barbarians by the sharpness of hatchet and javelin ; among civilised men by superiority in labour, in invention, and in capital.

§ 16. Influence of Association and Co-operation on the Productiveness of Labour.

To extinguish a fire twenty or thirty men stand in a line, forming a chain from the water to the place of the conflagration; with one hand they quickly pass along full buckets, and with the other return the empty ones. In this way they convey twenty times the amount of water that could be brought by each man running between the fountain and the burning building; and here we have an illustration of the advantages offered by association.

If a boat has to be launched ten men successively pushing will never stir it; if they all push together she is floated at once. Here we have an illustration of the advantages of co-operation.

When arranged in an intelligent and orderly fashion men succeed in doing what a hundred times the number of isolated individuals would never accomplish. This important truth is symbolised by the Roman emblem of a fascis or bundle, and by the Austrian device Viribus unitis, "By united strength."

The division of labour is based upon spontaneous co-operation. The baker who supplies the teacher with bread, and the teacher who instructs the baker's children, are co-operating in a common work-the

furnishing man with the food of the body and the food of the mind. Although they neither know nor intend it, in reality they are partners.

§ 17. Influence of the Division of Labour on its Productiveness.

The division of labour consists in parcelling out a piece of work among those who have to execute it, in such a manner that each workman shall always do the same work, or even only a part of the work. A blacksmith forges nails all the year, and with these nails procures, by means of exchange, everything he needs. This is the first form of the division of labour.

Again, eighteen different operations are needed to make a single pin, and each of these is intrusted to a special workman. This is the second form of the division of labour.

The principle of the specialisation of functions is of spontaneous application. Every one is disposed to do the work for which he has an aptitude, and everybody else profits by his doing it. In the simplest form of life, as seen among savages, the man devotes himself to hunting, the woman prepares the food and clothing.

As human industry progresses, though most of the work continues to be done in the bosom of the family, certain separate occupations make their appearance, such as those of the blacksmith, the worker in copper, and the potter. Still later, speciality of occupation, when combined with hereditary succes

sion, as in Egypt, gives rise to caste; when, as in the Middle Ages, with privileges, to craft guilds.

The division of labour greatly increases its productiveness, and thus proportionately diminishes the price of produce. Pins at from sixpence to ninepence a thousand, playing cards for sixpence a pack, watches for from twelve shillings apiece, are all examples of this cheapness, which will seem wonderful on reflection. These advantages of the division of labour proceed from different causes, of which the following are the chief:

(1) Increase of skill in the workman from repeating the same process.

(2) Saving of the time lost in getting to work, whenever the occupation and tools have to be changed.

(3) Economy effected in the use of tools, since each workman now only requires one, whereas, when there is no division he needs a different tool for each several operation.

(4) More advantageous employment of the different aptitudes of the workmen, since each is constantly employed on what he does best; and a notable saving in the cost of labour, inasmuch as where all payments are in proportion to the difficulty of the work, the simpler processes can be intrusted to weaker or less skilful hands, often unhappily to those of women and children, and so are less highly paid.

(5) More frequent employment of machinery to

replace the workmen, wherever any part of the work can be reduced to an identical and regular movement.

(6) The tendency of division of labour to promote equality by a balance of functions. If the strong and the weak are set to the same work the strong will accomplish twice as much as the weak, and, since the fruits of labour are its legitimate reward, will be twice as well off. On the other hand, if they agree to divide their labours between them, the strong man will cultivate the earth for both, the weak will prepare the food and clothing, also for both. In this way, in the first place, both will be better fed and better clothed, and, in the second, since the services each renders to the association balance, they can be equally rewarded. Where advantage is taken of the diversity of men's aptitudes, these can be made to contribute equally to the general production.

The division of labour can be applied with the greater completeness according to the greater extent of the market for the produce, the facility of exchange, and the perfection of the means of communication. In a village where the customers are few the farrier will do all kinds of work in which iron is employed. In a large town, work in iron will be divided among the farrier, the stove-maker, the locksmith, and the makers of tools and safes.

When roads are bad and ill-protected, exchanges are infrequent and difficult, and every group of

men has to produce on the spot everything which it consumes. In the villas of Charlemagne the estate provided food, the women spun and wove the wool and flax for clothes, and men made their own tools and agricultural implements. Nowadays, thanks to railways, steamers, and the good understanding that prevails among nations, the whole globe forms a single market, and in the workshop of the world every nation has to apply itself to furnish the produce which the soil and climate allow it to obtain at the smallest cost.

The market for a given class of goods, that is to say the portion of the world within which they can be sold, is of less or greater extent according to the bulk and weight of the goods when compared with their value. The market for coal is limited because the cost of transport is great. The market for watches and silks embraces the whole world.

Men have not all the same aptitudes, and, in harmony with this, different aptitudes are required by different tasks. In each kind of labour, then, a workman should be employed endowed with the faculties this labour requires. Iron should be forged by strong arms; a watch spring be constructed by a workman with delicate fingers; carving in wood be done by a man with taste; the direction of an enterprise be intrusted to the thoughtful and educated; in this way labour will attain a maximum of productiveness. According to our English maxim we shall have "the right man in