OF LARGE FACTORIES.

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it is most advantageous to divide it is ascertained, aswell as the number of individuals to be employed, thenall other manufactories which do not employ a directmultiple of this number, will produce the article at agreater cost. This principle ought always to be keptin view in great establishments, although it is quiteimpossible, even with the best system of the divisionof labour, to carry it rigidly into execution. Theproportion of the persons employed who possessthe greatest skill, is of course to be first attendedto. That exact ratio which is most profitable for afactory employing a hundred workmen, may not bequite the most fit for one in which there are five hun-dred ; and probably both admit of variations in theirarrangements without materially increasing the costof their produce. But it is quite certain that noindividual, nor in the case of pin-making could anyfive individuals, ever hope to compete with an ex-tensive establishment. Hence arises one of the causesof the great size of manufacturing establishments,which have increased with the progress of civilization.Other circumstances, however, contribute to the sameend, and arise also from the same cause— the divisionof labour.

(205.) The material out of which the manufacturedarticle is produced, must, in the several stages of itsprogress, be conveyed from one operator to the next insuccession : this can be done at least expense whenthey are all working in the same establishment. Ifthe material is heavy, this reason acts with additionalforce ; but in cases where it is light, the dangerarising from frequently removing it may render itdesirable to have all the processes carried on in the