MANUFACTURES. 33

CHAPTER II.

OF THE ECONOMICAL PRINCIPLES OF MANUFACTURES.

INTRODUCTION.

Mam,- To produce any article of consumption in a perfect form is the first object of everv Sect. i.

factures* • ** J .

— v —' person who attempts to make it; but in order to secure to himself the greatest and vmost permanent profit, he must endeavour by every means in his power to render thenew luxury or want, which he has created, cheap to those who consume it.

The number of his purchasers will, in some measure, secure him from the caprices offashion, whilst it furnishes a far larger amount of profit, although the contribution ofeach individual is diminished.

If, therefore, he wish to become a Manufacturer, he must attend to other principlesbesides those mechanical ones on which the successful execution of his work depends;he must carefully arrange the whole system of his factory in such a manner, that thearticle he sells to the Public may be produced at as small cost as possible.

Should he not be actuated by such remote motives, he will in every highly civilizedCountry be compelled, by the powerful stimulus of competition, to attend to theseprinciples of the domestic economy of Manufactures. At every reduction in price ofthe commodity he makes, he will be driven to seek compensation in a saving ofexpense in some of the processes, and his ingenuity will be sharpened in this inquiryby the hope of being able in his turn to undersell his rivals.

The improvements thus engendered remain for a short time enriching those fromwhose ingenuity they derived their origin; but when a sufficient experience has showntheir value, they become generally adopted, until these in their turn are superseded byother more economical methods.

The economical principles which regulate the application of Machinery , and whichgovern the interior of all our great factories, are quite as essential to the prosperity ofa great commercial Country, as are those Mechanical ones the operations of which wehave attempted to illustrate in the preceding Chapter.

ON TIIE DIVISION OF EABOUR.

One and perhaps the most important principle on which the economy of a Manufacturedepends, is the division of labour amongst the operatives who work at it. The firstapplication of this principle must have been made in a very early stage of Society, andit must soon have been apparent, that more comforts and conveniences could be acquiredby one man restricting his occupation to the art of making bows, another to that ofbuilding houses, a third boats, and so on.

This division of labour into Trades was not, however, the result of an opinion, that the Division ofgeneral riches of the community would be increased by such an arrangement; but it

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