As for the first, our Product, I am of opinion that the running down the Labour of the Poor is no advantage to it, nor is it the Interest of England to do it, nor can the People of England live on such low Wages as they do in other Countrys; for we must consider that Wages must bear a Rate in all Nations according to the prices of Provisions, where Wheat is sold for One Shilling per Bushel, and all things suitably, a labouring Man may work for Three Pence per diem, as well as he can for Twelve Pence where it is sold for Four Shillings; and this price of Wheat must arise from the Rates of Land; it cannot be imagined that the Farmer whose annual Rent is Twenty Shillings per Acre can afford it as low as he who pays but Half a Crown, and hath the same Cropp, nor can he then expect labour so cheap as the other; This is the case of England, whose Lands yielding great Rents require good Prices for their Product; and this is the Freeholders advantage, for suppose Necessaries were the currant Payment for Labour, in such case whither we call a Bushel of Wheat One Shilling or Four Shillings it is all one to him for so much as he pays, but not for the Overplus of his Cropp, 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 Land.
And as for the second, our Manufactures, I am 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 lately sold for Six Pence per Pound what yieled twenty Years since Twelve Pence; The Distillers sell their Spirits for one third part of what they formerly did; Glass-Bottles, Silk-Stockings, and other Manufactures, (too many to be enumerated) are sold for half the Prices they were a few Years since, without falling the labour of the Poor, or so little as not to stand in Competion with the other.
But then the question will be, how this is done? I answer, It proceeds from the Ingenuity of the Manufacturer, and the Improvements he makes in his ways of working thus the Refiner of Sugars goes thro' that operation in a Month, which our Forefathers required four Months to effect; thus the Distillers draw more Spirits, and in less time, from the Simples 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 or nothing; Silk-Stockings are wove instead of knit; Tobacco is cut by Engines instead of Knives; Books are printed instead of written; Deal-Boards are sawn with a Mill instead of Men's Labour; Lead is smelted by Wind-Furnaces, instead of blowing with Bellows; all which save the labour of many Hands, so the Wages of those imployed need not be lessened.
Besides this, there is a Cunning crept into Trades; the Clockmaker hath improved his Art so high, 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 both at Home and Abroad twice the Price it is sold for after, the humour of the Buyer carrying a great sway in the value of a Commodity; 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 Shott for Ten Shillings, which an indifferent Person could not guess worth less than Fifty.
The same Art is crept into Navigation; A Tun of Sugars which cost a few Years since from Six to Eight Pounds Freight from the Plantations, was commonly brought home before the War for Four Pounds Ten Shillings, and whereas it then weighed but Twenty-five Hundred, 'taws increased to Forty-five, and yet Saylors Wages were still the same; Ships are built more for Stowage, and made strong enough to carry between Decks; Wool is steeved into them by Skrews, so that three or four Baggs are put where formerly one would scarce lie; Cranes and Blocks draw up more for One Shilling than Men's Labour could do for Five.
New Projections are every day set on foot to render the making our Manufactures easie, which are made cheap by the Heads of the Manufacturers, not by falling the Price of poor Peoples Labour; cheapness creates Expence, and Expence gives fresh Imployments, so the Poor need not stand idle if they could be perswaded to work.
The same for our Product; Pits are drained and Land made Healthy by Engines and Aquaeducts instead of Hands; the Husband-man turns up his Soil with the Sullow, not digs it with his Spade; fowes his Grain, not plants it; covers it with the Harrow, not with the Rake; brings home his Harvest with Carts, not on Horse-backs; and many other easie Methods are used both for improving of Land, and raising its Product, which are obvious to the Eyes of Men verst therein, though do not come within the Compass of my present Thoughts; all which lessen the number of Labourers, and make room for better Wages to be given those who are imploy'd.
Cheapness of our Product no Advantage to our Inland Trade.Nor am I of opinion with those People who think the running down the Prises of our Growth and Product (that so they may buy Provisions cheap) is an advantage to the Inland Trade of this Kingdom, but on the contrary I think 'twould be beter for it if they were sold higher than they are, which may seem a Paradox at first, till the thing be rightly stated; suppose then the common and usual price of Beef to be Two Pence half-penny per Pound, and Wheat Three Shillings and Six Pence per Bushel, and all Flesh and Grain suitable, 'twould be better for our Inland Trade if the former yielded Four Pence, and the latter Five Shillings, and other things in Proportion.
To prove this, let us begin with the Shop-keeper or Buyer and Seller, who is the Wheel whereon the Inland Trade turns, as he buys of the Importer and Manufacturer, and sells again to the Country; suppose such a Man spends Two Hundred Pounds per Annum in all things necessary for his Family, both Provisions, Cloaths, House-Rent, and other Expences, the Question will be what proportion of this is laid out in Flesh, Corn, Butter, Cheese, &c. barely considered according to their first cost in the Market? I presume we shall find Fifty or Sixty Pounds per Annum to be the most, and suitably the advance thereon will be about Twenty-five to Thirty Pounds per annum, but the Consequence thereof in the Profits of his Trade will be much more; for by this Means the Farmer may give a better Rent to his Landlord, who will be enabled to keep a more Plentiful Table, spend more Wines, Fruit, Sugars, Spices, and other things wherewith he is furnished from the City, wear better Cloaths, suit himself and his Family oftner, and carry on a greater Splendor in every thing: The Farmer according to his condition may do the same, and give higher Wages to the Labourers imployed in Husbandry, who might then live more plentifully, and buy new Cloaths oftner, instead of patching up old; by this means the Manufacturer would be encouraged to give a better price for Wool, when he should find a Vent as fast as he could make; and a Flux of Wealth causing variety of Fashions would add Wings to Mens Inventions, when they shall see their Manufactures advanced in their Values by the Buyer's Fancy; this likewise would encourage the Merchant to increase his Exports, when he shall have a quick Vent for his Imports; by which regular Circulation Payments would be short, and all would grow rich; but when Trade stops in the Fountain, when the Gentleman and Farmer are kept poor, every one in his order partakes of the same fate; and this hath been a certain Rule grounded on the Observation of all Men who have spent time to look into it, that in those Countrys where Provisions are low the People are generally poor, both proceeding from the want of Trade: So that he who would give a right judgment must not always consider things primâ facie, as they offer themselves to us at first sight, but as they appear to be in their Consequences.