§ 24 

That section of our Statutes which concerns Peddling is particularly worth our attention. A trader is not allowed to go about the country selling his goods, nor is the Farmer allowed to buy anything from his neighbours and take it to town, nor to bring them articles from town in return.

If the neighbour will not become his agent, the Farmer must make a two or three days' journey to the town himself, maybe in the busiest harvest time, and that often for a piece of flint or an ell of tobacco. Who, then, shall pay for his journey? Had his neighbour been allowed to trade in the most necessary goods, he would have been spared this waste of time, but as this is forbidden, I cannot but put his loss down to the Account of the Statute itself.

I must regret that this Statute has not been observed; but it is my firmest conviction that this breach of the law has saved at least one quarter of the Country from desolation.

To set out such a great matter as this cannot be done now. I only want to give the Reader occasion to think about it a little.

All Savolax, Tavastland and Carelia are situated far from any towns. Corn and provisions are their goods, by means of which they provide themselves with salt and other necessaries from the towns. Now the wealthier people buy up goods from their neighbours who have no horses themselves or are not able to go to town with those goods, and in return they provide them with their needs.

Nobody undertakes to be an agent of the poor, and nobody is capable of keeping accounts with fifty or sixty persons. Thus, if this Peddling had not been done, the Nation would have lacked those commodities, and the poor would have perished in hunger and idleness. If the commodity is not desired, its production will cease, and where does the National gain come in then?