Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1Roscher, Wilhelm
History
Principles of Political Economy, Vol. 1
Roscher, Wilhelm
Economics
The larger a tree grows to be, the more boughs and branches does it put
forth. The more perfect any species of animal is, the more does it stand
in need of a special organ for each special purpose. And thus the division
of labor has developed and kept pace with the development of human
society. While Crusoe was obliged to provide for all his wants by his own
labor, we find that in the wildest Indian family the male is employed in
war, the chase, in fishing, in the manufacture of arms and boats, and in
the transportation of the latter during long marches; the female, on the
other hand, in the preparation of food, in the hewing of wood, the curing
of skins, the sewing of clothes, in the building and preservation of the
wig-wam, the care of children, and the carriage of baggage when on the
march.(346) These occupations, at first entirely domestic, became, by
degrees, separate industries, which are constantly subject to further
subdivision.(347)
Section LVII.
Development Of The Division Of Labor.—Its Extent At Different Periods.
In the middle age of a people, the division of labor is not carried to any
great extent. The courtiers of King Frotho III. advised him to marry,
“since otherwise his majesty’s ragged linen would never be mended.” Saint
Dunstan, although he occupied a high position in politics and in the
Church, was an excellent blacksmith, bell-founder and designer of ladies’
robes. Chriemhild in the Nibelungenlied was an industrious and skillful
milliner. In the corresponding period of Grecian and Roman history, we
find Penelope and Lucretia at the loom, Nausicaa, a laundress, the
daughter of the king of the Lestrigons, fetching water from the spring,
Odysseus, a carpenter, a queen of Macedonia as a cook, and finally the
distaff of Tanaquil.(348) In the highlands of Scotland, in 1797, there
were a great many peasants all of whose clothing was home-made, with the
exception of their caps; nothing coming from abroad except the tailor, his
needles and iron tools generally. But the peasant himself was the weaver,
fuller, dyer, tanner, shoemaker etc. of his own family:(349) every man
jack of all trades.(350)
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