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peace was; by the statute of Edward VI; necessary in order to

grant this licence。 But even this restraint was afterwards

thought insufficient; and by a statute of Elizabeth the privilege

of granting it was confined to the quarter…sessions。

     The ancient policy of Europe endeavoured in this manner to

regulate agriculture; the great trade of the country; by maxims

quite different from those which it established with regard to

manufactures; the great trade of the towns。 By leaving the farmer

no other customers but either the consumers or their immediate

factors; the kidders and carriers of corn; it endeavoured to

force him to exercise the trade; not only of a farmer; but of a

corn merchant or corn retailer。 On the contrary; it in many cases

prohibited the manufacturer from exercising the trade of a

shopkeeper; or from selling his own goods by retail。 It meant by

the one law to promote the general interest of the country; or to

render corn cheap; without; perhaps; its being well understood

how this was to be done。 By the other it meant to promote that of

a particular order of men; the shopkeepers; who would be so much

undersold by the manufacturer; it was supposed; that their trade

would be ruined if he was allowed to retail at all。

     The manufacturer; however; though he had been allowed to

keep a shop; and to sell his own goods by retail; could not have

undersold the common shopkeeper。 Whatever part of his capital he

might have placed in his shop; he must have withdrawn it from his

manufacture。 In order to carry on his business on a level with

that of other people; as he must have had the profit of a

manufacturer on the one part; so he must have had that of a

shopkeeper upon the other。 Let us suppose; for example; that in

the particular town where he lived; ten per cent was the ordinary

profit both of manufacturing and shopkeeping stock; he must in

this case have charged upon every piece of his own goods which he

sold in his shop; a profit of twenty per cent。 When he carried

them from his workhouse to his shop; he must have valued them at

the price for which he could have sold them to a dealer or

shopkeeper; who would have bought them by wholesale。 If he valued

them lower; he lost a part of the profit of his manufacturing

capital。 When again he sold them from his shop; unless he got the

same price at which a shopkeeper would have sold them; he lost a

part of the profit of his shopkeeping capital。 Though he might

appear; therefore; to make a double profit upon the same piece of

goods; yet as these goods made successively a part of two

distinct capitals; he made but a single profit upon the whole

capital employed about them; and if he made less than his profit;

he was a loser; or did not employ his whole capital with the same

advantage as the greater part of his neighbours。

     What the manufacturer was prohibited to do; the farmer was

in some measure enjoined to do; to divide his capital between two

different employments; to keep one part of it in his granaries

and stack yard; for supplying the occasional demands of the

market; and to employ the other in the cultivation of his land。

But as he could not afford to employ the latter for less than the

ordinary profits of farming stock; so he could as little afford

to employ the former for less than the ordinary profits of

mercantile stock。 Whether the stock which really carried on the

business of the corn merchant belonged to the person who was

called a farmer; or to the person who was called a corn merchant;

an equal profit was in both cases requisite in order to indemnify

its owner for employing it in this manner; in order to put his

business upon a level with other trades; and in order to hinder

him from having an interest to change it as soon as possible for

some other。 The farmer; therefore; who was thus forced to

exercise the trade of a corn merchant; could not afford to sell

his corn cheaper than any other corn merchant would have been

obliged to do in the case of a free competition。

     The dealer who can employ his whole stock in one single

branch of business has an advantage of the same kind with the

workman who can employ his whole labour in one single operation。

As the latter acquires a dexterity which enables him; with the

same two hands; to perform a much greater quantity of work; so

the former acquires so easy and ready a method of transacting his

business; of buying and disposing of his goods; that with the

same capital he can transact a much greater quantity of business。

As the one can commonly afford his work a good deal cheaper; so

the other can commonly afford his goods somewhat cheaper than if

his stock and attention were both employed about a greater

variety of objects。 The greater part of manufacturers could not

afford to retail their own goods so cheap as a vigilant and

active shopkeeper; whose sole business it was to buy them at

wholesale and to retail them again。 The greater part of farmers

could still less afford to retail their own corn; to supply the

inhabitants of a town; at perhaps four or five miles distance

from the greater part of them; so cheap as a vigilant and active

corn merchant; whose sole business it was to purchase corn by

wholesale; to collect it into a great magazine; and to retail it

again。

     The law which prohibited the manufacturer from exercising

the trade of a shopkeeper endeavoured to force this division in

the employment of stock to go on faster than it might otherwise

have done。 The law which obliged the farmer to exercise the trade

of a corn merchant endeavoured to hinder it from going on so

fast。 Both laws were evident violations of natural liberty; and

therefore unjust; and they were both; too; as impolitic as they

were unjust。 It is the interest of every society that things of

this kind should never either be forced or obstructed。 The man

who employs either his labour or his stock in a greater variety

of ways than his situation renders necessary can never hurt his

neighbour by underselling him。 He may hurt himself; and he

generally does so。 Jack of all trades will never be rich; says

the proverb。 But the law ought always to trust people with the

care of their own interest; as in their local situations they

must generally be able to judge better of it than the legislator

can do。 The law; however; which obliged the farmer to exercise

the trade of a corn merchant was by far the most pernicious of

the two。

     It obstructed not only that division in the employment of

stock which is so advantageous to every society; but it

obstructed likewise the improvement and cultivation of the land。

By obliging the farmer to carry on two trades instead of one; it

forced him to divide his capital into two parts; of which one

only could be employed in cultivation。 But if he had been at

liberty to sell his whole crop to a corn merchant as fast as he

could thresh it out; his whole capital might have returned

immediately to the land; and have been employed in buying more

cattle; and hiring more servants; in order to improve and

cultivate it better。 But by being obliged to sell his corn by

retail; he was obliged to keep a great part of his capital in his

granaries and stack yard through the year; and could not;

therefore; cultivate so well as with the same capital he might

otherwise have done。 This law; therefore; necessarily obstructed

the improvement of the land; and; instead of tending to render

corn cheaper; must have tended to render it scarcer; and

therefore dearer; than it would otherwise have been。

     After the business of the farmer; that of the corn merchant

is in reality the trade which; if properly protected and

encouraged; would contribute the most to the raising of corn。 It

would support the trade of the farmer in the same manner as the

trade of the wholesale dealer supports that of the manufacturer。

     The wholesale dealer; by affording a ready market to the

manufacturer; by taking his goods off his hand as fast as he can

make their price to him before he has made them; enables him to

keep his whole capital; and sometimes even more than his whole

capital; constantly employed in manufacturing; and consequently

to manufacture a much greater quantity of goods than if he was

obliged to dispose of them himself to the immediate consumers; or

even to the retailers。 As the capital of the wholesale merchant;

too; is generally sufficient to replace that of many

manufacturers; this intercourse between him and them interests

the owner of a large capital to support the owners of a great

number of small ones; and to assist them in those losses and

misfortunes which might otherwise prove ruinous to them。

     An intercourse of the same kind universally established

between the farmers and the corn merchants would be attended with

effects equally beneficial to the farmers。 They would be enabled

to keep their whole capitals; and even more than their whole

capitals; constantly employed in cultivation。 In case of any of

those accidents; to which no trade is more liable 

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