_All Handicraft Trades Should be hereditary._
L. In Lacedemonia, which was one of the best-governed states of
antiquity, it was an inviolable law, as Herodotus informs us, that the
son of a husbandman, should be bred a husbandman, and the son of a
taylor, a taylor, and the same with respect to all other occupations
where people earn their living by their labour. The same practice
prevailed in Egypt, and prevails among the idolatrous people of Indostan
at this day.
LI. I know very well, that to enforce the importance and propriety of
this paradox, the authority of these, and other such examples that might
be instanced, is weak, compared to the infinite number of opposite ones
that might be produced against it. Therefore, it will be absolutely
necessary for us to have recourse to reason, to supply this defect of
authority.
LII. It appears to me, that two advantages of great importance would be
derived to the public by trades being hereditary; the first of which is,
that it would contribute greatly to the perfectioning of arts. When
there is no other relation or connexion between the master and his pupil,
than the latter being the apprentice of the first, the master is seldom
very anxious about instructing his scholar; and what is more, he is not
well disposed to communicate to him any particular secrets of his art,
which he has acquired by virtue of his own penetration and experience;
and generally, contents himself with instructing him in what is commonly
known and practised. But there is no reserve of this sort, when the
instruction is conveyed from the father to his son, for paternal love
cannot assent to it; and hence it is, that where the skill of the master
is equal, he will be better taught who learns of his father, than he who
is instructed by a stranger.
LIII. By this total translation of skill from father to son, and by
the same trade being continued in, and handed down to their posterity,
there would without doubt result this benefit, that the art of it would
be improved, and that it would continue advancing every age, nearer
and nearer to perfection. It is very common, for one artist to make
some improvements on what he has learned from another; and it is very
common also, for him who has made them, to let them die and be buried
with him; on account of its being against his interest, to communicate
them to other people. This impediment to making his improvements known,
seldom subsists between father and son; because the father, most
commonly considers the interest of his son as his own; and consequently,
communicates to his son all he knows. If the son from his own ingenuity,
makes improvements on what he has been taught by his father, and hands
them down to the grandson; and they all continue to do the same by their
successors; the arts by this means, would proceed to approach nearer to
perfection every generation.
LIV. There are two other circumstances that are very worthy of being
attended to, which would contribute to recommend this political system
for improving the arts; the one is, that children would begin to learn
much sooner than they commonly do. In the house of an artificer, where
the son is destined to follow the trade of his father, he will scarce
have done sucking the breast of his mother, when he will begin to drink
the milk of his father’s instruction; in consequence of which, not
only time would be gained, but his application to the business would
become more natural to him. The other circumstance is, that the state
would avoid the loss of many good artificers, which is occasioned by
the inconstancy of the tempers and dispositions of youth. Those, who
by continuing to work at the trade they first began to learn, would
become excellent artificers, by going on to change their occupations
continually, would never arrive at being more, than mere novices, or
beginners; and this mischief would be avoided, by obliging the son of
every handicraft person, to follow the trade of his father.
LV. The second convenience that would result to the public by trades
being hereditary, is, that it would ascertain the ranks and classes of
people in a state; it being no uncommon thing, for disputes to arise
between families, about birth and precedence; which inconvenience would
be remedied by such a regulation, as in such a case, the rank of most
people would be ascertained, and the cause of these disputes in a great
measure removed.