They represented, first, that the exportation of gold and silver,
in order to purchase foreign goods, did not always diminish the
quantity of those metals in the kingdom; that, on the contrary, it
might frequently increase the quantity; because, if the consumption of foreign goods was not thereby increased in the country,
those goods might be re-exported to foreign countries, and being
there sold for a large profit, might bring back much more treasure
than was originally sent out to purchase them. Mr Mun compares
this operation of foreign trade to the seed-time and harvest of
agriculture. “If we only behold,” says he, “the actions of the husbandman
in the seed time, when he casteth away much good corn
into the ground, we shall account him rather a madman than a
husbandman. But when we consider his labours in the harvest,
which is the end of his endeavours, we shall find the worth and
plentiful increase of his actions.”
They represented, first, that the exportation of gold and silver,
in order to purchase foreign goods, did not always diminish the
quantity of those metals in the kingdom; that, on the contrary, it
might frequently increase the quantity; because, if the consumption of foreign goods was not thereby increased in the country,
those goods might be re-exported to foreign countries, and being
there sold for a large profit, might bring back much more treasure
than was originally sent out to purchase them. Mr Mun compares
this operation of foreign trade to the seed-time and harvest of
agriculture. “If we only behold,” says he, “the actions of the husbandman
in the seed time, when he casteth away much good corn
into the ground, we shall account him rather a madman than a
husbandman. But when we consider his labours in the harvest,
which is the end of his endeavours, we shall find the worth and
plentiful increase of his actions.”
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