Division of labor has made possible a fuller develop ment of the natural resources of different localities. From a social point of view this localization of in dustry is exceedingly important. A locality is looked upon as one of specialized industry when in the course of time it has demonstrated clearly its advantages over other districts, New England has long been the centre of the textile industry of the United States, tho its prestige has been somewhat affected by the rise of the Southern cotton mills, which have the advantages of nearness to raw material, fuel and cheap labor. But on the other hand, the New England mills pos sess water-power and proximity, to markets.
Another instance of localization of industry is the gathering of flour mills about St. Anthony Falls at Minneapolis. The original reason for their location at that point was the accessibility of water-power and the nearness to a bard-wheat supply. The milling business at Minneapolis has reached such proportions that the waterfalls are no longer adequate for motive power, and of the original advantages of location the nearness to the wheat supply alone remains. New advantages, however, have appeared in the form of a well-trained labor group, together with the neces sary commercial and shipping facilities for the handling of the product.
5. Disadvantages of division of the division of labor increases the workers' efficiency and tends to the enlargement of a nation's wealth, never theless from the workers' point of view it possesses some disadvantages and may be carried to a point that is harmful to society as a whole. The work of many becomes monotonous and wearisome. It is a Well known psychological fact that the incessant employ ment of the senses and muscles in the same way, even tho pleasurable in the beginning, finally becomes most distasteful if not painful. Two carpenters building a house will do all kinds of tasks during thC day— sawing, measuring, fitting, leveling. They will get more satisfaction out of their work and will be less weary at night than if they are part of a, gang of twenty men hired to build a house quickly, three or four working constantly with the saW, a few measur ing and marking the lumber, some laying the founda tion, others digging the cellar, one group putting the parts together with nail and hammer, and the re mainder shingling the roof.
Furthermore the division of labor naturally tends to the narrowing of a man. The all-round cobbler who can make as well as repair shoes has almost dis appeared. So has the old-fashioned Yankee farmer
who could make shoes for himself' and harness and shoes for his horse, could build his own barn or house, or make a wagon and a sled. In the country dis tricts we still find men who know something about many trades and who can make themselves very use ful in different occupations, but in the cities and towns workers are becoming more and more specialists and more and more ignorant about other callings. If an inventor makes a machine that can do their work more quickly or rapidly, they are helpless. When the typesetting machine came into use thousands of print ers in the United States lost their jobs and would have suffered much greater distress than they did had not the stereotyping process been invented. By lowering the costs of publication it led to a great increase in the number of country dailies and weeklies, causing a migrationrof printers from the great cities into the rural districts.
The undoubted disadvantages of division of labor to the working man are offset in part, if not wholly, by higher wages and shorter hours. If his work is as a whole less agreeable, he has more time to play, more time for his family, more time for self-improve ment if he is so disposed.
6. The enterpriser or entrepreneur.—The fourth and final factor in the production of wealth is the brain power or business ability which directs the labor in its utilization of land and capital, and assumes all responsibility for the payment of wages, rent and in terest. When this ability is embodied in a single in dividual he is called by economists the entrepreneur or enterpriser. Entrepreneur is the French word for undertaker, but in English this term is commonly applied to a single occupation.
The manager or entrepreneur is the most impor tant individual in the business world. If Ile blunders, capital is wasted and the demand for labor is weak ened. In so far as the entrepreneurs or business managers of a country are wise, farseeing, energetic and courageous, its industries and business prosper, abundant opportunities are opened up for labor, and wages tend to rise. The problems of management call for the highest kind of trained ability and it augurs well for the future business and industrial prosperity of the United States that larger numbers of college men are choosing business careers, and that universities in their schools of commerce are doing their best to give young men special and thoro train ing for the work of the business executive or man ager.