Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-09-18
DIVERSITY OF LABOR.

National and individual prosperity are in
timately and inseparably connected. 1t is
possible for few individuals to be possessed
of large amount of property in communi-
ty or nation, in which the multitude are in a
state of abject poverty. Such individuals,
however, cannot be regarded as in prosper
Gus condition. Their property, it matters
not in what it may consist does not contrib
ute in the highest degree to their happiness
and usefulness. Prosperity, in the civilized
acceptation of the word, is dependent upon
the elevation and improvement of the condi-
ton of the whole The real condition of a
community must be judged Of by the condi-
ton of the majority; and the condition Of the
majority is determined by the extent of di'
versity of labor in which the masses are en-
gagged. If there is any one single thing which,
more than any other, marks the advancement
which community has made in civilization,
it is the extent to which the several members
are engaged in different occupations. In the
nature of things it is not possible for people,
exclusively engaged in a single occupation,
ever to become either rich or refined to a great
degree.
This declaration is capable of historical
demonstration. The lowest order of the hu-
man family, or rather those communities of
the human family which exist in the most
degraded condition, are exclusively devoted
to the pursuit of a single occupation. They
are all fishers or hunters. Poverty and mise
ry are visited upon these people. So long as
they remain exclusively fishers and hunters,
no advancement, either physical or intellec-
tual, can ever take place amongst them.
Their condition is but little, if any, above
the wild beast which inhabit the forest in
common with themselves. Amongst more
advanced savages, we find some individuals
engaged, to limited extent, in agricultural
pursuits. The horse and the OK are domesti-
Gated, and rude instruments are invented and
used by them As the human family ad-
vance from the lowest condition of barbarity
to the highest degree of civilization, we find
that every stage is marked by greater diver
sity of labor than the one preceding it.
A nation resembles a family. In fact, a
nation is simply large family composed of
number of small families. In every we'll
ordered family there are multitude of Offices
to be filled. Each individual member has its
particular duties to perform. So it is in a
nation. There are many things to be per-
formed in every civilized nation. Civiliza-
ton, instead Of decreasing our wants, increases
them to numberless extent. Diversity of
labor is necessary to meet this state of things.
By diversity Of labor, it is not meant that
every individual must be engaged in multi
tude of occupations. The attempt to put such
theory as this into practice must ever prove
futile Nature is opposed to such theory,
and forbids that it ever be put into practice.
In we'll conducted manufacturing establish
ments, the principles of diversity of labor is
put into practice. The simplest thing is COM
posed of parts, and each laborer has his own
part to make. If it be shoe factory, one
man "cuts out" another "closes," another
"6ts," another does something else, and shoe
passes through perhaps dozen of hands be-
fore it is completed. This is what is under
stood by diversity of labor. Experience
proves that such system is the only way
that rapidity of execution and perfection of
finish can be attained. The result is that to
each individual the profit is much greater
than were one laborer required to begin and
finish any particular piece of work.
The civilized aspect of this question COM
mends itself to the serious consideration of us
Southern people. We are a civilized people,
but our civilization, if the masses of our citi-
zens is taken into consideration, is not of a
very high order. Unless the whole labor sys-
tenn of the South is revolutionized, it is difficult
to understand how we can ever make any
oreat attainments in the arts of civilized life