Adam Smith
THE DIVISION OF LABOR
The greatest improvement in the productive
powers of Labour, and the greater skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it i~ anywhere
directed, or applied, seem to .!:lave been the effeets of the diyision of labour..).
This gt-eat .i~~~~~~e of the quantity of work,
which, in consequence o:l?~ti:r'~Ivision of
labour, the same number of people are capable
of performing, A$, owing to three ,different dr~
cumsrances.;jirst, .to the in.sreas~ o{de~terj.ty in
every particular workman;, secondiy, 'to ,the saving of -the time, wbi~h is commonly J9;st iri
passiqS-:frqrn one species of work to' anof4er;
aiia~~t.ly: to the inventio~
a great miriiber
of riiachines which facili~~~e ,AI:tq, 3:9ridge
labour, and enable on~ man to do the work of
many....
To take an example, therefore, from a v.ery
trifling manufacture; but one in whicJ:l 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 divi~ion of labour has rendered a distinct trade),
nor acquainted with the use of the machinery
employed in,ic(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
cou,ld not make twenty. But in the way in
which this business is now carried on, not only
of
the whole work is a:pe<:uliar,~r8:de, bJ.:!.t it is, divided i~to a nlunber of bran'ches,' 'of which: the
greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One
man draws out the wire, another straightens 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 distinc~ .op¢rations;
to putj~ 01:1 is'~a pe:culiar busi~es~;., to whiten'
the pins i~ ~~1r; jt,is::~~~i:i'a trade by itself to
put ~~em _intp: #~~,.,pap_~r; and the il:uportant
business" of~fuakiIig,' a pin 'is, ,in this manner, divided i~to '.about eightee'q 'distin<,:~ operations;
whkh", ,in so~~-, iii~nm:~ctories?, axe all performed by disd~ct"h~;;ds, though in others the
same m~n wi,ll sometimes pe~form two or thr~e
of them. I haye seenca small manufactory of
this kind where ten men bnly we,re-.~.h1p16}h~:d,
antI' where some of th~rp consequently performe~ two or three distinct operations. But
though they were very poor [craftsmen], and
therefore but indifferently accommodated with
the necessary machinery, t~ey could, _when
they exerted themselve_s, make among -them
about twelve pounds of pins in a day.. There are
in a pound upw~rds of four thousand pins of a
middling size. Those ten persons, therefore,
could make among them upwards of forryeight thousand pins in a day. Each person,
therefore, making a tenth part of forty-eight
thousand pins, might be considered as making
(
foui thi)1is,(l1d eight hundred pins in a day.
Bu~ iHhe{hail.tl wrought separately and indeperidentiy; ':~'nd without any of them having 'been :edD:~ated to this peculiar business,.
they cettainly,'"cotild .not each of them have
made twen'ty, perhaps not on: pin in a day;
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that is, certainly, not the two hundred and fortieth, perhaps not the' four thousand eight
hundredth part of what they""ar.E at present
capable of performi~g, in consequence of a
proper division and combihation of their different operations. _ ..
,;,
ADAM SMITH
THE WEALTH OF NATIONS
Every individual is continually exerting himself
to find out the most advantageous employment
for whatever capital he can command. It is his
own advantage, indeed, and "riot 'th~t the ~~o­
dety, which
vlew~·But..~h.~ ~.~uqy'.ofhis
own adv~nt'age~' riituraJ1y~ 'rather necessarily,
leads him to pr~f~r
employment which is
most advantageous to the society....
... As every individual, therefore, endeavours as .r;r:t~~~ ~~_, he, can·.botF·~o efupfoy'lils' capi~
he:.has in
th;t
or
'or
tal in t~e suppo~~ ~f <!.~l1?:~s!:i~)n.d~~,tFY,_ ~n~ so
to direct that industry that its produce may be
of the greatest value, every individual necessatily labours to rerid~~ th~' a~~~~i·re~·~~tie~ 'the
society as 'i;e~t:~'s' he' canj.fe'
neither in.tends~-i:'o -promoH/ th'e"p{ibii'c"lnterest, nor knows how much he is promoting it.
By preferring the support _of domestic to that
of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that ind'!:lstry in such
a:manner as its 'p~~ci~c~ may be of the greatest
value, he intends only his own gain, ,and he is in
this, as in many other cases, led .by an invisible
hand to promote an end which was n~ part of
his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the
society that it was no part of it, By pursuing his
of
generaIly; iiideed,
greatness; and diminishes, instead of increasing,
the real value of the annual produce of its land
and labour.
All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken
away, the obvious and simple system of naturalliberty establishes itself of its own accord,
Every man, as long as he does not violate the
laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue
his own interest his own way, and to bring
both his industry and capital into competition
with those of any other man, or order of men.
The sovereign is completely discharged from a
duty, in_ the attempting to perform which he
must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which
no human wisdom or knowledge could ever
be sufficient; the duty of superintending the
industry of private people, and of directing it
towards the employments most suitable to the
own interest he frequently promotes that of the
society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it, I have never known much
good dOlle by those who affected to trade for the
pubiicgood. : ' . ' . - ........... .
,"., .'. ',;. rH~~~~~~~~~~3I:1},~hR ,'~f'7qulS! _~!=.~~rqpt to direct private people in what manner they ought
to
th-;'ir~~pit~is,'Wo~fci;;~t ;;~ly load
hImsdf' ~ir'i~"~'
·~~g~i_~i~:~~·~" .~tt~ntion,
autho~Yfy--::\Vnich 'couici's'afely be
trusted; 'o'o'f-only
p~erson;'but to no
co'uncil or seriate whatever; and which would
nowhere -be 'so dangerous as in the- hands of a
man who had folly and presumption enough to
fancy'h'imsdffif 'to" eX'eidie it~-~' ,~"~' ...... ' .
Ii-is 'thu.s"thar ~every 's-yi£em ~wJ:iic-h endeavburs·, either by -exttioidiniry 'encouragementS to
drav; ,towards-a particular species orindustry a
greate~ _~qag: S!.f ~he cap~~~J. qf ~~.~.~~)Ciety than
would naturally
't'~ it, or, by extraordinary
rest~a,~~~§;}9'i~~Jf9'~'~ 'pajii~,~li~ _~p~C1e's of industrysome share of tlie-c~pital which would
otherwise be"e'in'ployed'in it, is in reality subversive to the great purpose which it means to
promote. It retards, instead of accelerating" the
progress of the society towards real wealth and
employ
riiosr
but 'i'ssume"an'
to 'no'single-
i'o,
interest of the society, According to the system
of natural liberty, the sovereign has only
three duties to attend to; three duties of great
importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible
to common understandings: first, the duty of
protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies: secondly,
the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or
oppression of every other member of it, or the
duty of establishing an exact administration of
justice; and, thirdly, the duty of erecting and
maintaining certain public works and certain
public institutions which it can never be for
the interest of any individual, or small number
of individuals, to erect and maintain; because
the profit could never repay the expense to any
individual or small number of individuals,
though it may frequently do much more than
repay it to a great society.
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