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It frequently

happens, that in a series of answers to such questions, there are

some which, although given directly, may also be deduced by a

short calculation from others that are given or known; and

advantage should always be taken of these verifications, in order

to confirm the accuracy of the statements; or, in case they are

discordant, to correct the apparent anomalies. In putting lists

of questions into the hands of a person undertaking to give

information upon any subject, it is in some cases desirable to

have an estimate of the soundness of his judgement. The questions

can frequently be so shaped, that some of them may indirectly

depend on others; and one or two may be inserted whose answers

can be obtained by other methods: nor is this process without its

advantages in enabling us to determine the value of our own

judgement. The habit of forming an estimate of the magnitude of

any object or the frequency of any occurrence, immediately

previous to our applying to it measure or number, tends

materially to fix the attention and to improve the judgement.

 

Section II

 

On the domestic and political economy of manufactures

Chapter 13

Distinction Between Making and Manufacturing

 

163. The economical principles which regulate the application

of machinery, and which govern the interior of all our great

factories, are quite as essential to the prosperity of a great

commercial country, as are those mechanical principles, the

operation of which has been illustrated in the preceding section.

 

The first object of every person who attempts to make any

article of consumption, is, or ought to be, to produce it in a

perfect form; but in order to secure to himself the greatest and

most permanent profit, he must endeavour, by every means in his

power, to render the new luxury or want which he has created,

cheap to those who consume it. The larger number of purchasers

thus obtained will, in some measure, secure him from the caprices

of fashion, whilst it furnishes a far greater amount of profit,

although the contribution of each individual is diminished. The

importance of collecting data, for the purpose of enabling the

manufacturer to ascertain how many additional customers he will

acquire by a given reduction in the price of the article he

makes, cannot be too strongly pressed upon the attention of those

who employ themselves in statistical enquiries. In some ranks of

society, no diminution of price can bring forward a great

additional number of customers; whilst, amongst other classes, a

very small reduction will so enlarge the sale, as to yield a

considerable increase of profit. Materials calculated to assist

in forming a table of the numbers of persons who possess incomes

of different amount, occur in the 14th Report of the

Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, which includes a statement of

the amount of personal property proved at the legacy office

during one year; the number of the various classes of testators;

and an account of the number of persons receiving dividends from

funded property, distributed into classes. Such a table, formed

even approximately, and exhibited in the form of a curve, might

be of service.

 

164. A considerable difference exists between the terms

making and manufacturing. The former refers to the production of

a small, the latter to that of a very large number of

individuals; and the difference is well illustrated in the

evidence, given before the Committee of the House of Commons, on

the Export of Tools and Machinery. On that occasion Mr Maudslay

stated, that he had been applied to by the Navy Board to make

iron tanks for ships, and that he was rather unwilling to do so,

as he considered it to be out of his line of business; however,

he undertook to make one as a trial. The holes for the rivets

were punched by hand-punching with presses, and the 1680 holes

which each tank required cost seven shillings. The Navy Board,

who required a large number, proposed that he should supply forty

tanks a week for many months. The magnitude of the order made it

worth his while to commence manufacture, and to make tools for

the express business. Mr Maudslay therefore offered, if the Board

would give him an order for two thousand tanks, to supply them at

the rate of eighty per week. The order was given: he made tools,

by which the expense of punching the rivet-holes of each tank was

reduced from seven shillings to ninepence; he supplied

ninety-eight tanks a week for six months, and the price charged

for each was reduced from seventeen pounds to fifteen.

 

165. If, therefore, the maker of an article wish to become a

manufacturer, in the more extended sense of the term, he must

attend to other principles besides those mechanical ones on which

the successful execution of his work depends; and he must

carefully arrange the whole system of his factory in such a

manner, that the article he sells to the public may be produced

at as small a cost as possible. Should he not be actuated at

first by motives so remote, he will, in every highly civilized

country, be compelled, by the powerful stimulus of competition,

to attend to the principles of the domestic economy of

manufactures. At every reduction in price of the commodity he

makes, he will be driven to seek compensation in a saving of

expense in some of the processes; and his ingenuity will be

sharpened in this enquiry by the hope of being able in his turn

to undersell his rivals. The benefit of the improvements thus

engendered is, for a short time, confined to those from whose

ingenuity they derive their origin; but when a sufficient

experience has proved their value, they become generally adopted,

until in their turn they are superseded by other more economical

methods.

Chapter 14

Of Money as a Medium of Exchange

 

166. In the earlier stages of societies the interchange of

the few commodities required was conducted by barter, but as soon

as their wants became more varied and extensive, the necessity of

having some common measure of the value of all commodities—

itself capable of subdivision—became apparent: thus money was

introduced. In some countries shells have been employed for this

purpose; but civilized nations have, by common consent, adopted

the precious metals.(1*) The sovereign power has, in most

countries, assumed the right of coining; or, in other words, the

right of stamping with distinguishing marks, pieces of metal

having certain forms and weights and a certain degree of

fineness: the marks becoming a guarantee, to the people amongst

whom the money circulates, that each piece is of the required

weight and quality.

 

The expense of manufacturing gold into coin, and that of the

loss arising from wear, as well as of interest on the capital

invested in it, must either be defrayed by the State, or be

compensated by a small reduction in its weight, and is a far less

cost to the nation than the loss of time and inconvenience which

would arise from a system of exchange or barter.

 

167. These coins are liable to two inconveniences: they may

be manufactured privately by individuals, of the same quality,

and similarly stamped; or imitations may be made of inferior

metal, or of diminished weight. The first of these inconveniences

would be easily remedied by making the current value of the coin

nearly equal to that of the same weight of the metal; and the

second would be obviated by the caution of individuals in

examining the external characters of each coin, and partly by the

punishment inflicted by the State on the perpetrators of such

frauds.

 

168. The subdivisions of money vary in different countries,

and much time may be lost by an inconvenient system of division.

The effect is felt in keeping extensive accounts, and

particularly in calculating the interest on loans, or the

discount upon bills of exchange. The decimal system is the best

adapted to facilitate all such calculations; and it becomes an

interesting question to consider whether our own currency might

not be converted into one decimally divided. The great step, that

of abolishing the guinea, has already been taken without any

inconvenience, and but little is now required to render the

change complete.

 

169. If, whenever it becomes necessary to call in the

half-crowns, a new coin of the value of two shillings were

issued, which should be called by some name implying a unit (a

prince, for instance), we should have the tenth part of a

sovereign. A few years after, when the public were familiar with

this coin, it might be divided into one hundred instead of

ninety-six farthings; and it would then consist of twentyfive

pence, each of which would be four per cent. less in value than

the former penny. The shillings and sixpences being then

withdrawn from circulation, their place might be supplied with

silver coins each worth five of the new pence, and by others of

tenpence, and of twopence halfpenny; the latter coin, having a

distinct name, would be the tenth part of a prince.

 

170. The various manufactured commodities, and the various

property possessed by the inhabitants of a country, all become

measured by the standard thus introduced. But it must be observed

that the value of gold is itself variable; and that, like all

other commodities, its price depends on the extent of the demand

compared with that of the supply.

 

171. As transactions multiply, and the sums to be paid become

large, the actual transfer of the precious metals from one

individual to another is attended with inconvenience and

difficulty, and it is found more convenient to substitute written

promises to pay on demand specified quantities of gold. These

promises are called banknotes; and when the person or body

issuing them is known to be able to fulfil the pledge, the note

will circulate for a long time before it gets into the hands of

any person who may wish to make use of the gold it represents.

These paper representatives supply the place of a certain

quantity of gold; and, being much cheaper, a large portion of the

expense of a metallic circulation is saved by their employment.

 

172. As commercial transactions increase, the transfer of

banknotes is, to a considerable extent, superseded by shorter

processes. Banks are established, into which all monies are paid,

and out of which all payments are made, through written orders

called checks, drawn by those who keep accounts with them. In a

large capital, each bank receives, through its numerous

customers, checks payable by every other; and if clerks were sent

round to receive the amount in banknotes due from each, it would

occupy much time, and be attended with some risk and

inconvenience.

 

173. Clearing house. In London this is avoided, by making all

checks paid in to bankers pass through what is technically called

The Clearing House. In a large room in Lombard Street, about

thirty clerks from the several London bankers take their

stations, in alphabetical order, at desks placed round the room;

each having a small open box by his side, and the name of the

firm to which he belongs in large characters on the wall above

his head. From time to time other clerks from every house enter

the room, and, passing along, drop into the box the checks due by

that firm to the house from which this distributor is sent. The

clerk at the table enters the amount of the several checks in a

book previously prepared, under the name of the bank to which

they are respectively due.

 

Four o’clock in the afternoon is the latest hour to which the

boxes are open to receive checks; and at a few minutes before

that time, some signs of increased activity

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