2. Mental labor, which engages chiefly the faculties of the mind.

All productive industry combines some physical and some mental effort. Even the day-laborer must exercise his mind to handle his shovel with judgment and skill. In general, labor is effective in proportion as it is directed by intelligent mind.

Physical labor only moves things. It depends on the capacity of living muscle to contract and expand, as governed by the will. But this power to produce motion under the control of intelligent mind gives man unlimited command over the forces of nature to achieve his purposes.

Mental labor is directly concerned in the production of wealth in three ways:

1. In investigation to discover the properties and laws of matter. So chemical research made known the substance phosphorus, and its property of starting into flame under friction.

2. In invention to devise methods and instruments by which the properties of matter may be made to meet human wants. So matches were invented, a very simple instrument, by which phosphorus is used to kindle our fires. So the spinningjenny and the power-loom were devised to facilitate and cheapen the process of making cloth.

3. In oversight and superintendence. In the simplest kinds of labor, mind must direct muscle. Where numbers are joined in labor for a given product, one ingenious mind, superintending, gives effect to the muscular exertions of a score of ignorant workers.

It is obvious, that, in the wide range of productive industry, mental labor is quite as essential as physical labor. Whatever, therefore, quickens the mental activity and promotes the intelligence of a people, tends to the increase of their wealth.

Mental labor is also indirectly instrumental in production, as it is applied to improve the physical health and the mental capacity of individuals, and to maintain order, justice, and security in human society. Here belong the mother's care in nursing and training children; the teacher's labor to develop the minds of youth; the lawyer's counsel and pleadings to define and maintain the rights and obligations of men under the rule of civil law; the minister's efforts, by the truths and precepts of God's word, to form good consciences, and improve the public moral sense; and the varied services of legislators and officers of government to insure stability and order in the very structure of society. Though these labors do not directly bring forth material products, they favor all the productive industry of a people, and are as essential to the best results of its processes as the manual labor of the farmer or the blacksmith.

The Changes effected by Labor applied to matter may all be reduced to three, which are indicated by the three words, Transmutation, Transformation, and Transportation.

1. Transmutation is a change in the elementary form of matter. So, by the labor of the farmer, carbon, gases, and water are changed into wheat;

by that of the chemist, acids and alkalies are changed into salts; by that of the tanner, skins and tannin are changed into leather.

2. Transformation is a change in the aggregate form of matter. The shoemaker transforms a hide of leather into shoes; the smith transforms a piece of iron into a horse-shoe; the spinner transforms a bale of cotton into thread, and the weaver transforms the thread into cloth.

3. Transportation is a change in the place of matter, as when a cargo of wheat is transported by ship from New York to Liverpool, or ten tons of dry goods are transported by rail-car from New York to Chicago.

In a general way these changes represent respectively the agricultural, the mechanical, and the commercial departments of human industry; and each contributes an important element of utility. He who makes the flour, and he who transports it to the people who need it, render as important services for the satisfaction of wants as the farmer who raises the wheat. These divers forms of labor stimulate and support each other.

These several forms of labor enter in different degrees into the value of different articles. Thus butchers' meat and green vegetables derive most of their value from transmutation; clothing, cutlery, &c., derive the greater part of their value from transformation; and the value of bulky articles like coal is determined very much by the cost of transportation. In most articles, however, we see more or less of all these forms of labor combined. By

new devices and increased facilities for either of these forms of labor, production is enlarged and improved, and comforts are multiplied.

EXERCISES.

1. What is the difference between labor and play?

2. What is skill?

3. How are man's muscle and mind and a force of nature combined in driving a nail ?

4. What kinds of labor produced the magnetic telegraph ?

5. How does that invention aid production?

6. What services do the chemist and pattern-drawer in a calico-mill render?

7. How is the payment of a high salary to the manager of a cotton-mill good economy?

8. How is production favored by the brain-work of students of science, of inventors, of lawyers, of teachers, of legislators, judges, and magistrates?

9. If you buy a pocket-knife for fifty cents, how many and what forms of labor does the price represent ?

10. How do good roads favor production?

11. How do the operations of thieves and swindlers affect production ?

12. Do gamblers and speculators contribute to the increase of wealth?

13. How does the prevalence of drunkenness affect the industry of a community?

14. Are men who labor in the learned professions fitly called non-producers ?

SECTION II. — MEANS FOR INCREASING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LABOR.

Economy of labor is an important consideration in the increase of wealth. Man's physical power is limited, and his strength is soon exhausted. But there are forces of nature which are stronger than he, and some of which never tire. These he can bring into his service, and so at the same time relieve the burden and multiply the products of his labor.

There is also great difference in the capacities of different men. Some have strong muscles and dull minds. Others have strong minds in weak bodies. Some are specially fitted for one kind of labor, and others for another. The fruits of labor will therefore be increased, if many join hands under a systematic arrangement which sets every one to doing the particular work for which he is best fitted.

There are thus two ways in which the effectiveness of human labor may be increased:

First, by devices for employing the agents and

forces of nature.

Second, by a systematic division of labor.

1. The agents and forces of nature most available for production are: —

a. The muscular power and instincts of animals. b. The light and heat of the sun.

c. The force of gravitation, especially in falling

water.