A Discourse on Trade, and Other Matters Relative to it

by John Cary

Now, if the Parliament would please to take these Things into their Consideration, they may reduce Insurance to its first Intention, by obliging the Insured to bear such a proportionable Part of his Adventure, (the Premio included) as to them shall seem fit, and also the Insurers, when a Loss is fully made out, to pay their Subscriptions without Abatement, which will prevent both; and if any Differences should arise, to direct easy ways for adjusting them, without attending long Issues at Law, or being bound up to such nice Rules in their Proofs, as the Affairs of foreign Trade will not admit.

Wilful casting away Ships by the Owners.I know, that by a Clause in a Statute made primo Annæ, the wilful casting away, burning, or otherwise destroying a Ship, by any Captain, Master, Mariner, or other Officer belonging to it, is made Felony, without Benefit of Clergy; but that Statute is so qualify’d, that it is difficult to convict the Offender, because the Fact must be done, to the Prejudice of the Owner, or Owners, or of any Merchant or Merchants that shall load Goods thereon, else he doth not come within its Penalty, so it doth not reach the Evil I here mention, viz. the abominable Contrivance of the Owners to have their own Ships destroyed, in order to make an Advantage by their Insurances; (a Crime so black in itself, that it cannot be mentioned without Horror.) These Men, when they frame their dark Designs, will take Care, for the Security of those they employ, that none besides themselves shall load Goods on the Ships they intend shall be thus destroyed, and it cannot be supposed that they receive Prejudice thereby themselves, so the Prosecution on that Statute is evaded; but if the Insured were bound to make out their Interests, and to bear a Proportionable Part of the Loss themselves, this would, as it were, naturally prevent such scandalous Practices.

Whether the Price of Labour is a Hindrance to Improvements in our Products and Manufactures.Before I enter on the Business of the Poor, I will consider of a Question that hath arrisen, and I have heard sometimes debated by Men of good Understanding, which is, Whether the Labour of the Poor being so high, does not hinder Improvements in our Product and Manufactures; which having some Relation to the Subject Matter of this Discourse, I shall offer my Thoughts thereon, with Submission to better Judgments, viz. That both our Product and Manufactures may be carried on to Advantage, without running down the Labour of the Poor.

As to the first, our Product, I am of Opinion, that the running down the Labour the Poor, is no advantage to it, nor is it the Interest of that part of the Kingdom called England to do it, nor can the People thereof live on so low Wages as they do in other Countries; for we must consider, that Wages must bear a Rate in all Nations according to the Price of Provisions; where Wheat is sold for one Shilling per Bushel, and all Things suitable, a labouring Man may afford to work for Three-pence a Day, as well as he can for Twelve-pence, where it is sold for four Shillings; and this Price of Wheat arises chiefly from the Value of the Land; for it cannot be imagined, that the Farmer who gives twenty Shillings per Acre, can afford it as low as he whose Lands cost him but five Shillings per Acre, and produces the same Crop, nor can Labour be expected to be so low in such a Country, as in the other; this is the Case of England, whose Lands yielding great Rents, require good Prices for the Product; and this is the Freeholders Advantage; for supposing Necessaries to be the Current Payment for Labour, in such Cases, whether we call a Bushel of Wheat one Shilling, or Four Shillings, it will be all one to him, for so much as he pays, but not for the Overplus of his Crop, which makes a great Difference into his Pocket; you cannot fall Wages, unless you fall Product; and if you fall Product, you must necessarily fall Lands.

And as for the second, our Manufactures, I am of Opinion, that they may be carried on to Advantage, without running down the Labour of the Poor; for which I offer,

1. Observation, or Experience of what hath been done; we have and daily do see that it is so; the Refiners of Sugars sell for Six-pence per Pound, what yielded formerly Twelve-pence; the Distillers sell their Spirits for one half of what they formerly did: Glass Bottles, Silk Stockings, and other Manufactures (too many to be here enumerated) are sold for not much more than half the Price they were some Years since, without falling the Poor.

But then the Question will be, how this is done? Truly it proceeds from the Ingenuity of the Manufacturer, and the Improvements he attains to in the Ways of his Working: Thus the Refiners of Sugars go through that Operation by easier Methods, and in less Time, than their Predecessors did: Thus the Distillers draw more Spirits from the Things they work on, than those formerly did who taught them the Art. The Glass-Maker hath found a quicker way of making it out of Things which cost him little. Silk Stockings are wove; Tobacco is cut by Engines; Books are printed; Deal Boards are sawn with Mills; Lead is smelted by Wind-Furnaces; all which save the Labour of many Hands, so the Wages of those employed need not be fallen.

Besides which, there is a Cunning crept into Trades: The Clock-Maker hath improved his Art to such a Degree, that Labour and Materials are the least Part the Buyer pays for. The Variety of our Woollen Manufactures is so pretty, that Fashion makes a Thing worth twice the Price it is sold for after, the Humour of the Buyer carrying a great Sway in its Value. Artificers, by Tools and Laves, fitted for different Uses, make such Things, as would puzzle a Stander-by to set a Price on, according to the worth of Mens Labour. The Plummer by new Inventions casts a Tun of Shot for ten Shillings, which might seem to deserve forty.

The same Art is crept into Navigation; Freights are much fallen from what they formerly were at, and yet Sailors Wages are still the same: Ships are built more for Stowage, and made strong enough to be loaden between Decks, and Voyages are performed in less Time. Wool is steved into them by such proper Instruments, that three or four Bags are put, where one would not else lye; Cranes and Blocks help to draw up more for one Shilling, than Mens Labour without them would do for Five.

New Projections are every Day set on Foot to render the making our Woollen Manufactures easy, which should be rendered cheaper by the Contrivance of the Manufacturers, not by falling the Price of Labour: Cheapness creates Expence, and gives fresh Employments, whereby the Poor will be still kept at Work.