SINCE our last Discourse about the uneasie threatning Circumstances of this Pro­vince, as to Money or a Medium of Trade. I have employed my thoughts somewhat in the matter, and I'll briefly hint some things that have occur'd to my mind.

OUR Fathers that first settled the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, brought some Gold and Silver with them, after a while, some Money was Coined here, as Shillings, Six-Pences, &c. But in process of time, (even long before Silver Money was generally Exported, or carried out of the Province,) the greatest part of the passing Money here, was Spanish, viz. Pieces of Eight, Half Pieces, Eight Pences, &c. This Money I sup­pose was chiefly the Returns made for our Fish, Lumber, Horses, Grain, Beaf, Pork, &c. Exported or carried out of the Country. I think this demonstrates, that in those times what we Exported of our own produce (or the fruits of [Page 2] our own labour,) was more than what was Im­ported from other Places, either for Food, Drink, or Cloathing; therefore to make the Ballance, Money came in, and continued Circulating a­mong us. In those times the Wealth of this Country was on the growing band. But of late Years, I'll suppose the Twenty last past, our Silver Money has been generally Exported, so that now there is not a Penny of it passing be­tween Man and Man. Tho' I don't know ex­actly (nor I believe any one else) how much Money has been Exported this last Twenty Years, yet I'll now suppose it to be Three Hundred Thousand Pounds; and I'll suppose we have now about Two Hundred Thousand Pounds out in Province Bills; what's out in Province Bills, and to be Collected by Tax, the Province owes for, and is so much in Debt; what's out upon Loan, is owing for by particular Persons in the Province, so that the Inhabitants of this Province owe for the whole. Now if the guess I have made be exact, (which I don't pretend to) or pretty near it, then this Province in what is spent and what is owed for, are about Five Hundred Thousand Pounds sunk in their Estates, in about Twenty Years. If my guess be right in the Silver Exported, and the Province Bills now out, then the Conclusion I've drawn must needs be true.

BUT how comes it that we have sunk so [Page 3] much in our Estates, in so short a time? If any think it occasioned by the Wars we have had in the last Twenty Years; I'm humbly of a different Sentiment; for we did not hire Fo­reigners to manage our Wars. This Province did not send away Silver Money, to hire assist­ance against Indians or French. My opinion therefore is, that our decay in Wealth is chiefly owing to our Mismanagements, especially our Extravagance.

WHAT is Imported into the Province, & Spent here, is, or should be Paid for; else we are dishonest, which does not become Men, much less Christians, as we are: And if the Fruits and Produce of our own Labour in this Province, won't make a sufficient Export to pay for what we receive from Abroad, and Spend here; then the Silver goes to make the Ballance, and pay the remainder.

AND this is the very Case, the short and long of the Business. Our Silver is gone to pay the overplus of Imported Goods, above what our own Product Exported, could pay. Among the Commodities Imported, some are really useful for us, which we are not able to raise, or make our selves, some not at all, some not as yet, or not enough of it, as Canvas, Riggin, Brass, Copper, Pewter, Tin-Ware, Glass for Windows, Sugar, Melosses, Cotton-Wool, Paper, Needles, Pins, Scythes, Sickles, Cutlary Ware, &c. I sup­pose [Page 4] our own Produce (if we joyned Prudence and Diligence together) which might be Ex­ported, would be enough to pay for all the Im­ported Commodities, which are really needful and useful for us.

BUT then many things have been Imported, which have not been necessary, yet very costly; such as Silver and Gold Lace, worn on Cloaths and Shoes, Velvet, Rich Silk, Sattin, Silk Stockings, Fine Broad-Cloths, Camlets, Perriwiggs, Fine costly Shoes and Pattoons, Ribbons, Rich Lace, Silk-Han­kerchiefs, Fine Hatts, Gloves of great price and little worth, China Ware, very Costly-Looking­Glasses, Cane-Chairs, Costly Beds & Furniture, &c. We in the Country, think that some scores of Thousands of Pounds in late Years, have been spent by this Province in these things, and that the Province would have been much better without them. I don't now contend against these things as being Unlawful in themselves; but for us to send off our Silver Money to buy them, & now not have a Penny to pass between Man & Man for our necessary business, I think has not been our Prudence but our great Folly.

POSSIBLY some will say, the fault is in the Middling or Poorer sort of People, who buy these things, and go above their Ability, in doing it. The reply is, Possibly it has been great weakness in the Richer sort to lead in these things, and greater folly in the Poorer to follow them.

[Page 5] HOWEVER, its matter of Fact, that there's much needless Expence in sundry of these things, and tho' some Richer Persons or Families can bear the Cost of these Expences, yet Poorer ones (who too much affect them) can't; but whether such things are spent by Rich or Poor, its all one to the Province in general. For what's Imported and spent in the Province must be paid for by Export from it; and if the Pro­duce of our Labour won't do it, our Silver and Gold must go (or rather is gone) to make it up.

AND as I'm humbly of Opinion, that this Pro­vince had much better have been without, many Scores of Thousands of Pounds of fine costly things Imported & spent here; so I believe other things tho' useful in their time & measure, have been Im­ported and Spent in greater Quantities, than has been for our good, Such as Wine, Rum, Brandy, (not to mention Tea, Coffee, Chacolet, which People here formerly did very well without) that there has been much needless Expence in these things, I suppose none will deny. So far and so fre­quently as any have drunk to excess, the Sin of Drunkènness has been chargeable on them, which they should seriously and penitently consider of; but I'm now considering the mat­ter, as to Cost of such Imported Liquors. If several Thousand Pounds Yearly, are needlesly spent in these things, so many Thousands a Year we are hurt even on this account, that our Export [Page 6] does not (without sending off Silver) equal our Import. If out of our own Produce, a Cargo of Staves, Hoops, Horses, &c. has for its return, a Cargo of Wine or Rum, and one Third of it is needlesly expended and wasted here; if instead of this Third needlesly spent, the return had been made in Silver, I think this might be call'd double gain. And since as to the Cost part (besides the Sin of Intemperance) we are much hurt by the needless Expence of Imported Liquors; I conceive that the needless multiply­ing Taverns and Retailers, tends further to im­poverish us. For Persons thus employ'd think to get a Living by their Business, and so are for drawing and vending as much Liquor as they can, and its to be fear'd, criminally incourage others to buy, and the more is spent for what's Imported, the more must be Exported in one thing or other to Pay for it. And tho' some may think it a Publick advantage to multiply Licences for selling of Drink, to draw more Excise Mo­ney into the Treasury; yet I conceive it to be a Publick hurt, because our Import must be ans­wered by our Export; and yet we have not e­nough of the latter to do it; therefore our Silver Money is gone. A needless mul­tiplying of Retailers, whether of Drink or Shop Goods, is no advantage to the Publick. For if the same Goods are bought by Ten Persons one after another, with design to Sell again, [Page 7] before the Person buys them that designs to wear or use them; each of those Ten Persons aims at Gain in passing thro' his hands, and the last buyer and user pays it all; whereas if he had bought it of the first or second Seller, he might have sav'd the gain which the other Eight or Nine Persons had, and those Persons might have been im­ploy'd in other Business. For tho' in this case sup­posed, the Eight or Nine needless Retailers, get some gain to themselves, and the last buyer and user pays it all, yet the Province, or Publick is not enrich'd one Farthing by their labour. If they had been employ'd in Husbandry, or Handycraft-Business; there would probably have been some produce of their labour for the Publick Good; either Grain, Cattle, Hemp, Flax raised, or Cloath, Shoes, or Utensils made, which might be ser­viceable to themselves or others; but their meer banding of Goods one to another, no more increases any Wealth in the Province, than Persons at a Fire increase the Water in a Pail, by passing it thro' Twenty or Forty hands. This matter might be considered, as to Petty Shops, especially Huck­sters and Forestallers of the Market. I would not be thought here to condemn Retailing in general, for doubtless Persons may get an honest Living by it, and those who buy of them may be gainers too, by having the Commodities brought nearer, which prevents the Time and Expence of travelling farther for them. It's therefore only [Page 8] a needless Retailing (whether of Drink or other Commodities) which I look on as hurtful to the Publick, because the Persons so employed, real­ly raise or produce no good to the Public [...], which they might do if labouring in some other and proper business. Needless Retailers, with respect to any Publick benefit, are really Idlers; they help to spend what is Raised or Imported, but produce neither by their labour.

THUS I've hinted by what way and means I conceive our Silver has been Exported, and we are sunk so deep in Debt, viz. by Importing and spending many things which we had better been without; and by an excessive spending some things Imported, which in themselves consider'd, and in their time and measure may be reckon'd useful.

Now the Question is, How to redress this grievance, & extricate our selves from these diffi­culties. I think this Question is not improper to be thought upon, by any one that wishes well to this Province, as I'm sure I heartily do. My Opinion is, that we can't suddenly or at once get rid of these difficulties, which our own Folly and Extravagance have brought us into. Yet I Con­jecture, that in a few Years time, by an ordinary course of Providence we might gradually free our selves from them. When a Traveller knows he has missed his way, he often goes back in the same Path, 'till he's sure that he is in the right [Page 9] road again. I think we should take the same method. In the mean time, let us Cultivate Peace, Love, Unity, not be hard on one another for diffe­rent sentiments, about ways to mend our Cir­cumstances; let us not foment Parties and Facti­ons, but studiously avoid them, as we love GOD and our COUNTRY, Every City or House divided against it self, shall not stand. Thus watching against Discord, I'll say, Let not Merchants Import needless Commodities, or if they do, let us not buy or use them; nor use more than needs of what is useful in it self.

LET no Wool, Hides, Leather, Grain nor Candles be Exported, when at a dear price. Let us grow more Frugal in furnishing & adorning our Houses, in our Cloths, Food and Drink, this we might do (many at least) without hurting our Bodies by Cold, Thirst or Hunger. Let us be diligent and la­borious, to raise, produce, make as much as we can for our own support, as to Food, Raiment, Tools, Utensils. Let Husbandry, (tilling theground) be more diligently and generally followed, that Bread and Flesh may be rais'd, and Barley to make Drink, that so the less Imported Drink might be called for. Let us raise more Sheep & Flax, and make as much of our own Clothing, both Woollen [...] Linnen as possibly we can. If People would gene­rally & purposely chuse, to wear Cloths, (Woollen & Linnen) Stockens, Shoes, Gloves, Hatts, of our own Country make; this would incourage more to [Page 10] Employ themselves in making these, & in grow­ing more skilful and exact at it, and would pre­vent the Import of many Thousands a Year, for which (among other unnecessaries) our Silver is gone. Two Rules well observed would help us, viz. Let us by diligent labour raise & make as much as we can for our selves, of Food, Raiment, Uten­sils, &c. and buy no more of Imported Goods than necessity requires, I say, the observing these Rules would soon turn the Scales, and better our Cir­cumstances: I'm humbly of opinion, that a Thousand Schemes about Banks and Paper-Mo­ney, would [...]t help us like this. If this course were well followed a few Years, we should then live more on our own Produce, than now we do; we should raise m [...]re for Export than now we do; and our Export in Fish, Oyl, Whalebone, Horses, Lumber, &c. would far more than pay for ne­cessary Importations, and therefore the overplus would naturally (as it were) return in Silver and Gold, and so we should have such Money as plenty as ever. But the longer we continue in our present course of spending so much of Im­ported Commodities, and raising so little by our own labours, so much the deeper we necessarily sink into misery. By this present course we are in, we take off the Manufactures and main­tain the Labourers of other parts, even as far as the East Indies, (by the Silks, Muslins, &c. we have from thence) and pay for it (so far as 'tis [Page 11] done) not out of our Labour, but our Stock, for our Silver is gone already, & we are deep in debt into bargain. Our foolish fondness of Forreign Commodities & Fashions has almost ruin [...]d us. How many Thousand Pounds within this Two or Three Years have been Expended, in only one particular instance, viz. Camlets and trim­ming for Rising-Hoods, and in making them? Has not Three Quarters of this, if not more, been needless; tho' the labour in making has been paid for here, yet the Imported Materials must be paid for by some Export. If we had now Five Hundred Thousand Pounds in Silver Currant among us, I believe 'twould soon be carried off, if we did not alter our present course, viz. to be less fond of Forreign Commo­dities, and to be more laborious to raise Necessa­ries for our selves.

WE in the Country think, that Plotting heads, Proud hearts, and Idle hands, will never maintain a People; and that a close following the Wheel within doors, and the Plough without are much better and stronger Politicks. Many complain they scarce know how to live, and I don [...]t won­der at it, for many affect to live higher than they need, or can bear. You in Boston go very fine, we in the Country are smattering at it, and coming to it, by degrees. First by clipping and debasing Silver Money, then by sending it away, and the coming of Paper Money in the [Page 12] room of it; I say, hereby Merchants Imported Goods are come to an Extravagant Advance. When we buy European or West-India Goods, we give for some double, for others more than double the Price that was given Fifteen or Twen­ty Years ago. This necessitates us in the Coun­try, to raise in some proportion the Price of our Grain, Flesh, Wood, Hay, Butter, Cheese, &c. We formerly Sold Butter, Six pence a Pound, that Six Pence would buy Two Pounds of Sugar, and if we now have Nine pence a Pound for Butter, that Nine pence will buy but One Pound of Su­gar, or thereabouts. So that when we receive so great a Price as we do, yet we find it hard enough to rub along; and the more so, because Boston distemper is got into the Country, that is, We and our Families are fond of many needless Imported Commodities, and must pay the Impor­ters or Merchants an Extravagant rate for them. If this raising on one another in Trade, helps some, yet it hurts more.

ANOTHER thing which very much deserves our consideration is, That Salary Men, Mini­sters, School-Masters, Judges of the Circuit, Pre­sident & Tutors at Colledge, Widows and Orphans, &c. are pincht and hurt more than any; for while they pay it may be double or more, both for Imported Goods, and the Produce of the Coun­try, yet their Salaries are not increas'd (if at all) in proportion, to what the Merchant and [Page 13] Husbandman raises upon one another, tho' they must buy of both. If Justice and Equity don't say, their Salaries ought to be increas'd, let any one judge.

BUT possibly some will say, if we do our ut­most to raise necessaries for our selves, and buy no more than necessity requires of Imported Com­modities, this course will spoil Merchandizing and Trading. I reply, the good of the whole should be preferred to that of a part. Mer­chandizing and Trading are necessary and profita­ble for us, if well manag'd; but mismanage­ment therein, may hurt a People. Trading has carried off our Money, we have not a Shilling in Silver Passing, and we are deep in Debt; has not this Trading almost ruin'd us? Is not this, to buy and sell and live by the loss? It is not profi­table to the Publick, to have too many of any particular Trade or Calling, for they must either be idle (when they might be imploy'd in proper business) or labour for little or nothing, which is unprofitable to themselves, and to the Pub­lick therein. If there be Merchants enough to manage the Export we can raise, and the Import we need, there's enough; Supernumera­ries are hurtful not serviceable to the Publick; 'twould be better they were imploy'd in other business.

POSSIBLY, some think, that the Emitting more Paper Money would bring us out of our [Page 14] difficulties, but I'm humbly of another Opinion. I think some engaged in Trade have observ'd, that since the Emitting the last Hundred Thou­sand Pounds, the Price of Commodities Imported, and of our own Produce, has been considerably rais'd; which is not so much from the scarcity of such Commodities, as from the mean opinion Persons have of the passing Money. The last I have heard is, that when Silver Money is Sold (now and then a little as some can get it) it fetches Eleven or Twelve Shillings an Ounce in Paper Money; whereas according to our Law (Seventeen Penny Weight at Six Shillings) Silver Money is but a very small matter more than Seven Shillings an Ounce. This plainly shows the low value People have for Paper Money. It seems as tho' the more 'tis increas'd the less 'tis valued. I'm prone to think, that if every Fa­mily in the Province, had a Thousand Pounds in Paper Money; Twenty Shillings of it, would not then buy so much, as Five Shillings will now. In this Province, People generally desire to be Freehold, they don't chuse to be Tenants, and pay Rent. But if we take up Money whether of the Province or particular Persons, on our Lands; we so far become Tenants to the Lenders, and pay Rent to them. And if we can't pay when what's borrowed is regularly call'd for, but a Course of Law recovers Land from us; possibly more Land will be taken, then we should have [Page 15] been willing to have Sold, for half so much more as we have borrowed. Possibly some who have taken up Money on their Lands, by being uncapable of paying will lose them; Frugality and Diligence would have been a greater kind­ness to such, than their hiring Money was.

THIS (out of true love to my dear Country, where I was born, and hitherto have liv'd, without ill will to any Person or Persons whatsoever,) I've freely given you some hints of my Opinion, about our present uncomforta­ble Circumstances; you may consider 'em, and communicate 'em to your Neighbours if they I do any good. If you see meet to return your own thoughts to me in Writing, I should be glad of your Opinion as to the following Queries, viz.

IF Richer and Abler Persons and Families, would abate considerably of their Rich needless fineries, and costly way of living; therein giving a leading Example to Inferiors?

IF needless Extravagant Expences at Wed­dings & Funerals were retrench'd; and no Gloves but of our own make, given at either; nor Drink at Funerals but of our own produce; nor Scarves but for Persons of some distinguish'd drunk?

IF Counsellors, Ministers, Militay Commission Officers, would purposely wear Garments, Shoes, Stockings, Gloves, Hatts, (as soon as they can get 'em) of our own make?

IF considerable encouragement were given [Page 16] by the Publick for the Raising and Manufactur­ing of Hemp and Flax, especially that the Poor in Town and Country might be Employ'd; and for Manufacturing of Iron, (whereof there is plenty of Oar in the Land,) especially in Cast­ing Potts, Kettles, making Nails of various sorts, &c.?

IF Waste Lands within Townships were Tax'd, to make the Owners themselves Improve 'em, or Sell 'em to those that would, for the produ­cing more plenty of Grain, Flesh, Butter, Cheese, Wool, &c.

WHETHER these Methods would not be of Publick Service?

BUT as to my own Opinion, 'tis in short what I said before, to raise what we can by our own labour, to supply our selves, and to buy no more than necessity requires of Imported Goods, is the most sure way to relieve us.

March 6th. 1718, 19.