BOOK ONE
OF THE CAUSES OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE PRODUCTIVE POWERS. OF LABOUR, AND OF THE ORDER ACCORDING TO WHICH ITS. PRODUCE
 IS NATURALLY DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE DIFFERENT RANKS OF THE PEOPLE.
CHAPTER I Of the Division of Labour
THE greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and
judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.
The effects of the division of labour, in the general business of society, will be more easily understood by
considering in what manner it operates in some particular manufactures. It is commonly supposed to be carried
furthest in some very trifling ones; not perhaps that it really is carried further in them than in others of
more importance: but in those trifling manufactures which are destined to supply the small wants of but a small
 number of people, the whole number of workmen must necessarily be small; and those employed in every different
 branch of the work can often be collected into the same workhouse, and placed at once under the view of the
spectator. In those great manufactures, on the contrary, which are destined to supply the great wants of the great
 body of the people, every different branch of the work employs so great a number of workmen that it is impossible
to collect them all into the same workhouse. We can seldom see more, at one time, than those employed in one
single branch. Though in such manufactures, therefore, the work may really be divided into a much greater number
 of parts than in those of a more trifling nature, the division is not near so obvious, and has accordingly
been much less observed.

To take an example, therefore, from a very trifling manufacture; but one in which the division of labour has
been very often taken notice of, the trade of the pin-maker; a workman not educated to this business (which the
division of labour has rendered a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery employed in it
 (to the invention of which the same division of labour has probably given occasion), could scarce, perhaps, with
 his utmost industry, make one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this
business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of
branches, of which the greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire, another straights
it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving, the head; to make the head
 requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another;
it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this
 manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which, in some manufactories, are all performed by
distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. I have seen a small
 manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where some of them consequently performed two or
 three distinct operations. But though they were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the
 necessary machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins in
a day. There are in a pound upwards of four thousand pins of a middling size. Those ten persons, therefore, could
 make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand pins in a day. Each person, therefore, making a tenth part of
 forty-eight thousand pins, might be considered as making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day. But if they
 had all wrought separately and independently, and without any of them having been educated to this peculiar
business, they certainly could not each of them have made twenty, perhaps not one pin in a day; that is,
certainly, not the two hundred and fortieth, perhaps not the four thousand eight hundredth part of what they
 are at present capable of performing, in consequence of a proper division and combination of their different
operations.

In every other art and manufacture, the effects of the division of labour are similar to what they are in this
very trifling one; though, in many of them, the labour can neither be so much subdivided, nor reduced to so great
a simplicity of operation. The division of labour, however, so far as it can be introduced, occasions, in every
art, a proportionable increase of the productive powers of labour. The separation of different trades and
employments from one another seems to have taken place in consequence of this advantage. This separation, too,
is generally called furthest in those countries which enjoy the highest degree of industry and improvement;
what is the work of one man in a rude state of society being generally that of several in an improved one.
In every improved society, the farmer is generally nothing but a farmer; the manufacturer, nothing but a
manufacturer. The labour, too, which is necessary to produce any one complete manufacture is almost always
divided among a great number of hands. How many different trades are employed in each branch of the linen
and woollen manufactures from the growers of the flax and the wool, to the bleachers and smoothers of the
linen, or to the dyers and dressers of the cloth! The nature of agriculture, indeed, does not admit of so many
subdivisions of labour, nor of so complete a separation of one business from another, as manufactures. It is
impossible to separate so entirely the business of the grazier from that of the corn-farmer as the trade of the
carpenter is commonly separated from that of the smith. The spinner is almost always a distinct person from the
 weaver; but the ploughman, the harrower, the sower of the seed, and the reaper of the corn, are often the same.
The occasions for those different sorts of labour returning with the different seasons of the year, it is
impossible that one man should be constantly employed in any one of them. This impossibility of making so
complete and entire a separation of all the different branches of labour employed in agriculture is perhaps
the reason why the improvement of the productive powers of labour in this art does not always keep pace with
their improvement in manufactures. The most opulent nations, indeed, generally excel all their neighbours in
agriculture as well as in manufactures; but they are commonly more distinguished by their superiority in the
latter than in the former. Their lands are in general better cultivated, and having more labour and expense
bestowed upon them, produce more in proportion to the extent and natural fertility of the ground. But this
superiority of produce is seldom much more than in proportion to the superiority of labour and expense. In
agriculture, the labour of the rich country is not always much more productive than that of the poor; or, at
least, it is never so much more productive as it commonly is in manufactures. The corn of the rich country,
therefore, will not always, in the same degree of goodness, come cheaper to market than that of the poor. The
corn of Poland, in the same degree of goodness, is as cheap as that of France, notwithstanding the superior
opulence and improvement of the latter country. The corn of France is, in the corn provinces, fully as good,
and in most years nearly about the same price with the corn of England, though, in opulence and improvement,
France is perhaps inferior to England. The corn-lands of England, however, are better cultivated than those of
France, and the corn-lands of France are said to be much better cultivated than those of Poland. But though the
poor country, notwithstanding the inferiority of its cultivation, can, in some measure, rival the rich in the
cheapness and goodness of its corn, it can pretend to no such competition in its manufactures; at least if those
 manufactures suit the soil, climate, and situation of the rich country. The silks of France are better and
cheaper than those of England, because the silk manufacture, at least under the present high duties upon the
importation of raw silk, does not so well suit the climate of England as that of France. But the hardware and
the coarse woollens of England are beyond all comparison superior to those of France, and much cheaper too in
 the same degree of goodness. In Poland there are said to be scarce any manufactures of any kind, a few of those
 coarser household manufactures excepted, without which no country can well subsist.

This great increase of the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of
people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity
in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one
species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and
 abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.

First, the improvement of the dexterity of the workman necessarily increases the quantity of the work he can
 perform; and the division of labour, by reducing every man's business to some one simple operation, and by
making this operation the sole employment of his life, necessarily increased very much dexterity of the workman.
A common smith, who, though accustomed to handle the hammer, has never been used to make nails, if upon some
 particular occasion he is obliged to attempt it, will scarce, I am assured, be able to make above two or three
 hundred nails in a day, and those too very bad ones. A smith who has been accustomed to make nails, but whose
 sole or principal business has not been that of a nailer, can seldom with his utmost diligence make more than
 eight hundred or a thousand nails in a day. I have seen several boys under twenty years of age who had never
exercised any other trade but that of making nails, and who, when they exerted themselves, could make, each of
them, upwards of two thousand three hundred nails in a day. The making of a nail, however, is by no means one of
the simplest operations. The same person blows the bellows, stirs or mends the fire as there is occasion, heats
 the iron, and forges every part of the nail: in forging the head too he is obliged to change his tools. The
different operations into which the making of a pin, or of a metal button, is subdivided, are all of them much
 more simple, and the dexterity of the person, of whose life it has been the sole business to perform them,
is usually much greater. The rapidity with which some of the operations of those manufacturers are performed,
exceeds what the human hand could, by those who had never seen them, be supposed capable of acquiring.

Secondly, the advantage which is gained by saving the time commonly lost in passing from one sort of work to
another is much greater than we should at first view be apt to imagine it. It is impossible to pass very quickly
from one kind of work to another that is carried on in a different place and with quite different tools. A country
 weaver, who cultivates a small farm, must lose a good deal of time in passing from his loom to the field, and
from the field to his loom. When the two trades can be carried on in the same workhouse, the loss of time is no
doubt much less. It is even in this case, however, very considerable. A man commonly saunters a little in turning
 his hand from one sort of employment to another. When he first begins the new work he is seldom very keen and
hearty; his mind, as they say, does not go to it, and for some time he rather trifles than applies to good
purpose. The habit of sauntering and of indolent careless application, which is naturally, or rather necessarily
 acquired by every country workman who is obliged to change his work and his tools every half hour, and to apply
 his hand in twenty different ways almost every day of his life, renders him almost always slothful and lazy, and
incapable of any vigorous application even on the most pressing occasions. Independent, therefore, of his
deficiency in point of dexterity, this cause alone must always reduce considerably the quantity of work which
he is capable of performing.

Thirdly, and lastly, everybody must be sensible how much labour is facilitated and abridged by the application
 of proper machinery. It is unnecessary to give any example. I shall only observe, therefore, that the invention
 of all those machines by which labour is so much facilitated and abridged seems to have been originally owing
 to the division of labour. Men are much more likely to discover easier and readier methods of attaining any
object when the whole attention of their minds is directed towards that single object than when it is dissipated
among a great variety of things. But in consequence of the division of labour, the whole of every man's attention
 comes naturally to be directed towards some one very simple object. It is naturally to be expected, therefore,
 that some one or other of those who are employed in each particular branch of labour should soon find out easier
 and readier methods of performing their own particular work, wherever the nature of it admits of such
improvement. A great part of the machines made use of in those manufactures in which labour is most subdivided,
 were originally the inventions of common workmen, who, being each of them employed in some very simple operation,
 naturally turned their thoughts towards finding out easier and readier methods of performing it. Whoever has been
much accustomed to visit such manufactures must frequently have been shown very pretty machines, which were the
inventions of such workmen in order to facilitate and quicken their particular part of the work. In the first fire
-engines, a boy was constantly employed to open and shut alternately the communication between the boiler and the
 cylinder, according as the piston either ascended or descended. One of those boys, who loved to play with his
companions, observed that, by tying a string from the handle of the valve which opened this communication to
another part of the machine, the valve would open and shut without his assistance, and leave him at liberty to
divert himself with his playfellows. One of the greatest improvements that has been made upon this machine,
since it was first invented, was in this manner the discovery of a boy who wanted to save his own labour.

All the improvements in machinery, however, have by no means been the inventions of those who had occasion to
 use the machines. Many improvements have been made by the ingenuity of the makers of the machines, when to make
 them became the business of a peculiar trade; and some by that of those who are called philosophers or men of
 speculation, whose trade it is not to do anything, but to observe everything; and who, upon that account, are
often capable of combining together the powers of the most distant and dissimilar objects. In the progress of
society, philosophy or speculation becomes, like every other employment, the principal or sole trade and
occupation of a particular class of citizens. Like every other employment too, it is subdivided into a great
 number of different branches, each of which affords occupation to a peculiar tribe or class of philosophers;
and this subdivision of employment in philosophy, as well as in every other business, improves dexterity, and
 saves time. Each individual becomes more expert in his own peculiar branch, more work is done upon the whole,
and the quantity of science is considerably increased by it.

It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of
 labour, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest
ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his own work to dispose of beyond what he himself has
 occasion for; and every other workman being exactly in the same situation, he is enabled to exchange a great
quantity of his own goods for a great quantity, or, what comes to the same thing, for the price of a great
quantity of theirs. He supplies them abundantly with what they have occasion for, and they accommodate him as
 amply with what he has occasion for, and a general plenty diffuses itself through all the different ranks of
the society.

Observe the accommodation of the most common artificer or day-labourer in a civilised and thriving country, and
in procuring him this accommodation, exceeds all computation. The woollen coat, for example, which covers the
day-labourer, as coarse and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of
workmen. The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder, the dyer, the scribbler, the spinner,
 the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must all join their different arts in order to complete
even this homely production. How many merchants and carriers, besides, must have been employed in transporting
the materials from some of those workmen to others who often live in a very distant part of the country! How
 much commerce and navigation in particular, how many ship-builders, sailors, sail-makers, rope-makers, must
have been employed in order to bring together the different drugs made use of by the dyer, which often come
from the remotest corners of the world! What a variety of labour, too, is necessary in order to produce the
tools of the meanest of those workmen! To say nothing of such complicated machines as the ship of the sailor,
 the mill of the fuller, or even the loom of the weaver, let us consider only what a variety of labour is
requisite in order to form that very simple machine, the shears with which the shepherd clips the wool. The
 miner, the builder of the furnace for smelting the ore, the seller of the timber, the burner of the charcoal
to be made use of in the smelting-house, the brickmaker, the brick-layer, the workmen who attend the furnace,
 the mill-wright, the forger, the smith, must all of them join their different arts in order to produce them.
 Were we to examine, in the same manner, all the different parts of his dress and household furniture, the
coarse linen shirt which he wears next his skin, the shoes which cover his feet, the bed which he lies on,
and all the different parts which compose it, the kitchen-grate at which he prepares his victuals, the coals
which he makes use of for that purpose, dug from the bowels of the earth, and brought to him perhaps by a long
sea and a long land carriage, all the other utensils of his kitchen, all the furniture of his table, the knives
and forks, the earthen or pewter plates upon which he serves up and divides his victuals, the different hands
employed in preparing his bread and his beer, the glass window which lets in the heat and the light, and keeps
out the wind and the rain, with all the knowledge and art requisite for preparing that beautiful and happy
invention, without which these northern parts of the world could scarce have afforded a very comfortable
habitation, together with the tools of all the different workmen employed in producing those different
 conveniences; if we examine, I say, all these things, and consider what a variety of labour is employed
 about each of them, we shall be sensible that, without the assistance and co-operation of many thousands,
 the very meanest person in a civilised country could not be provided, even according to what we very falsely
 imagine the easy and simple manner in which he is commonly accommodated. Compared, indeed, with the more
extravagant luxury of the great, his accommodation must no doubt appear extremely simple and easy; and yet
it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of a European prince does not always so much exceed that of
an industrious and frugal peasant as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king,
the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages.

国民财富的性质和原因的研究（二）

第一篇　论劳动生产力增进的原因并论劳动生产物自然而然地分配给各阶级人民的顺序

第一章　论分工

　　劳动生产力上最大的增进，以及运用劳动时所表现的更大的熟练、技巧和判断力，似乎都是分工的结果。
　　为使读者易于理解社会一般业务分工所产生的结果，我现在来讨论个别制造业分工状况。一般人认为，分工最完全的制造业，
乃是一些极不重要的制造业。不重要制造业的分工，实际上并不比重要制造业的分工更为周密。但是，目的在于供给少数人小量需
要的不重要制造业，所雇用的劳动者人数，必然不多，而从事各部门工作的工人，往往可集合在同一工厂内，使观察者能一览无遗。
反之，那些大制造业，要供给大多数人的大量需要，所以，各工作部门都雇有许许多多劳动者，要把这许许多多劳动者集合在一个
厂内，势不可能。我们要同时看见一个部门以上的工人，也不可能。象这种大制造业的工作，尽管实际上比小制造业分成多得多的
部分，但因为这种划分不能象小制造业的划分那么明显，所以很少人注意到。
　　扣针制造业是极微小的了，但它的分工往往唤起人们的注意。所以，我把它引来作为例子。一个劳动者，如果对于这职业
（分工的结果，使扣针的制造成为一种专门职业）没有受过相当训练，又不知怎样使用这职业上的机械（使这种机械有发明的
可能的，恐怕也是分工的结果），那末纵使竭力工作，也许一天也制造不出一枚扣针，要做二十枚，当然是决不可能了。但按照
现在经营的方法，不但这种作业全部已经成为专门职业，而且这种职业分成若干部门，其中有大多数也同样成为专门职业。一个
人抽铁线，一个人拉直，一个人切截，一个人削尖线的一端，一个人磨另一端，以便装上圆头。要做圆头，就需要有二三种不同的
操作。装圆头，涂白色，乃至包装，都是专门的职业。这样，扣针的制造分为十八种操作。有些工厂，这十八种操作，分由十八个
专门工人担任。固然，有时一人也兼任二三门。我见过一个这种小工厂，只雇用十个工人，因此在这一个工厂中，有几个工人担任
二三种操作。象这样一个小工厂的工人，虽很穷困，他们的必要机械设备，虽很简陋，但他们如果勤勉努力，一日也能成针十二
磅。从每磅中等针有四千枚计，这十个工人每日就可成针四万八千枚，即一人一日可成针四千八百枚。如果他们各自独立工作，
不专习一种特殊业务，那末，他们不论是谁，绝对不能一日制造二十枚针，说不定一天连一枚针也制造不出来。他们不但不能制
出今日由适当分工合作而制成的数量的二百四十分之一，就连这数量的四千八百分之一，恐怕也制造不出来。
　　就其他各种工艺及制造业说，虽有许多不能作这样细密的分工，共操作也不能变得这样简单，但分工的效果总是一样的。凡
能采用分工制的工艺，一经采用分工制，便相应地增进劳动的生产力。各种行业之所以各各分立，似乎也是由于分工有这种好处。
一个国家的产业与劳动生产力的增进程度如果是极高的，则其各种行业的分工一般也都达到极高的程度。未开化社会中一人独任的
工作，在进步的社会中，一般都成为几个人分任的工作。在进步的社会中，农民一般只是农民，制造者只是制造者。而且，生产一
种完全制造品所必要的劳动，也往往分由许多劳动者担任。试以麻织业和毛织业为例，从亚麻及羊毛的生产到麻布的漂白和烫平或
呢绒的染色和最后一道加工，各部门所使用的不同技艺是那么多啊！农业由于它的性质，不能有象制造业那样细密的分工，各种
工作，不能象制造业那样判然分立。木匠的职业与铁匠的职业，通常是截然分开的，但畜牧者的业务与种稻者的业务，不能象前者
那样完全分开。纺工和织工，几乎都是各别的两个人，但锄耕、耙掘、播种和收割，却常由一人兼任。农业上种种劳动，随季节
推移而巡回，要指定一个人只从事一种劳动，事实上绝不可能。所以，农业上劳动生产力的增进，总跟不上制造业上劳动生产力
的增进的主要原因，也许就是农业不能采用完全的分工制度。现在最富裕的国家，固然在农业和制造业上都优于邻国，但制造业
方面的优越程度，必定大于农业方面的优越程度。富国的土地，一般都耕耘得较好，投在土地上的劳动与费用也比较多，生产出来
的产品按照土地面积与肥沃的比例来说也较多；但是，这样较大的生产量，很少在比例上大大超过所花的较大劳动量和费用。在
农业方面，富国劳动生产力未必都比贫国劳动生产力大得多，至少不象制造业方面一般情况那样大得多。所以，如果品质同样优
良，富国小麦在市场上的售价，未必都比贫国低廉。就富裕和进步的程度说，法国远胜于波兰，但波兰小麦的价格，与品质同样
优良的法国小麦同样低廉。与英格兰比较，论富裕，论进步，法国可能要逊一筹，但法国产麦省出产的小麦，其品质之忧良完全
和英格兰小麦相同，而且在大多数年头，两者的价格也大致相同。可是，英格兰的麦田耕种得比法国好，而法国的麦田，据说耕
种得比波兰好得多。贫国的耕作，尽管不及富国，但贫国生产的小麦，在品质优良及售价低廉方面，却能在相当程度上与富国竞
争。但是，贫国在制造业上不能和富国竞争；至少在富国土壤气候位置适宜于这类制造业的场合，贫国不能和富国竞争。法国绸
所以比英国绸又好又便宜，就是因为织绸业，至少在今日原丝进口税很高的条件下，更适合于法国气候，而不十分适合于英国
气候。但英国的铁器和粗毛织物，却远胜于法国，而且品质同样优良的英国货品，在价格上比法国低廉得多。据说，波兰除了
少数立国所需的粗糙家庭制造业外，几乎没有什么制造业。
　　有了分工，同数劳动者就能完成比过去多得多的工作量，其原因有三：第一，劳动者的技巧因业专而日进；第二，由一种
工作转到另一种工作，通常须损失不少时间，有了分工，就可以免除这种损失；第三，许多简化劳动和缩减劳动的机械的发明，
使一个人能够做许多人的工作。
　　第一，劳动者熟练程度的增进，势必增加他所能完成的工作量。分工实施的结果，各劳动者的业务，既然终生局限于一种
单纯操作，当然能够大大增进自己的熟练程度。惯于使用铁锤而不曾练习制铁钉的普通铁匠，一旦因特殊事故，必须制钉时，
我敢说，他一天至多只能做出二三百枚针来，而且质量还拙劣不堪。即使惯于制钉，但若不以制钉为主业或专业，就是竭力工作
，也不会一天制造出八百枚或一千枚以上。我看见过几个专以制钉为业的不满二十岁的青年人，在尽力工作时，每人每日能制
造二千三百多枚。可是，制钉决不是最简单的操作。同一劳动者，要鼓炉、调整火力，要烧铁挥锤打制，在打制钉头时还得调
换工具。比较起来，制扣针和制金属纽扣所需的各项操作要简单得多，而以此为终生业务的人，其熟练程度通常也高得多。
所以，在此等制造业中，有几种操作的迅速程度简直使人难于想象，如果你不曾亲眼见过，你决不会相信人的手能有这样大的
本领。
　　第二，由一种工作转到另一种工作，常要损失一些时间，因节省这种时间而得到的利益，比我们骤看到时所想象的大得多。
不可能很快地从一种工作转到使用完全不相同工具而且在不同地方进行的另一种工作。耕作小农地的乡村织工，由织机转到耕地，
又由耕地转到织机，一定要虚费许多时间。诚然，这两种技艺，如果能在同一厂坊内进行，那末时间上的损失，无疑要少得多，
但即使如此，损失还是很大。人由一种工作转到另一种工作时，通常要闲逛一会儿。在开始新工作之初，势难立即精神贯注地积
极工作，总不免心不在焉。而且在相当时间内，与其说他是在工作，倒不如说他是在开玩笑。闲荡、偷懒、随便这种种习惯，对
于每半小时要换一次工作和工具，而且一生中几乎每天必须从事二十项不同工作的农村劳动者，可说是自然会养成的，甚而可说
必然会养成的。这种种习惯，使农村劳动者常流于迟缓懒惰，即在非常吃紧的时候，也不会精神勃勃地干。所以，纵使没有技巧
方面的缺陷，仅仅这些习惯也一定会大大减少他所能完成的工作量。
　　第三，利用适当的机械能在什么程度上简化劳动和节省劳动，这必定是大家都知道的，无须举例。我在这里所要说的只是：
简化劳动和节省劳动的那些机械的发明，看来也是起因于分工。人类把注意力集中在单一事物上，比把注意力分散在许多种事物
上，更能发现达到目标的更简易更便利的方法。分工的结果，各个人的全部注意力自然会倾注在一种简单事物上。所以只要工作
性质上还有改良的余地，各个劳动部门所雇的劳动者中，不久自会有人发现一些比较容易而便利的方法，来完成他们各自的工作。
唯其如此，用在今日分工最细密的各种制造业上的机械，有很大部分，原是普通工人的发明。他们从事于最单纯的操作，当然会
发明比较便易的操作方法。不论是谁，只要他常去观察制造厂，他一定会看到极象样的机械，这些机械是普通工人为了要使他们
担当的那部分工作容易迅速地完成而发明出来的。最初的蒸汽机，原需雇用一个儿童，按活塞的升降，不断开闭汽锅与汽筒间的
通路。有一次担任这工作的某儿童，因为爱和朋友游玩，他用一条绳把开闭通路的舌门的把手，系在机械的另一部分，舌门就可
不需人力自行开闭。原为贪玩想出来的方法，就这样成为蒸汽机大改良之一。
　　可是，一切机械的改良，决不是至由机械使用者发明。有许多改良，是出自专门机械制造师的智巧；还有一些改良，是出自
哲学家或思想家的智能。哲学家或思想家的任务，不在于制造任何实物，而在于观察一切事物，所只他们常常能够结合利用各种
完全没有关系而且极不类似的物力。随着社会的进步，哲学或推想也象其他各种职业那样，成为某一特定阶级人民的主要业务和
专门工作。一此外，这种业务或工作，也象其他职业那样，分成了许多部门，每个部门，又各成为一种哲学家的行业。哲学上这
种分工，象产业上的分工那样，增进了技巧，并节省了时间。各人擅长各人的特殊工们不但增加全体的成就，而且大大增进科学
的内容。
　　在一个政治修明的社会里，造成普及到最下层人民的那种普遍富裕情况的，是各行各业的产量由于分工而大增。各劳动者，
除自身所需数的以外，还有大量产物可以出卖；同时，因为一切其他劳动者的处境相同，各个人都能以自身生产的大量产物，换
得其他劳动着生产的大量产物，换言之，都能换得其他劳动者大量产物的价格。别人所需的物品，他能与以充分供给；他自身所
需的，别人亦能与以充分供给。于是，社会各阶级普遍富裕。
　　考察一下文明而繁荣的国家的最普通技工或日工的日用物品罢；你就会看到，用他的劳动的一部分（虽然只是一小部分）
来生产这种日用品的人的数目，是难以数计的。例如，日工所穿的粗劣呢级上衣，就是许多劳动者联合劳动的产物。为完成这种
朴素的产物，势须有牧羊者、拣羊毛者、梳羊毛者、染工、粗梳工、纺工、织工、漂白工、裁缝工，以及其他许多人，联合起来
工作。加之，这些劳动者居住的地方，往往相隔很远，把材料由甲地运至乙地，该需要多少商人和运输者啊！染工所用药料，常
须购自世界上各个遥远的地方，要把各种药料由各个不同地方收集起来，该需要多少商业和航运业，该需要雇用多少船工、水手
、帆布制造者和绳索制造者啊！为生产这些最普通劳动者所使用的工具，又需要多少种类的劳动啊！复杂机械如水手工作的船、
漂白工用的水车或织工用的织机，姑置不论，单就简单器械如牧羊者剪毛时所用的剪刀来说，其制造就须经过许多种类的劳动。
为了生产这极简单的剪刀，矿工、熔铁炉建造者、木材采伐者、熔铁厂烧炭工人、制砖者、泥水匠、在熔铁炉旁服务的工人、
机械安装工人、铁匠等等，必须把他们各种各样的技艺联结起来。同样，要是我们考察一个劳动者的服装和家庭用具，如贴身穿
的粗麻衬衣，脚上穿的鞋子，就寝用的床铺和床铺上各种装置，调制食物的炉子，由地下采掘出来而且也许需要经过水陆运输才
能送到他手边供他烧饭的煤炭，厨房中一切其他用具，食桌上一切用具，刀子和叉子，盛放食物和分取食物的陶制和锡蜡制器皿，
制造面包和麦酒供他食喝的各种工人，那种透得热气和光线并能遮蔽风雨的玻璃窗，和使世界北部成为极舒适的居住地的大发明
所必须借助的一切知识和技术，只及工人制造这些便利品所用的各种器具等等。总之，我们如果考察这一切东西，并考虑到投在
这每样东西上的各种劳动，我们就会觉得，没有成千上万的人的帮助和合作，一个文明国家里的卑不足道的人，即便按照（这是
我们很错误地想象的）他一般适应的舒服简单的方式也不能够取得其日用品的供给的。