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Birmingham deals chiefly in manufactures of the former kind;

Sheffield in those of the latter; and the wages of labour in

those two different places are said to be suitable to this

difference in the nature of their manufactures.

The establishment of any new manufacture, of any new branch of

commerce, or of any new practice in agriculture, is always a

speculation from which the projector promises himself

extraordinary profits. These profits sometimes are very great,

and sometimes, more frequently, perhaps, they are quite

otherwise; but, in general, they bear no regular proportion to

those of other old trades in the neighbourhood. If the project

succeeds, they are commonly at first very high. When the trade or

practice becomes thoroughly established and well known, the

competition reduces them to the level of other trades.