Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/56

427] Scotland for England's benefit, and advised the recall of the colonists from America (269).

When Petty treats of the advantages which result to a country from great cities we find how far he carries his arguments in favor of a dense population. Granting that London be seven times larger than it is, would it be more difficult to provide it with the necessaries of life (113)? He thinks not. Meat and drink can easily be brought from a circle about the city, extending not more than thirty-five miles from its limits. Fuel and timber can be as readily provided as at present. Such a city can be defended at a smaller cost than if its inhabitants were scattered. It would be less open to dangers from factions and rebellions. The charges of administering justice, of maintaining religion, would be less. The cost of collecting taxes would be diminished, and their amount larger. If there is no distinct gain in foreign commerce there would be certainly no loss. The gain by manufactures will be increased, because they will be greater in quantity, and better in workmanship. For, he says, "each manufacture will be divided into as many parts as possible whereby the work of each artisan will be simple and easy..... In the making of a watch, if one man shall make the wheels, another the spring, another shall engrave the dialplate, and another shall make the cases, then the watch will be better and cheaper, than if the whole work be put upon any one man" (116). A large city has a further advantage. The cost of carriage and freight on manufactured goods falls away, when the goods are made in the place, where they are shipped. All kinds of improvements in the arts, all educational reforms, are favored by density of population.