an earlier part of this chapter, we considered the increased efficiency given to labour, when the distinct operations of any industry are performed by separate sets of workmen. In this case, workmen who are differently employed combine to assist each other in the production of the same commodity, and hence division of labour is an instance of the complex cooperation of labour. We have therefore departed from scientific accuracy in our arrangement of this chapter, and, partly in deference to popular opinion, have given precedence in our remarks to a discussion of the advantages of division of labour. Political economists following in the steps of Adam Smith have restricted the subject of the division of labour to its narrow sense. The reason of this may perhaps be, that the illustrations used by Adam Smith have made the division of labour one of the most popular parts of political economy; and thus its importance, compared with other portions of the subject, has been greatly exaggerated.