The more complex forms of division of labor have developed with, and depended on, a corresponding development of the spirit of cooperation and mutual helpfulness among individuals. In any highly developed industry, the making of shoes, for example, the efficiency and progress of one worker depend on every other worker being in his place at the proper time and performing exactly the operation which he is expected to perform. The failure of one workman properly to cooperate disorganizes the whole series of operations and lessens the total output; and such failure on the part of an individual or of individuals leads not toward a higher stage of division of labor, but rather in the opposite direction.

We may properly inquire, then, what are the chief characteristics which individuals ought to possess in order to bring division of labor to its highest point of development. They are four in number: (1) honesty, (2) obedience, (3) steadiness, (4) fairness.

Honesty is the very heart of successful division of labor. Workers, in order to be highly efficient, must believe in their associates as well as in themselves. Each one must have the assurance that his fellow workers are performing their appointed tasks honestly and with a common purpose. Among dishonest men such an assurance would be impossible. Workers must also be obedient in following plans of operation; for complex division of labor, and even the simpler kinds, provide for those who plan as well as for those who execute. Workers engaged in specialized tasks must be steady as well as honest and obedient. Nothing disturbs industry more than the failure of workers to be on hand at the appointed time, or, if on hand, to be incapacitated by vicious habits. To take an extreme example, suppose the engineer of a shoe factory should fail to be in his accustomed place when the moment arrived for starting the machinery. Obviously, little or no work could be done until he was found or his place was filled. There are men who possess all these qualities in some degree, but who, nevertheless, retard the development of division of labor simply because they are so filled with prejudice, and so set in their ways, as to make them domineering, and hence unpopular among their associates. In other words, they are mentally unfair. Thus, workers in any line where division of labor is developed must cooperate not only industrially, but also socially, each giving and taking in a spirit of conciliation and compromise.

Per Cent of Total Population of the United States in Municipalities Having Over 30,000 Inhabitants, In Those Having from 8,000 to 30,000 Inhabitants, and outside such Municipalities: 1790-1912.