labor to assign each part to one man or set of men. Thus the wise application of the principle involves two things:

1. An analysis of the article to be produced, and of the work to be done, into distinct and simple parts.

2. A distribution of these parts to the persons employed, so that each workman shall confine himself as nearly as possible to a single operation.

The system is complete when the several operations keep each other going, when there are no superfluous hands, and none are kept idle waiting on others' movements, when the several processes fit into each other like the gearing of smooth-running machinery.

The special advantages of division of labor may be stated as follows:

1. It shortens the period requisite for one to become an expert workman. It is quite evident that one operation can be learned more quickly and more perfectly than ten or twenty.

2. It saves the time which would be lost in passing from one kind of work to another. By the law of habit, an operation often repeated becomes easy mind and muscle adapt themselves to one form of labor, and acquire a capacity for continued exertion. It will take some time to "get brain and hand in” to another operation. Where complicated tools must be adjusted to different kinds of work, this consideration is of more importance. "Time is money," said Franklin. This is especially true in all matters concerning the production of wealth.

3. It increases the dexterity of the workmen. Repeated "practice makes perfect." The mind, the eye, the hand, are trained to quickness and precision by the repetition of a single operation. In a boiler-factory the rapidity and precision with which the man plies his hammer to form the rivetheads is wonderful. He has acquired this dexterity by devoting himself to this single operation.

4. Division of labor suggests the contrivance of tools to facilitate operations. Many of our most valuable inventions have originated with workmen whose attention was devoted to particular processes. New improvements are thus continually brought forward.

5. Division of labor brings into most profitable service all diversities of talent and capacity. In the manufacture of fine glass-ware, one part of the process requires high artistic genius; another. judgment and skill, the fruit of experience; another, fulness and strength of lungs; and others, the simplest forms of manual labor. It were poor economy to set a raw hand to engrave a delicate pattern, or to send the artist to carry the vessels from the furnace to the annealing-oven. By systematic arrangement each can be kept doing that for which he is best fitted, and for which he receives wages according to its importance.

EXERCISES.

1. How much can a man do for himself without any tools?

2. What force of nature does the Indian's bow bring into service?

3. Is there any definable limit to man's dominion over other animals and the forces of nature ?

4. Name the animals which have been subdued to serve

man.

5. Name as many as you can of the useful inventions of the present century.

6. What natural agent does the mariner's compass render available, and for what purpose?

7. What natural agents are employed in photography, and by what means?

8. On what agencies of nature do the agricultural crops depend ?

9. What is the function of the great balance-wheel in a mill for rolling iron ?

10. By what principles is the power of a slowly-moving water-wheel distributed to a hundred whirling spindles ? 11. What natural agents and what mechanical powers does an axe combine?

12. Mention some of the purposes to which the natural agent heat is applied.

13. Why are inanimate forces preferable to animal power? 14. State the comparative advantages of water-power and steam-power.

15. Give an illustration of the principle of division of abor, and how it increases the effectiveness of labor. 16. State the various kinds of labor involved in making a pair of shoes.

17. Suppose a man works alone at shoemaking, doing all the parts himself, how can he economize his labor?

18. Why do shoes made in a wholesale way in a factory cost less than shoes made to order?

19. How does the division of labor affect the employment of women and children?

20. How does it develop and employ the highest talent? 21. Do the use of machinery and the division of labor make labor more, or less, respectable?

SECTION III. - LABOR IN GREAT MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.

The two means for increasing the productiveness of labor, treated of in the previous section, are so mutually related that the one involves the other. The use of labor-saving machinery unites many persons in the same process of production, and necessitates the distribution of the parts of the process. On the other hand, the division of labor to any great extent is ordinarily impracticable, except in connection with the use of machinery. Both tend to the setting-up of large establishments, in which the full benefit of these means of increased productiveness is realized.

For their successful operation, these establishments require

1. Large investments of capital in machinery, buildings, &c.

2. Large numbers of laborers, of different grades, under one general management.

3. The rapid production of articles in great quantities.

4. An extensive market for the disposal of the products.

5. Great executive ability of two kinds, — a. In the superintendence of the mechanical pro

cesses.

b. In the general financial management of purchases and sales, credits, collections, and sharp competitions on a large scale.

The application of the two principles may be said to be limited by these several considerations. In a new country there is little accumulation of either wealth or population: the demand for particular articles is small; facilities for transportation, which would widen the market, are few; and the first emigrants, though young and energetic, have yet to develop mutual confidence and high executive ability. Hence labor begins with each man's doing by himself all kinds of work with few and simple tools. But in due time diverse industry is developed as naturally as a tree grows. As wealth is accumulated, and population increases, new wants arise, and new means of satisfying them are provided. As roads and bridges are made, and railways push themselves on, the market is widened, enterprise is stimulated, talents are brought forward, and great establishments are set up for production on a large scale. Such a natural growth is far more healthy and sound than the premature development which comes from forced, artificial appliances.

When a large establishment has been started, a deficiency in either of the five particulars named may prove disastrous. If the funds at command are all put into what the English call "the plant," the enterprise may fail for lack of working capital; or skilled laborers may be scarce; or the products may be diminished through insufficient or unfit material; or, on the contrary, the products may be in excess of the demand, with no provision for enlarging the market. Most disastrous of all is the lack of executive ability and wisdom in either the detailed