Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/154

120 secure him from the caprices of fashion, whilst it furnishes a far greater amount of profit, although the contribution of each individual is diminished. The importance of collecting data, for the purpose of enabling the manufacturer to ascertain how many additional customers he will acquire by a given reduction in the price of the article he makes, cannot be too strongly pressed upon the attention of those who employ themselves in statistical inquiries. In some ranks of society, no diminution of price can bring forward a great additional number of customers; whilst, among other classes, a very small reduction will so enlarge the sale, as to yield a considerable increase of profit. Materials calculated to assist in forming a Table of the numbers of persons who possess incomes of different amount, occur in the 14th Report of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry; which includes a statement of the amount of personal property proved at the legacy office during one year; the number of the various classes of testators; and an account of the number of persons receiving dividends from funded property, distributed into classes. Such a table, formed even approximately, and exhibited in the form of a curve, might be of service.

(164.) A considerable difference exists between the terms making and manufacturing. The former refers to the production of a small, the latter to that of a very large number of individuals; and the difference is well illustrated in the evidence, given before the Committee of the House of Commons, on the Export of Tools and Machinery. On that occasion Mr. Maudslay stated, that he had been applied to by the Navy Board to make iron tanks for ships, and