It has been found in various countries that, in
proportion as commerce has flourished, land has risen in value. And how
could it have happened otherwise? Could that which procures a freer vent
for the products of the earth, which furnishes new incitements to the
cultivation of land, which is the most powerful instrument in increasing
the quantity of money in a state -- could that, in fine, which is the
faithful handmaid of labor and industry, in every shape, fail to augment
that article, which is the prolific parent of far the greatest part of
the objects upon which they are exerted? It is astonishing that so
simple a truth should ever have had an adversary; and it is one, among a
multitude of proofs, how apt a spirit of ill-informed jealousy, or of
too great abstraction and refinement, is to lead men astray from the
plainest truths of reason and conviction.
The ability of a country to pay taxes must always be proportioned, in a
great degree, to the quantity of money in circulation, and to the
celerity with which it circulates. Commerce, contributing to both these
objects, must of necessity render the payment of taxes easier, and
facilitate the requisite supplies to the treasury.
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