ABSTRACT
All the trades had been organized, and no one could work or sell, if he did not belong to one of the associations that were called guilds, and had as their heads delegates of corporations who exercised the wardenship. However, the influence of all these privileges, how they impede increases in population, and the swift development of industry, has never been investigated, and are not easy to assess. It is true that they had an interest in the monopolies they established; but the experience of free men always deserves a closer scrutiny than the legislation of ministers, strangers to the matters they pretend to regulate. The misery of the poorer classes is never prevented if one waits for the coming of a superabundant population to then provide for it. The authors will return to the results of this experience when they talk about population.
