ChapterTwoBookOne101

Also, given that bread is their main and often only food, should not each village have an oven and a common baker who always makes good bread? Instead, by letting it be made by everyone, (384) it sometimes becomes so bad that the health of these poor people suffers considerable damage. I do not even know if we should not build a public barn in every village where all those who do not have the means to build one could keep their grains and hay.

Here are some examples that show that there is still much to improve in states’ public conveniences. However, of all the kinds that I have just named, I find that of money, its value, its circulation and its public deposit, of which I have spoken above, the most important and most worthy of a prince’s attentions. Since coins (385) have become, by the common consent of all nations, a state’s main convenience for facilitating the exchange of other goods, I imagine that the perfection of this convenience will infinitely help to make all the others more perfect. When, because of public deposits, everyone knows that keeping useless money will always be harmful to the possessor and that everyone takes his money there, including hidden treasures, the prince will be put in a position to undertake everything necessary to provide the rest of the public conveniences that his people lack, with much profit for those who are particularly interested in the said deposit. All those who take (386) care (as I have just proposed) of public funds will be particularly interested themselves in having them used in this way that is so advantageous to everyone, and they will not fail to contribute to them willingly, so that I hope this well-established convenience will facilitate all the others.