{436}POLITICALECONOMY.My contributions toPolitical Economyare chiefly to be found in “The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures,” which consists of illustrations and developments of the principles regulating a very large section of that important subject.Division of Labour.It is singular that in the analysis of thedivision of labour, given by Adam Smith in “The Wealth of Nations,” the most efficient cause of its advantage is entirely omitted. The three causes assigned in that workare—1st. The increase of dexterity in every particular workman.2nd. The saving of time lost in passing from one species of work to another.3rd. The invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.These are undoubtedly true causes, but the most important cause is entirely omitted.The most effective cause of the cheapness produced by the division of labour isthis—By dividing the work to be executed into different processes, each requiring different degrees of skill, or of force, the master manufacturer can purchase exactly that precise quantity of both which is necessary for each process. Whereas if the whole work were executed by one workman, that person must possess sufficient skill to perform the most difficult, and sufficient strength to execute the most laborious, of those operations into which the art is divided.Needle-making is perhaps the best illustration of the overpowering effect of this cause. The operatives in this{437}manufacture consist of children, women, and men, earning wages varying from three or four shillings up to five pounds per week. Those who point the needles gain about two pounds. The man who hardens and tempers the needles earns from five to six pounds per week. It ought also to be observed that one man is sufficient to temper the needles for a large factory; consequently the time spent on each needle by the most expensive operative is excessively small.But if a manufacturer insist on employing one man to make the whole needle, he must pay at the rate of five pounds a week for every portion of the labour bestowed upon it.6161See “Economy of Manufactures.”Cost of any Article.Besides the usual elements which contribute to constitute the price of any thing, there exists another which varies greatly in different articles. It isthis—The cost and difficulty of verifying the fact that the article is exactly what it professes to be.This is in some cases very small; but in many instances it is scarcely possible for the purchaser to verify the genuineness of certain articles. In these cases the public pay a larger price than they otherwise would do to those tradesmen whose character and integrity are well established.Principles of Taxation.In a pamphlet printed in 1848, I published my views of taxation, especially with reference to an Income Tax.The principle there supported was entertained and examined by the French Minister of Finance, M. Passy. The pamphlet itself was subsequently translated into Italian and published at Turin, under the auspices of the Sardinian Finance Minister.{438}〈THE PRINCIPLE OF REPRESENTATION.〉The principle there maintained admits, I think, of an extension to the election of representatives.In that case, each person would have one vote on the ground of his personality, and other votes in proportion to his income. Whenever any further extension of our representative system becomes necessary, the dangers arising from the extension of the personal suffrage may fairly be counterbalanced by giving a plurality of votes to property. Such a course would have a powerful tendency to good, by supporting the national credit and by preventing the destructive waste of capital by war, and it might even make us a highly conservative people.As the subject of political economy will be considered rather dry by most readers, I will endeavour to enliven it by an extract from that pamphlet, which singularly illustrates the question of direct and indirect taxation. I had mentioned the productive pump of my Italian friend to the late Lord Lansdowne, who supplied me with the counterpart in the unproductive pump erected by the late William Edgeworth, at Edgeworth Town, in Ireland.That proprietor, whose country residence was much frequented by beggars, resolved to establish a test for discriminating between the idle and the industrious, and also to obtain some small return for the alms he was in the habit of bestowing. He accordingly added to the pump by which the upper part of his house was supplied with water, a piece of mechanism so contrived that, at the end of a certain number of strokes of the pump-handle, a penny fell out from an aperture to repay the labourer for his work. This was so arranged, that labourers who continued at the work, obtained very nearly the usual daily wages of labour in that part of the country. The idlest of the vagabonds of course refused this new labour test: but the greater part of the beggars, whose{439}constant tale was that ‘they could not earn a fair day’s wages for a fair days work,’ after earning a few pence, usually went awaycursingthe hardness of their taskmaster.〈STORY OF THE TWO PUMPS.〉An Italian gentleman, with greater sagacity, devised a more productive pump, and kept it in action at far less expense. The garden wall of his villa adjoined the great high road leading from one of the capitals of northern Italy62, from which it was distant but a few miles. Possessing within his garden a fine spring of water, he erected on the outside of the wall a pump for public use, and chaining to it a small iron ladle, he placed near it some rude seats for the weary traveller, and by a slight roof of climbing plants protected the whole from the mid-day sun. In this delightful shade the tired and thirsty travellers on that well-beaten road ever and anon reposed and refreshed themselves, and did not fail to put in requisition the service of the pump so opportunely presented to them. From morning till night many a dusty and wayworn pilgrim plied the handle, and went on his way,blessingthe liberal proprietor for his kind consideration of the passing stranger.62Turin.But the owner of the villa was deeply acquainted with human nature. He knew in that sultry climate that the liquid would be more valued from its scarcity, and from the difficulty of acquiring it. He therefore, to enhance the value of the gift, wisely arranged the pump, so that its spout was of rather contracted dimensions, and the handle required a moderate application of force to work it. Under these circumstances the pump raised far more water than could pass through its spout; and, to prevent its being wasted, the surplus was conveyed by an invisible channel to a large reservoir judiciously placed for watering the proprietor’s own house, stables, and garden,—into which about five pints were poured for every spoonful passing out of the spout for the{440}benefit of the weary traveller. Even this latter portion was not entirely neglected, for the waste-pipe conveyed the part which ran over from the ladle to some delicious strawberry beds at a lower level. Perhaps, by a small addition to this ingenious arrangement, some kind-hearted travellers might be enabled to indulge their mules and asses with a taste of the same cool and refreshing fluid; thus paying an additional tribute to the skill and sagacity of the benevolent proprietor. My accomplished friend would doubtless make a most popular Chancellor of the Exchequer, should his Sardinian Majesty require his services in that department of administration.Monopoly.In the course of my examination of this question I arrived at what I conceive to be a demonstration of the followingprinciple:—That even under circumstances of the most absolute monopoly, the monopolist will, if heKNOWShis own interest andPURSUESit, sell the article he produces at exactly the same price as the freest competition would produce.I devoted a chapter to this subject in an edition which I prepared several years ago for a new Italian translation of the “Economy of Manufactures;” but I am not aware whether it has yet been published.Miracles.The explanation which I gave of the nature of miracles in “The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,” published in May, 1837, has now stood the test of more than a quarter of a century, during which it has been examined by some of the deepest thinkers in many countries. Its adoption by those writers who have referred to it has, as far as my information goes, been unanimous.
{436}
My contributions toPolitical Economyare chiefly to be found in “The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures,” which consists of illustrations and developments of the principles regulating a very large section of that important subject.
It is singular that in the analysis of thedivision of labour, given by Adam Smith in “The Wealth of Nations,” the most efficient cause of its advantage is entirely omitted. The three causes assigned in that workare—
These are undoubtedly true causes, but the most important cause is entirely omitted.
The most effective cause of the cheapness produced by the division of labour isthis—
By dividing the work to be executed into different processes, each requiring different degrees of skill, or of force, the master manufacturer can purchase exactly that precise quantity of both which is necessary for each process. Whereas if the whole work were executed by one workman, that person must possess sufficient skill to perform the most difficult, and sufficient strength to execute the most laborious, of those operations into which the art is divided.
Needle-making is perhaps the best illustration of the overpowering effect of this cause. The operatives in this{437}manufacture consist of children, women, and men, earning wages varying from three or four shillings up to five pounds per week. Those who point the needles gain about two pounds. The man who hardens and tempers the needles earns from five to six pounds per week. It ought also to be observed that one man is sufficient to temper the needles for a large factory; consequently the time spent on each needle by the most expensive operative is excessively small.
But if a manufacturer insist on employing one man to make the whole needle, he must pay at the rate of five pounds a week for every portion of the labour bestowed upon it.61
61See “Economy of Manufactures.”
61See “Economy of Manufactures.”
Cost of any Article.Besides the usual elements which contribute to constitute the price of any thing, there exists another which varies greatly in different articles. It isthis—
Besides the usual elements which contribute to constitute the price of any thing, there exists another which varies greatly in different articles. It isthis—
This is in some cases very small; but in many instances it is scarcely possible for the purchaser to verify the genuineness of certain articles. In these cases the public pay a larger price than they otherwise would do to those tradesmen whose character and integrity are well established.
Principles of Taxation.In a pamphlet printed in 1848, I published my views of taxation, especially with reference to an Income Tax.
In a pamphlet printed in 1848, I published my views of taxation, especially with reference to an Income Tax.
The principle there supported was entertained and examined by the French Minister of Finance, M. Passy. The pamphlet itself was subsequently translated into Italian and published at Turin, under the auspices of the Sardinian Finance Minister.{438}
〈THE PRINCIPLE OF REPRESENTATION.〉
The principle there maintained admits, I think, of an extension to the election of representatives.
In that case, each person would have one vote on the ground of his personality, and other votes in proportion to his income. Whenever any further extension of our representative system becomes necessary, the dangers arising from the extension of the personal suffrage may fairly be counterbalanced by giving a plurality of votes to property. Such a course would have a powerful tendency to good, by supporting the national credit and by preventing the destructive waste of capital by war, and it might even make us a highly conservative people.
As the subject of political economy will be considered rather dry by most readers, I will endeavour to enliven it by an extract from that pamphlet, which singularly illustrates the question of direct and indirect taxation. I had mentioned the productive pump of my Italian friend to the late Lord Lansdowne, who supplied me with the counterpart in the unproductive pump erected by the late William Edgeworth, at Edgeworth Town, in Ireland.
That proprietor, whose country residence was much frequented by beggars, resolved to establish a test for discriminating between the idle and the industrious, and also to obtain some small return for the alms he was in the habit of bestowing. He accordingly added to the pump by which the upper part of his house was supplied with water, a piece of mechanism so contrived that, at the end of a certain number of strokes of the pump-handle, a penny fell out from an aperture to repay the labourer for his work. This was so arranged, that labourers who continued at the work, obtained very nearly the usual daily wages of labour in that part of the country. The idlest of the vagabonds of course refused this new labour test: but the greater part of the beggars, whose{439}constant tale was that ‘they could not earn a fair day’s wages for a fair days work,’ after earning a few pence, usually went awaycursingthe hardness of their taskmaster.
〈STORY OF THE TWO PUMPS.〉
An Italian gentleman, with greater sagacity, devised a more productive pump, and kept it in action at far less expense. The garden wall of his villa adjoined the great high road leading from one of the capitals of northern Italy62, from which it was distant but a few miles. Possessing within his garden a fine spring of water, he erected on the outside of the wall a pump for public use, and chaining to it a small iron ladle, he placed near it some rude seats for the weary traveller, and by a slight roof of climbing plants protected the whole from the mid-day sun. In this delightful shade the tired and thirsty travellers on that well-beaten road ever and anon reposed and refreshed themselves, and did not fail to put in requisition the service of the pump so opportunely presented to them. From morning till night many a dusty and wayworn pilgrim plied the handle, and went on his way,blessingthe liberal proprietor for his kind consideration of the passing stranger.
62Turin.
62Turin.
But the owner of the villa was deeply acquainted with human nature. He knew in that sultry climate that the liquid would be more valued from its scarcity, and from the difficulty of acquiring it. He therefore, to enhance the value of the gift, wisely arranged the pump, so that its spout was of rather contracted dimensions, and the handle required a moderate application of force to work it. Under these circumstances the pump raised far more water than could pass through its spout; and, to prevent its being wasted, the surplus was conveyed by an invisible channel to a large reservoir judiciously placed for watering the proprietor’s own house, stables, and garden,—into which about five pints were poured for every spoonful passing out of the spout for the{440}benefit of the weary traveller. Even this latter portion was not entirely neglected, for the waste-pipe conveyed the part which ran over from the ladle to some delicious strawberry beds at a lower level. Perhaps, by a small addition to this ingenious arrangement, some kind-hearted travellers might be enabled to indulge their mules and asses with a taste of the same cool and refreshing fluid; thus paying an additional tribute to the skill and sagacity of the benevolent proprietor. My accomplished friend would doubtless make a most popular Chancellor of the Exchequer, should his Sardinian Majesty require his services in that department of administration.
Monopoly.In the course of my examination of this question I arrived at what I conceive to be a demonstration of the followingprinciple:—
In the course of my examination of this question I arrived at what I conceive to be a demonstration of the followingprinciple:—
I devoted a chapter to this subject in an edition which I prepared several years ago for a new Italian translation of the “Economy of Manufactures;” but I am not aware whether it has yet been published.
Miracles.The explanation which I gave of the nature of miracles in “The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,” published in May, 1837, has now stood the test of more than a quarter of a century, during which it has been examined by some of the deepest thinkers in many countries. Its adoption by those writers who have referred to it has, as far as my information goes, been unanimous.
The explanation which I gave of the nature of miracles in “The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,” published in May, 1837, has now stood the test of more than a quarter of a century, during which it has been examined by some of the deepest thinkers in many countries. Its adoption by those writers who have referred to it has, as far as my information goes, been unanimous.