The New Gospel

It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people … Observe the accommodation of the most common artificer or day laborer in a civilized and thriving country, and you will perceive that the number of people of whose industry is a part, though but a small part, has been employed in procuring him this accommodation, exceeds all computation.  The woolen coat, for example, which covers the day-laborer, as coarse and rough as it may seem, in the produce of the joint labor of a great multitude of workmen.  The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder, the dyer, the scribbler, the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dresser, with many others, must all join their different arts in order to complete even this homely production.  How many merchants and carriers, besides, must have been employed … how much commerce and navigation … how many shipbuilders, sailors, sail-makers, rope makers …