On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures

accustomed to the mode of work in the factory, must be sent out to put it up; and there is always a considerable chance of his having offers that will induce him to remain abroad. 2. If the work be of a more simple kind, and can be put up without the help of an English workman, yet for the credit of the house which supplies it, and to prevent the accidents likely to occur from the want of sufficient instruction in those who use it, the parts are frequently made stronger, and examined more attentively, than they would be for an English purchaser. Any defect or accident also would be attended with more expense to repair, if it occurred abroad, than in England. 445. The class of workmen who make machinery, possess much more skill, and are paid much more highly than that class who merely use it; and, if a free exportation were allowed, the more valuable class would, undoubtedly, be greatly increased; for, notwithstanding the high rate of wages, there is no country in whichit can at this moment be made, either so well or so cheaply as in England. We might, therefore, supply the whole world with machinery, at an evident advantage, both to ourselves and our customers. In Manchester, and the surrounding district, many thousand men are wholly occupied in making the machinery, which gives employment to many hundred thousands who use it; but the period is not very remote, when the whole number of those who used machines, was not greater than the number of those who at present manufacture them. Hence, then, if England should ever become a great exporter of machinery, she would necessarily contain a large class of workmen, to whom skill would be indispensable, and, consequently, to whom high wages would be paid; and although her manufacturers might probably be comparatively fewer in number, yet they would undoubtedly have the advantage of being the first to derive profit from improvement. Under such circumstances, any diminution in the demand for machinery, would, in the first instance, be felt by a class much better able to meet it, than that which now suffers upon every check in the consumption of manufactured goods; and the resulting misery would therefore assume a mitigated character. 446. It has been feared, that when other countries have purchased our machines, they will cease to demand new ones: but the statement which has been given of the usual progress in the improvement of the machinery employed in any manufacture, and of the average time which elapses before it is superseded by such improvements, is a complete reply to this objection. If our customers abroad did not adopt the new machinery contrived by us as soon as they could procure it, then our manufacturers would extend their establishments, and undersell their rivals in their own markets. 447. It may also be urged, that in each kind of machinery a maximum of perfection may be imagined, beyond which it is impossible to advance; and certainly the last advances are usually the smallest when compared with those which precede them: but it should be observed, that these advances are generally made when the number of machines in employment is already large; and when, consequently, their effects on the power of producing are very considerable. But though it should be admitted that any one species of machinery may, after a long period, arrive at a degree of perfection which would render further improvement nearly hopeless, yet it is impossible to suppose that this can be the case with respect to all kinds of mechanism. In fact the limit of improvement is rarely approached, except in extensive branches of national manufactures; and the number of such branches is, even at present, very small. 448. Another argument in favour of the exportation of machinery, is, that it would facilitate the transfer of capital to any more advantageous mode of employment which might present itself. If the exportation of machinery were permitted, there would doubtless arise a new and increased demand; and, supposing any particular branch of our manufactures to cease to produce the average rate of profit, the loss to the capitalist would be much less, if a market were open for the sale of his machinery to customers more favourably circumstanced for its employment. If, on the other hand, new improvements in machinery should be imagined, the manufacturer would be more readily enabled to carry them into effect, by having the foreign market opened where he could sell his old machines. The fact, that England can, notwithstanding her taxation and her high rate of wages, actually undersell other nations, seems to be well established: and it appears to depend on the superior goodness and cheapness of those raw materials of machinery the metals—on the excellence of the tools—and on the admirable arrangements of the domestic economy of our factories. 449. The different degrees of facility with which capital can be transferred from one mode of employment to another, has an important effect on the rate of profits in different trades and in different countries. Supposing all the other causes which influence the rate of profit at any period, to act equally on capital employed in different occupations, yet the real rates of profit would soon alter, on account of the different degrees of loss incurred by removing the capital from one mode of investment to another, or of any variation in the action of those causes. 450. This principle will appear more clearly by taking an example. Let two capitalists have embarked L10,000 each, in two trades: A in supplying a district with water, by means of a steam-engine and iron pipes; B in manufacturing bobbin net. The capital of A will be expended in building a house and erecting a steam-engine, which costs, we shall suppose, L3000; and in laying down iron pipes to supply his customers, costing L7000. The greatest part of this latter expense is payment for labour, and if the pipes were to be taken up, the damage arising from that operation would render them of little value, except as old metal; whilst the expense of their removal would be considerable. Let us, therefore, suppose, that if A were obliged to give up his trade, he could realize only L4000 by the sale of his stock. Let us suppose again that B, by the sale of his bobbin net factory and machinery, could realize L8000 and let the usual profit on the capital employed by each party be the same, say 20 per cent: then we have Capital invested; Money which would arise from sale of machinery; Annual rate of profit per cent; Income L L L L Water works 10,000 4000 20 2000 Bobbin net Factory 10,000 8000 20 2000 Now, if, from competition, or any other cause, the rate of profit arising from water-works should fall to 20 per cent, that circumstance would not cause a transfer of capital from the water-works to bobbin net making; because the reduced income from the water-works, L1000 per annum, would still be greater than that produced by investing L4000, (the whole sum arising from the sale of the materials of the water-works), in a bobbin net factory, which sum, at 20 per cent, would yield only L800 per annum. In fact, the rate of profit, arising from the water-works, must fall to less than 8 per cent before the proprietor could increase his income by removing his capital into the bobbin net trade. 451. In any enquiry into the probability of the injury arising to our manufacturers from the competition of foreign countries, particular regard should be had to the facilities of transport, and to the existence in our own country of a mass of capital in roads, canals, machinery, etc., the greater portion of which may fairly be considered as having repaid the expense of its outlay, and also to the cheap rate at which the abundance of our fuel enables us to produce iron, the basis of almost all machinery. It has been justly remarked by M. de Villefosse, in the memoir before alluded to, that Ce que l'on nomme en France, la question du prix des fers, est, a proprement parler, la question du prix des bois, et la question, des moyens de communications interieures par les routes, fleuves, rivieres et canaux. The price of iron in various countries in Europe has been stated in section 215 of the present volume; and it appears, that in England it is produced at the least expense, and in France at the greatest. The length of the roads which cover England and Wales may be estimated roughly at twenty thousand miles of turnpike, and one hundred thousand miles of road not turnpike. The internal water communication of England and France, as far as I have been able to collect information on the subject, may be stated as follows: In France Miles in length Navigable rivers 4668 Navigable canals 915.5 Navigable canals in progress of execution (1824) 1388 6971.5 (1*) But, if we reduce these numbers in the proportion of 3.7 to 1, which is the relative area of France as compared with England and Wales, then we shall have the following comparison: Portion of France equal in size to England and Wales England(2*) Miles Miles Navigable rivers 1275.5 1261.6 Tidal navigation(3*) 545.9 Canals, direct 2023.5 Canals, branch 150.6 2174.1 2174.1 247.4 Canals commenced —- 375.1 Total 3995.5 1884.1 Population in 1831 13,894,500 8,608,500 This comparison, between the internal communications of the two countries, is not offered as complete; nor is it a fair view, to contrast the wealthiest portion of one country with the whole of the other: but it is inserted with the hope of inducing those who possess more extensive information on the subject, to supply the facts on which a better comparison may be instituted. The information to be added, would consist of the number of miles in each country, of seacoast, of public roads, of railroads, of railroads on which locomotive engines are used. 452. One point of view, in which rapid modes of conveyance increase the power of a country, deserves attention. On the Manchester Railroad, for example, above half a million of persons travel annually; and supposing each person to save only one hour in the time of transit, between Manchester and Liverpool, a saving of five hundred thousand hours, or of fifty thousand working days, of ten hours each, is effected. Now this is equivalent to an addition to the actual power of the country of one hundred and sixty-seven men, without increasing the quantity of food consumed; and it should also be remarked, that the time of the class of men thus supplied, is far more valuable than that of mere labourers. NOTES: 1. This table is extracted and reduced from one of Ravinet, Dictionnaire Hydrographique. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1824. 2. I am indebted to F. Page. Esq. of Speen, for that portion of this table which relates to the internal navigation of England. Those only who have themselves collected statistical details can be aware of the expense of time and labour, of which the few lines it contains are the result. 3. The tidal navigation includes: the Thames, from the mouth of the Medway; the Severn, from the Holmes: the Trent, from Trent Falls in the Humber; the Mersey from Runcorn Gap.