Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool MakersSmiles, Samuel
History
Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers
Smiles, Samuel
Industrial arts -- Biography; Iron industry and trade -- Great Britain -- Biography
He therefore proposed his registry of property as a ready means of
raising a credit for purposes of trade. Thus, he says, "I can both in
England and Wales register my wedding, my burial, and my christening,
and a poor parish clerk is entrusted with the keeping of the book; and
that which is registered there is held good by our law. But I cannot
register my lands, to be honest, to pay every man his own, to prevent
those sad things that attend families for want thereof, and to have the
great benefit and advantage that would come thereby. A register will
quicken trade, and the land registered will be equal as cash in a man's
hands, and the credit thereof will go and do in trade what ready money
now doth." His idea was to raise money, when necessary, on the land
registered, by giving security thereon after a form which he suggested.
He would, in fact, have made land, as gold now is, the basis of an
extended currency; and he rightly held that the value of land as a
security must always be unexceptionable, and superior to any metallic
basis that could possibly be devised.
This indefatigable man continued to urge his various designs upon the
attention of the public until he was far advanced in years. He
professed that he was moved to do so (and we believe him) solely by an
ardent love for his country, "whose future flourishing," said he, "is
the only reward I ever hope to see of all my labours." Yarranton,
however, received but little thanks for his persistency, while he
encountered many rebuffs. The public for the most part turned a deaf
ear to his entreaties; and his writings proved of comparatively small
avail, at least during his own lifetime. He experienced the lot of
many patriots, even the purest--the suspicion and detraction of his
contemporaries. His old political enemies do not seem to have
forgotten him, of which we have the evidence in certain rare
"broadsides" still extant, twitting him with the failure of his
schemes, and even trumping up false charges of disloyalty against
him.[19]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account