Bankruptcy._--In closing the discussion of hard times, it is proper to
mention a device for removing in part the discouragement of debts where
ability to pay is entirely wanting. Of course, a settlement between debtor
and creditors, in which the property of the debtor is divided among his
creditors, is always available, leaving both at liberty to begin business
anew with a knowledge of the worst that can happen. It seems possible to
contrive bankruptcy laws in such shape as to secure a fair settlement of
insolvent business whenever the business is evidently failing. If
discovery of fraud or misrepresentation could cause immediate intervention
in a bankruptcy court, the surest possible check would be brought to bear
upon improper credits. It is certainly to the interest of all honest
creditors and debtors that a fair settlement should be reached as early
after insolvency as possible. Such bankrupt laws should be as wide
reaching in their uniformity as government permits. If a national bankrupt
law is not sufficient, the states should combine to establish in each the
same general system.

Chapter XIII. Technical Division Of Labor.

_Economy of minute division._--The advantages, limits and disadvantages of
minute division of labor are worthy of a more careful discussion, since
they bear upon every kind of enterprise and all classes of labor. A large
part of the century's progress in manufacture, and especially the
development of machinery in production, has grown out of the extension of
this principle of division. An analysis of the particulars by which great
saving is made in the cost of production will help us not only to
understand the facts better, but to extend the principle in various
directions. In the outset it implies the united effort of several workmen
in succession and in close combination upon a single product. It is said
that a pocket knife, which we buy for fifty cents, has involved in its
manufacture the services of seventy-two different persons, doing different
things. The perfection of its finish depends upon the perfection of each
of these persons in his single act. The cheapness depends upon the
readiness with which each act is performed, and the utility of every kind
of power employed.

A good illustration of division of labor may be found in the process of
butchering hogs in a large packing house. The live hogs enter the building
in the upper story, while able to carry themselves on their own