PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of Population, Pr6'lJision,
dustry and of those arts and branches of trad~,
which are el11ployed in the production, conveyance,
and preparati11n of any principal species of human
food, as of the busine~s of the husbandman, the
butch~r, bak,!r, bre\vcr, corn-merchant, &c. \ve ackno\vledge
the necessity: likewise of those manufactures
which furnish us with warm clothing~ conve ..
nient habitations, dome~tic utensils .. as of the \\'eaver,
taylor, smith, carpenter, &c. we perceive (in climates,
ho\\'ever, like ours, lemo\"cd at a distance from the
sun, the conduciveness to population, by their ren.,
dering human life more healthy, vigorous, and (om··
fortable. But nor one half of the occupations wllich
compose the trade of Europe, fail within either of
these descriptions. Perhaps two thirds (,f the manufacturers
in England are employed upon articles of
confessed )uxllry, o:-nament, or ~pIendor: in the ~uperfluous
enlbelli~~hment of some articles which are
useful in their kind, . or llpon others whicl1 have no
concei,Yable use or value, but what is founded in . ca·
price or fa~Ilioll. \Vhat can be less neces~ary, or less
cOllnected \';ith the sustentation of human life, than
the whole produce of the silk, lace, and plate rnanu·
factory ? Yet \vhat multitudes labour in the different
branches of these arts! '¥hat can be imagined In0r£
capricious than the fondness fOI· tobacco and snuff?
i~ et ho\v tnany various occupations, and how many
thousands in each, are set at work in admini~tering
to this frivolous gratification! Concerning trade..; of
this kind, (and this kind comprehends more than
half of the trades that are exerci~ed) it may fairly be
asked, " I-Iow, since they add nothing to the stock of
provisirm, do they tend to increa~e the number of the
pccple?" \Ve are taught to say of trade, "that it
maintains multitudes;" but by what means d0PS it
7JI.1int.1in them, when it produces nothing up0n which
[he su:,port of human life depends ?-In like mannet
with respect !o foreign conHnrl'Ce; of that merchan ..
clize \vhicl1 brin~s the ncct.~~sarie~ of life into a coun ..
try, which imports, for exampl,? COf!!, or cattle, or
doth, or fuel, we allow the tendency to advance pop ..