The Industrial Revolution

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1027928145

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-159926

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Cunningham, William http://d-nb.info/gnd/128907487

Title:: The Industrial Revolution

Place of publication:: Cambridge

Publisher:: The University Press

Year of publication:: 1922

Scope:: xxii S., S. 404-886

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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300 LAISSEZ FAIRE i finished wares obtained a sale, during times of war, when halt "manufactured goods, like cotton yarn, were no longer exported®. and the in- So far as the industrial population was concerned, the oh food keenest distress arose when the fortunes of war deprived us wpply, of access to regions from which food could be obtained, in a season when the home supply had fallen short. This was the case in the last years of the Revolutionary War (1801-2), and again in 1811. It is probable that the disturbed state of the country, which called forth the Combination Acts and expressed itself in the Luddite Riots, was more directly con- nected with this cause, than with political disaffection, or the introduction of machinery. and all While labour bore the brunt of the distress it cannot be capilalis®s said that capital went scatheless. In the latter part of the affected by oiohteenth century, the large employers of labour, both in fons in manufacturing and tillage, had become accustomed to rely on borrowed capital; the terms, on which bankers would be willing to make or renew advances, were of vital importance for the conduct of business affairs. The losses, which merchants and manufacturers sustained from the difficulties caused by the wars, in connection with the transport of goods, would have been comparatively trivial, if they had not served as the occasion for reckless speculation and subsequent contractions of credit. and the The alternation of peace and war gave rise to conditions tonsequént hich inevitably called forth a series of commercial crises. When prices are high and the prospects of trade are good, all merchants and manufacturers are inclined to increase their business as much as possible, and the banks are ready to advance them capital for the purpose on their personal credit. The bills which thus get into circulation are a practical addition to the paper-money of the country, and the issue and acceptance of so much paper tends to raise prices still farther, and to encourage merchants to engage in larger trans- actions. If the bankers are not alive to the danger of this state of affairs, they may foment the evil by continuing to lend readily ; they have it in their power to check the speculative snthusiasm by raising the terms on which they are prepared to 1 See above, p. 634.

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