第31章

To raise or allay the Money, to Coin the Plate, or regulate Trade, are offer'd as measures to supply the want of Money: And 'tis thought any one of them will bring us out of our Difficulties. When they come to be Examin'd, raising or allaying the Money will be found no help but a hurt to the Country, whatever our Circumstances are. The others may prove ineffectual.

'Tis thought our Import and Expense Abroad this last year exceed our Export by a very considerable Sum, so to make the Ballance equal we must not only retrench equal to the Money was sent out last Year;but likewise so much more as the want of that Money, and of the Addition to the Bank made to our Money, and of the Addition the Bank made to our Money may have lessen'd the yearly Value. So tho 'tis possible that Coining the Plate and Regulating Trade may bring the Ballance to our side, yet 'tis to be fear'd the Consequences will show that it is not very practicable; for that and other Reasons already given, Pag. 56, and 180. However they may assist, but in regulating our Import, regard ought to be had that the sale of our Goods Abroad be no way hindered, for if that is not taken care of, we shall lose more for want of Market, than we shall save by Importing less. And tho all necessary Care be taken, yet the Assistance may Reasonably be Expected from these measures, will not relieve us; they may keep us lingering in the state we are, expos'd to Confusion at Home, and to Insults from Abroad.

Most People think scarcity of Money is only the Consequence of a Ballance due; but 'tis the Cause als well as the Consequence, and the effectual way to bring the Ballance to our side, is to add to the Money.

Our poor have been computed 200000, our People were then more than now, but our Poor may be als many as then; Suppose only 100000, and by the Addition to our Money 50000 of them were imployed, and only for one half of the year, their Labour to be payed 3 pence, and worth 3 pence more to the Imployer, their Consumption a penny more than now:

The yearly value of the nation would be increas'd by such Labour 208333 lib. 6 sh. and 8 pence.

If the Country People about Perth and Stirling, have to the value of 20000 l. of Linen, Serges, and other Manufacture more than is brought up; tho these Goods exported will yield 20 or 30 per cent profit, yet the Owners can't export them, the Goods being in so many differnt Hands, and not having Correspondents Abroad to whom they could trust the Sale of them. A.B. and C. are satisfied for that Profit to take the Trouble and Hazard of exporting them, but Money being scarce they cannot get any to borrow, tho their Security be good; Nor cannot well have Credit for the Goods from so many different People they are Strangers to. If they could have Credit for them, yet these Country People must be idle Abroad. So for want of Money to Exchange by, Goods fall in value, and Manufacture decays.

It cannot well be known what Sum will serve the Occasions of the Nation, for as Manufacture and Trade advance, the Demand for Money will increase; but the many Poor we have always had, is a great Presumption we have never had Money enough.