Advantages of large manufactories.large one, if the small manufactory is not large enough for the efficient working of the most complete machinery used in the trade. Again, a small manufactory cannot compete with a large one, if in the one there is a less complete division or labour than in the other. A pin factory which employed ten men would produce pins at a much smaller cost than a factory in which only five men were employed. The labour of superintendence generally forms a comparatively larger item in small concerns than in large ones; for instance, each room in a cotton mill may require an overlooker, whether a hundred men are working in the room, or two hundred. A steam-engine must be constantly watched by an engineer, whether the engine is fifty-horse power, or a hundred-horse power; but all such questions concerning the greater or less economy of business arrangements will ultimately be decided by practical experience. There is at the present time a very decided tendency to increase the scale of production, and this tendency is particularly shown in those vast manufactories and warehouses which exemplify the wealth and energy of Lancashire and Yorkshire; hence we must conclude, that production on a large scale, especially in the manufacturing districts, is rapidly becoming more advantageous. In fact, we have ascertained that a cotton mill containing 10,000 throstle spindles can be worked with a capital of 20,000l., whereas a mill with 5,000 spindles requires a capital of not less than ll,000l.
The scale of manufacturing operations is limited by the demand.It was remarked in the last chapter that the extent of the demand places a limit upon the division of labour. But the extent of the demand influences in a much more decided manner the scale on which the production of any commodity can be carried on. A very serious loss would be incurred if the demand for any commodity was not sufficient to take off all that might be produced by the machinery and plant erected for its manufacture. Machinery when unemployed is capital lying idle, and the workmen when thrown out of employment could only be kept together by paying them some portion of their wages. This would represent an unproductive employment of capital, but if the labourers were not thus kept together, when work was resumed new and