246 Benjamin Franklin [1784 
earth began to reward their labor, and to furnish 
liberally for their subsistence; that the seas and 
rivers were found full of fish, the air sweet, the cli- 
mate healthy; and, above all, that they were there 
in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious. 
He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing 
on these subjects would be more comfortable, as 
tending more to make them contented with their 
situation; and that it would be more becoming the 
gratitude they owed to the Divine Being, if, instead 
of a fast, they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His 
advice was taken; and from that day to this they 
have, in every year, observed circumstances of public 
felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a thanks- 
giving day; which is therefore constantly ordered 
and religiously observed. 
I see in the public newspapers of different States 
frequent complaints of hard times, deadness of trade, 
scarcity of money, etc. It is not my intention to 
assert or maintain that these complaints arc entirely 
without foundation. There can be no country or 
nation existing, in which there will not be some 
people so circumstanced as to find it hard to gain a 
livelihood; people who are not in the way of any 
profitable trade, and with whom money is scarce, 
because they have nothing to give in exchange for it; 
and it is always in the power of a small number to 
make a great clamor. But let us take a cool view of 
the general state of our affairs, and perhaps the pro- 
spect will appear less gloomy than has been imagined. 
The great business of the continent is agriculture.