Josiah Tucker, Economist; A Study in the History of Economics Volume 19 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...and may be considered as the first draft or rudiments of commerce." 1 Elements, p. 4. Ibid., p. 5. ' Ibid., pp. 5 and 6. Tucker's reasons for introducing the discussion of division of labor in his preliminary discourse are obvious. In analyzing human nature he found social instincts; in the societies formed to satisfy these instincts he saw that men by mutual aid make great gains over animals; one of the earliest and greatest of these gains comes from a division of labor. The division to which he refers here is the division into various occupations but even in this he saw one of the advantages true throughout all the more minute divisions viz., that men can labor where their talents will return the most to society. In later discussion he stated a number of the further advantages which labor division brings. Among these as he noted them are (i) the ex-pertness and speed acquired by one who continuously performs a single operation or manufactures a single commodity; (2) the saving of time and of expense; (3) the possibility of utilizing child and woman labor to greater advantage. These thoughts and two others bearing upon division of labor viz., (i) the especial opportunity to secure more minute division of labor in the machine industries and (2) the effect of a narrow market in preventing the gainful division of labor are suggested in one of his instructions to his young traveler. After having advised that the traveler observe what use is made of machinery in a given country, he suggested as his next query: " Is that labor which is still being performed by the human kind so judiciously divided that men, women and children have their respective shares in proportion to their strength, sex and abilities? And is every branch so contrived that there is...