54
Manual of Political Economy.
depends upon the string being touched with the strictest correctness at some particular point.
Another advantage results from the dexterity of the superior workman, for he will use all the materials employed with the greatest possible economy; nothing is wasted by his blunders or mistakes.
The, time of passing from one operation to another is saved;Later writers on political economy, and amongst them, in particular, Mr. Mill, consider that too much importance has been attributed to the second of the three causes which, according to Adam Smith, explain the increased efficiency of labour when the distinct operations of industry are properly apportioned amongst the workmen employed. A great deal of time is undoubtedly wasted if a workman has often to pass from one species of work to another, and this waste is of course obviated when a labourer can steadily keep throughout the day at the same kind of work. although the advantage of this has been exaggerated. But Adam Smith exaggerates the nature and the amount of the advantages which may be thus secured, and omits to notice some counterbalancing disadvantages which may very possibly occur. Adam Smith says, "A man commonly saunters a little in turning his hand from one employment to another. When he first begins the new work he is seldom very keen and hearty; his mind, as they say, does not go to it, and for some time he rather trifles than applies to good purpose. The habit of sauntering and of indolent careless application which is naturally or rather necessarily acquired by every country workman, who is obliged to change his work and his tools every half-hour, and to apply his hand in twenty different ways almost every day of his life, renders him almost always slothful and lazy, and incapable of any vigorous application even on the most pressing occasions." There is nothing in this passage absolutely incorrect; it is, however, truth overstated. Each of the circumstances mentioned by Adam Smith produces some of the influence he describes; but his remarks would seem to prove that all those whose employments are various must be slothful and indolent, while the reverse is often the case; labourers frequently become quicker and more intelligent when the monotony of their employment is relieved by some variety. Waiters in large establishments are proverbially quick in their