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 an

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.

d. Moving currents of wind.

e. The expansive force of steam.

f. The explosive force of gunpowder, dynamite,

&c.

g. The attractions and repulsions of electricity and galvanism.

h. The action of chemical forces.

To these we must add, for combining and directing all kinds of forces, the mechanical principles or powers; viz., the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wheel and axle, the wedge, and the screw.

The properties of matter embodied in these agents are the gift of God, and of themselves cost us nothing. But in most cases, to make them available, some instrument must be employed which has cost labor. Thus, to control animal power, we need yoke or harness, cart or wagon, &c.; a lens enables us to intensify the light and heat of the sun; by means of a water-wheel or pendulum we command the force of gravitation; by a wind-wheel we catch the force of moving air; by a steam-engine we accumulate and direct the expansive force of steam; by a hammer we combine the principle of the lever with the force of gravitation and the density of steel; and the complicated machinery of a cottonmill is but an adjustment of various means to the great purpose of physical labor, which we have seen to be to produce and direct motion.

These instruments, when simple, like a hammer, a spade, a plane, are called tools. When complicated, like a fanning-mill, a spinning-jenny, or a steamengine, they are called machines. Some instruments

are required in every kind of labor, for human limbs and muscles and brains unassisted can accomplish but little. The inventions of the last fifty years have introduced elaborate machinery into all branches of industry. One man with a pair of horses, a plough, a drill, and a cultivator, can cultivate ten times as much land as he could with only a spade and hoe.

This use of natural agents increases the effectiveness of labor in two ways:

First, it enables one man to do the work which must otherwise require a number of persons, and so either sets free a portion of labor for other occupations, or greatly multiplies and cheapens products.

Second, it achieves what no amount of labor unassisted could perform. So the telegraph-machine is a means of instantaneous communication between places a thousand miles apart; the locomotive can propel a train of cars at the rate of forty or sixty miles an hour; a screw-machine will turn out screws by the million, with a uniformity and nicety of finish which could not be attained by hand-work.

The great benefit thus realized is in multiplying the means of satisfying human wants, and bringing them within the reach of all classes of people. An incidental disadvantage is, that, with the introduction of labor-saving machinery, many persons are thrown, at least temporarily, out of employment, or are compelled to learn new methods of labor. It involves also the danger of over-production in certain articles, and of a general disturbance of the harmonious relations of different branches of indus

try. Nevertheless the good results far outweigh the evil; and we may hope that the problem, now before the world, of adjusting the system of labor to the new condition of things, will soon find a happy solution, which shall be equitable and advantageous to all.

2. Division of Labor applied to production means that different kinds of labor be distributed to different individuals and classes so that all shall do that for which they are best fitted.

The principle is illustrated on a broad scale in the peculiar industries of different countries adapted to their respective advantages. Thus tea is a special product of China, cotton of our Southern States, cutlery of England, silk goods of France and Italy.

In all civilized communities people take up different trades and professions according to their several capacities, tastes, and circumstances. The results of labor are both increased and improved when the farmer and the baker, the blacksmith and the jeweller, the weaver and the tailor, the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, &c., each devotes his energies to the work of his particular calling. This order of things marks the chief difference between savage and civilized life.

But as a technical term of political economy, division of labor has a more specific application to labor employed on particular products. Suppose, for example, an establishment for the manufacture of watches is projected. many different parts.

The watch is made up of Obviously it will economize