CHAPTER VI.
PRODUCTION ON A LARGE AND A SMALL SCALE.
IF we had not feared that the last chapter was becoming too long, we should not have placed the subject we here propose to discuss in a separate chapter, because the carrying out of production on a large and a small scale exerts a very powerful effect upon the productive powers both of land, labour, and capital.
Comparative advantages of production on a large and small scale.The comparative advantages of production on a large, and production on a small scale, depend upon conditions which may vary greatly at different times, and in different employments. Every extension of machinery no doubt tends to give an advantage to production on a large scale. In the days of hand-loom weavers, little would have been gained by gathering them together into large buildings, such as the mills of Manchester. Each hand-loom weaver worked for himself; he needed not the assistance of others, and therefore there was no reason why he should not work in his own cottage. But the introduction of machinery has divided the work which was previously done by the hand-loom weaver, into a great number of distinct operations; and in this way machinery renders production on a large scale absolutely necessary. But to what extent it is advantageous to increase the scale of production, whether it is more profitable to erect a mill containing 10,000 spindles, or two mills containing 5,000 each, will be most correctly determined by those engaged in the trade. The comparative economy of working large and small mills is sure to be quickly ascertained by the manufacturers themselves; there can, however, be no doubt that a small manufactory will have little chance of competing with a
