Ch. V. Of Poor- Laws. 79 



not seem to be aware that the two proposals are 

 very nearly of the same nature, and that both tend 

 directly to famine. It matters not whether we 

 enable the labourer to purchase the same quantity 

 of provisions which he did before, by fixing their 

 price, or by raising in proportion the price of la- 

 bour. The only advantage on the side of raising 

 the price of labour is, that the rise in the price of 

 provisions, which necessarily follows it, encourages 

 importation: but putting importation out of the 

 question, which might possibly be prevented by 

 war, or other circumstances, a universal rise of 

 wages in proportion to the price of provisions, 

 aided by adequate parish allowances to those who 

 were thrown out of work, would, by preventing 

 any kind of saving, in the same manner as a max- 

 imum, cause the whole crop to be consumed in 

 nine months, which ought to have lasted twelve, 

 and thus produce a famine. At the same time 

 we must not forget, that both humanity and 

 true policy imperiously require, that we should 

 give every assistance to the poor on these 

 occasions, that the nature of the case will admit. 

 If provisions were to continue at the price of 

 scarcity, the wages of labour must necessarily 

 rise, or sickness and famine would quickly di- 

 minish the number of labourers ; and the supply 

 of labour being unequal to the demand, its price 

 would soon rise in a still greater proportion than 

 the price of provisions. But even one or two 

 years of scarcity, if the poor were left entirely to 

 shift for themselves, might produce some effect of 



