or association by different employments. The part which such
exchange plays in the accumulation and distribution of the wealth of the
world is so great that several chapters will be needed to present its
importance. The study of exchanges is sometimes thought to cover the whole
question of wealth. It is often treated as separate from production. But
its advantages and disadvantages are most easily seen by considering all
its bearings upon the increased product of a multitude of workers.

_Compound association._--A still closer association, sometimes called
compound association, is found where several workers combine efforts of
different kinds in a single finished product. It is easily illustrated in
an ordinary dairy, where one of the family drives up the cows, another
does the milking, another sets the milk and cares for the purity of all
utensils, another perhaps skims the milk and churns the butter, and still
another works and packs it. All this labor of many hands has its
importance represented in the butter packed for use. The particular
advantages of this division of labor will be treated in a future chapter.

_Aggregation of forces._--A still further advance in association appears
when many laborers in many ways, with multitudes of tools and machinery,
are combined in a huge establishment in such a way as to employ all
efficiently. This is illustrated in the so-called bonanza farms of the
west, but more distinctly appears in the great manufactories, or in any
extensive cooeperation or great enterprise. A study of these will also
require a future chapter.

While all these methods of association blend with and into each other in
every kind of community, a careful analysis of each is necessary to a full
understanding of their relation to welfare. For this reason it is best to
analyze and illustrate each by itself. The succeeding chapters will take
up all the intricacies of exchange before presenting the special
advantages and disadvantages of technical division of labor and of great
corporations.

Chapter VIII. Exchange: Advantages, Limitations And Tendencies.

_Exchange in production._--The immense importance of exchange in promoting
the welfare of communities is easily granted, and is illustrated in every
village store or even in every simple farming community. Today the market
for farm products is easily felt to be the most important consideration,
and weighs in every farmer's mind when buying or sell