Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/383

Rh the expenditure, together with the ordinary profits of capital: the other part of its price may be looked upon as charity, given to induce the manufacturer to continue an unprofitable use of his capital, in order to give employment to his workmen. If the sum of what the consumers are thus forced to pay, merely on account of these artificial restrictions, were generally known, its amount would astonish even those who advocate them; and it would be evident to both parties, that the employment of capital in those branches of trade ought to be abandoned.

(424.) The restriction of articles produced in a manufactory to certain sizes, is attended with some good effect in an economical view, arising chiefly from the smaller number of different tools required in making them, as well as from less frequent change in the adjustment of those tools. A similar source of economy is employed in the navy: by having ships divided into a certain number of classes, each of which comprises vessels of the same dimensions, the rigging made for one vessel will fit any other of its class; a circumstance which renders the supply of distant stations more easy.

(425.) The effects of the removal of a monopoly are often very important, and they were perhaps never more remarkable than in the bobbin-net trade, in the years 1824 and 1825. These effects were, however, considerably enhanced by the general rage for speculation which was so prevalent during that singular period. One of the patents of Mr. Heathcote for a bobbin-net machine had just then expired, whilst another, for an improvement in a particular part of such machines, called a turn-again, had yet a few