For if so great a Quantity of waste land were annually added and cultivated, as would hold Proportion not only to the natural Increase of Mankind, which I have shewn must at present be at least 86 square Miles every Year; and if so much more waste Land were also added, as would lower the Price of Necessaries so much as shall be effectual to enable the Poor to work considerably cheaper, than they now can do; as there then would be a prodigious deal of Work created, which is now wanted to employ the Poor, and enable them to subsist without being chargeable to the Publick, that they, together with many others, may become much greater Consumers, than ever they can be, till the Plenty of every thing is rendered great enough to admit so much greater Consumption; so this would certainly make abundance of Trade and Business for Shopkeepers and other Venders not only of this extraordinary Quantity of Produce, but of all kinds of Manufactures, which will most certainly be made and consumed at home, or vended abroad, in consequence of the Plenty of these Things arising from the continual Addition of so much waste Land every Year: I say therefore, as this must needs create a prodigious deal of Trade for Venders of all sorts of Goods, more than now exists, or can exist till this be done, so it must needs cause many of those, who now, to get their bread, travel the country with Packs and Burthens enough to break their Backs, sometimes Miles before they have taken so much Pains they often sell nothing; I say, this must needs cause many such Hawkers and Pedlars to employ themselves at their own Habitations or proper neighbouring Markets, and prevent others, by making it unnecessary, and not so well worth while, from entering on so labourious and painful an Employment as Hawkers and Pedlers do and must submit to; besides that to save the extraordinary Charges which are almost unavoidable to Travellers, they not only fare hard, but commonly lodge in Barns.
Wherefore if this Proposal were to be executed, the Number of Hawkers and Pedlars would certainly be so much lessened that they would be no such Injury to Shop-keepers as their almost universal petitioning against them to the Parliament, and the very Nature of hawking Goods about Town and Country shews they certainly are, and must continue to be, not only to shop-keepers, but to Landlords of Houses too, because they disable the Shop-keepers to pay the Rents.
And as this Proposal is the only natural Means to lessen the Number of Hawkers and Pedlars, and all other Tradesmen whose Trades are too numerous, so I believe it's the only possible Way to remove the Mischief now brought on most Trades by hawking Goods; for in almost every Trade, even where vast Sums are employed, and where they can't carry their Goods from place to place, it is become a Rule to court and solicit Customers in Town and Country, not only to the great and unreasonable Reduction of the Profits of Trade, which when hawking Goods thus becomes general, will be inseparable to this Practice, but also to the very great and extraordinary Expence of every Tradesman, who will put in for a Share of Trade, and not stay at home whilst others pick away his Customers; besides that the Customers so obtained are often in such Circumstances, as occasion the making more and larger bad Debts, than would probably be made if Goods were not pushed off by such extraordinary Means; but if what I here propose be executed, all these Evils will be so far remedied, that it will be every man's chief Interest to keep his Shop, because his Shop will then keep him.
Fifthly, The full and sufficient Execution of this Proposal, will in a great Measure prevent the giving long Credit, and making bad Debts in Trade.
For long Credit increases the Sums credited, because People in longer time wanting still more and more Goods, makes the Sums credited much larger than they would be, if Credit were considerably shortened in point of Time. Wherefore such long and large Credit, doth very much contribute to the making bad Debts, which, I think, is not only obvious but sadly felt too, by a great many; if therefore the executing this Proposal, will in some good Degree prevent the giving long Credit, it must also in a great Measure prevent making bad Debts.
Now the giving long and large Credit, is undoubtedly owing only to such Trades being too numerous, whence the People in such Trades, in order to vend their Goods, find themselves under a Necessity, if they will get any thing by them, to trust large Sums a long Time. But if the Way I contend for, of furnishing Tradesmen with more Business, were put into Practice, the giving long and large Credit would generally cease; for as in this Case, there would certainly be larger Business in fewer Hands, this would (and nothing else can) enable Tradesmen to pick and choose whom they will credit, whereas they now certainly are forced to court and oblige almost any body that will take their Goods, where they have any tolerable Prospect to have the Money for them, with what Credit and Time such Customers please to take;whence not only very slow Returns of Money are made, but great Losses and Ruin befalls many Tradesmen who had pretty good Beginnings, and who, if their Trades had not been thus unhappily circumstanced, would probably have made considerable Improvements.
Besides, the doing what I contend for, would certainly mend the Circumstances of the People in general very much, which would render long Credit the less necessary, and make the Risk of bad Debts inconsiderable to what it is, where the People in general are in such strait and bad Circumstances, as to stand in need of long and large Credit. And thus also would much less Sums employed in Trade, be sufficient for much larger Transactions or Returns, than when long and large Credit is become the Course of any Trade, which will always unavoidable be the State of every Trade that is overstocked with Numbers.
