THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.
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restraining the competition in some employments to a smallernumber than would otherwise be disposed to enter into them ;secondly, by increasing it in others beyond what it naturallywould be ; and thirdly, by obstructing the free circulation oflabour and stock, both from employment to employment, andfrom place to place.
First, the policy of Europe occasions a very important in-equality in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages ofthe different employments of labour and stock, by restrainingthe competition in some employments to a smaller numberthan might otherwise be disposed to enter into them.
The exclusive privileges of corporations arc the principalmeans it makes use of for this purpose.
The exclusive privilege of an incorporated trade necessarilyrestrains the competition, in the town where it is established,to those who are free of the trade. To have served an ap-prenticeship in the town, under a master properly qualified,is commonly the necessary requisite for obtaining this free-dom. The by-laws of the corporation regulate sometimesthe number of apprentices which any master is allowed tohave, and almost always the number of years which each ap-prentice is obliged to serve. The intention of both regula-tions is to restrain the competition to a much smaller numberthan might otherwise be disposed to enter into the trade. Thelimitation of the number of apprentices restrains it directly.A long term of apprenticeship restrains it more indirectly,but as effectually, by increasing the expense of education.
In Sheffield no master cutler can have more than one ap-prentice at. a time, by a by-law of the corporation. In Nor-folk and Norwich no master weaver can have more than twoapprentices, under pain of forfeiting five pounds a month tothe king. No master hatter can have more than two appren-tices anywhere in England, or in the English plantations,under pain of forfeiting five pounds a month, half to the king,and half to him who shall sue in any court of record. Boththese regulations, though they have been confirmed by apublic lawof the kingdom, are evidently dictated by the samecorporation spirit which enacted the by-law of Sheffield. Thesilk weavers in London had scarce been incorporated a yearwhen they enacted a by-law, restraining any master fromhaving more than two apprentices at a time. It required aparticular act of parliament to rescind this by-law.