1. Division of labor is a term expressing that complex arrangement of industrial society whereby individual workers are enabled to apply themselves to the production of certain kinds of goods, securing others by exchange. The term "division of labor" is simple, but the thought is a complex one. Its full discussion would cover the whole field of political economy, but only its most essential aspects can here be touched upon. Division of labor and exchange are counterparts and mutually determine each other. 'Division of labor depends on the extent of the market, and in turn widens its limits. The number of articles that any one would care to produce at one time and place depends upon the opportunity to exchange them. These two aspects of industry thus are inseparable in thought and practice. The worker finds division of labor existing as a social institution and, according as he adapts himself to it wisely or foolishly, it increases more or less his efficiency.

Division and exchange of labor.

2. Division of labor is primarily between individuals, but appears between trades, territories, and nations. In division of labor between trades, each worker applies himself to the production of some product or group of products and secures other goods by exchange. A special form of this is territorial division of labor, arising out of differences in soil, climate, and natural products, when each community develops in a high degree some one class of products to exchange in distant or foreign trade. Division of labor beginning because of such natural differences, becomes fixed by habit and training, by the advantage of a larger and regular labor supply, by the economy of nearness to related and tributary industries, and by the use of waste products where industry is conducted on a large scaled The natural advantages in another district must be large to enable it to start successfully against these acquired economies, and territorial division of labor thus tends to continue for long periods when once established.

Division of labor between trades and territories.

Advantages of division of labor.

3. Division of labor increases efficiency by: {a) increasing skill; (b) saving time; (c) saving tools and materials; (d) improving quality; (e) increasing knowledge; (f) (stimulating invention;) (g) encouraging enterprise; (h) economizing talent. There is a tradition that an ingenious lecturer in one of our universities was accustomed to give to his class eighty reasons why division of labor was of advantage. It is none too many, as every reason for the modern, as contrasted with the primitive, organization of industry should be included. The phrase division of labor is but a synonym for specialization, a word that expresses all that is most characteristic of our complex industrial society. The headings just given may serve, however, to suggest the leading phases of the subject. Repetition of the same task trains the muscles, forms a mental habit, and gives the swiftness and deftness of touch called skill. Specialization saves time by making unnecessary the physical change of place for the worker, the frequent shifting of tools, and the mental readjustment required for the undertaking of a new task. Specialization saves tools for, either each kind of work must be most ineffectively done, or there must be provided for each worker a complete set of tools which thus will be used rarely and will rust out rather than wear out. If a few tools are thoroughly used, they yield a larger income on the investment, and require less care and repairs in proportion to their uses. In fact this fuller economic use of machinery and plant where a large product is turned out at one place, is a prime factor in the advantages of large production, a subject to be treated elsewhere much more fully than is here possible. By specialization is made possible a quality of goods never to be secured by the less skilled efforts of the Jack-of-all trades. The specialist steadily grows in knowledge of his materials and of the best processes, and he gains a power of delicate observation and facility in meeting new difficulties that are impossible when attention is divided among a number of tasks. By dividing and simplifying processes, specialization stimulates invention. The most complex machines have been developed gradually by combinations and adaptations of simple tools, and the more a process is subdivided, the greater is the chance of hitting upon a device to repeat mechanically the few simple movements. Division of labor increases the motives of emulation and enterprise, by making possible the more exact comparison of results. It economizes talent by giving to each the highest task of which he is capable, while fitting the less efficient workers into the minor places made possible by subdivision. In an American wagon-factory, a one-armed man operating a machine is turning out as large a product and earning as high wages as any other employee. The same advantages of specialization are found with modifying conditions in educational and professional lines. The marvelous progress of science in recent years has been made possible by each worker's doing a few things and doing them well.

4. The individual worker, to attain his highest economic efficiency, must select from the occupations made possible by division of labor the one for which his talents are best fitted. It seems unnecessary to state this almost axiomatic truth, yet the slight reflection given to the choice of an occupation by most young people gives to this statement a very practical bearing. The world is filled with industrial misfits, "round men in square holes," good carpenters spoiled to male poor doctors. It so often happens that the natural aptitude of the. youth is the thing last or, in any event, least considered. Unreasoning imitation, family traditions, parental wishes, class pride, social prejudice, childish whim, are often decisive of the life career. Happily in some cases, before too late, the man "finds himself," but too often the poverty of the family and the obstacles to education preclude the exercise of intelligent choice. It is of importance to society as well as.to the individual that talent should be discovered in time, that tasks should be fitted to aptitudes, that each member" of society should attain to his highest efficiency. The approach to this ideal, made possible by popular education, the decline of caste, the spread of genuine democracy, the progress of. social justice, will increase not only the workers' efficiency, but society's abiding welfare.

Best adjustment of talent and occupation.

Choice of a life career.

Questions On Chapter 22. Conditions For Efficient Labor

1. Is hunger the cause of food?

2. Is there any relation between a republican form of government and the growth of manufactures.

3. What are the necessary conditions to the building of a house: (a) natural forces; (b) changes in material things; (c) human activities; (d) social conditions?

4. Is the public school system an economic factor? Where among the four preceding heads would you classify it?

5. From an economic standpoint, can we say that robbery really reduces, the wealth in existence?

6. When does an industrious man stop working on his own farm, and why?

7. With a given number of workers, what may be causes of differences in the labor-supply?

8. Would men work better if they ate more?

9. What moral agencies increase the efficiency of labor?

10. Is there a strong selfish motive for men to increase their efficiency in most industries? How effective is it?

11. What effect has republican government on the efficiency of labor?

12. Why is the variety of occupations greater or less than formerly? What is influencing the change?

13. What cases have you seen where great skill came from practice?

14. What gain is it for men to work together instead of singly?

15. With increasing division of labor is there greater or less opportunity for the payment of laborers according to the piece-wage plan?

16. Discuss the following statement: Under the piece-work system the foreman looks out for the quality and the operative for the quantity of the work; under the time-wage system the foreman looks out for the quantity and the laborer for the quality of the work.

17. What remedy has the foreman for an inefficient laborer working under the time-wage system?

18. Is time- or piece-work best adapted to the following kinds of laborers: coal-miners, coopers, farm-hands, printers, engravers, shoe-factory hands, railroad brakemen, telegraph operators?