صفحة 712 من 2651

As the accumulation of stock must, in the nature of things, be

previous to the division of labour, so labour can be more and

more subdivided in proportion only as stock is previously more

and more accumulated. The quantity of materials which the same

number of people can work up, increases in a great proportion as

labour comes to be more and more subdivided; and as the

operations of each workman are gradually reduced to a greater

degree of simplicity, a variety of new machines come to be

invented for facilitating and abridging those operations. As the

division of labour advances, therefore, in order to give constant

employment to an equal number of workmen, an equal stock of

provisions, and a greater stock of materials and tools than what

would have been necessary in a ruder state of things, must be

accumulated before-hand.