An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsSmith, Adam
History
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Smith, Adam
Economics
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.
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