As for the first, our Product, I am of opinion that the running down the Labour of the Poor is no advantage to it, nor is it the Interest of _England_ to do it, nor can the People of _England_ live on such low Wages as they do in other Countrys; for we must consider that Wages must bear a Rate in all Nations according to the prices of Provisions, where Wheat is sold for One Shilling _per_ Bushel, and all things suitably, a labouring Man may work for Three Pence _per diem_, as well as he can for Twelve Pence where it is sold for Four Shillings; and this price of Wheat must arise from the Rates of Land; it cannot be imagined that the Farmer whose annual Rent is Twenty Shillings _per_ Acre can afford it as low as he who pays but Half a Crown, and hath the same Cropp, nor can he then expect labour so cheap as the other; This is the case of _England_, whose Lands yielding great Rents require good Prices for their Product; and this is the Freeholders advantage, for suppose Necessaries were the currant Payment for Labour, in such case whither we call a Bushel of Wheat One Shilling or Four Shillings it is all one to him for so much as he pays, but not for the Overplus of his Cropp, which makes a great difference into his Pocket; you cannot fall Wages unless you fall Product, and if you fall Product you must necessarily fall Land. And as for the second, our Manufactures, I am opinion that they may be carried on to advantage without running down the labour of the Poor; for which I offer, 1. Observation, or Experience of what hath been done, we have and daily do see that it is so; the Refiners of Sugars lately sold for Six Pence _per_ Pound what yieled twenty Years since Twelve Pence; The _Distillers_ sell their Spirits for one third part of what they formerly did; Glass-Bottles, Silk-Stockings, and other Manufactures, (too many to be enumerated) are sold for half the Prices they were a few Years since, without falling the labour of the Poor, or so little as not to stand in Competion with the other. But then the question will be, how this is done? I answer, It proceeds from the Ingenuity of the Manufacturer, and the Improvements he makes in his ways of working thus the Refiner of Sugars goes thro' that operation in a Month, which our Forefathers required four Months to effect; thus the _Distillers_ draw more Spirits, and in less time, from the Simples they work on, than those formerly did who taught them the Art; the _Glass-maker_ hath found a quicker way of making it out of things which cost him little or nothing; Silk-Stockings are wove instead of knit; Tobacco is cut by Engines instead of Knives; Books are printed instead of written; Deal-Boards are sawn with a Mill instead of Men's Labour; Lead is smelted by Wind-Furnaces, instead of blowing with Bellows; all which save the labour of many Hands, so the Wages of those imployed need not be lessened.