By reflecting on these circumstances, we discover one of the best remedies against the bad distribution of necessities and against starvation and destitution, which occur so often in the kingdoms that nature has best endowed with all kinds of produce necessary for human life. And although the situation in Holland is very different from that in other states, it is still easy to understand that a Prince who would like to obtain perpetual abundance for his people and (239) cut off at the source the two extremes that cause so much havoc in the world —that is, the degradation of essential things for human life[^1] and their extraordinary scarcity— could very easily imitate and put into practice everything Holland does in this regard. He would not use the same ways that this Republic is obliged to use, but others that would aim at the same goal and produce the same results as in Holland. A Prince has without question the authority to prevent a superfluous quantity of things that are necessary for life from being scorned and wasted in the times that nature provides them. He also has the authority to ensure that in times of scarcity their collection (240) is as easy for everyone as in times of the greatest abundance, because by compensating for these two extremes and by reducing[^2] foodstuffs to a fixed[^3] and constant[^4] value, he will establish this proportion, which is of the utmost importance for a state and equally prevents intemperance and starvation.
However, to put this very beneficial maxim into practice, one could use different ways according to the different situations in states, which nevertheless amount to two general rules: namely, to remove the superfluous portions in times of abundance and to return them when a famine threatens. It is primarily with regard to grain that it is necessary to observe this maxim, because, (241) since everyone equally needs it to live, the frequent bad use of it easily disrupts the general economy of an entire state. Just carefully consider the use we make almost everywhere of this primitive manna that is so precious for preserving our lives. When there is an abundance of it, we scorn it, waste it, and use it in foreign ways; those who think of the future and want to establish their personal fortune through public misery, stockpile it and save it until the most dire plight; others transport it abroad, unable to find a way to use it at home. At the first sign of the next food shortage (242) they hoard it, either from fear of lacking it and dying of hunger or out of greed for excessive gain, and they raise their price to a point where the common people can no longer afford it and are consequently reduced to starvation or very mediocre food that is disproportionate to preserving their health and strength. Several die of hunger; others become unhealthy, and since their duties and their work are proportional to the strength of their bodies, the state suffers a very considerable blow to its wealth, because the goods that all those who die or are weakened by the famine could have produced are completely wasted and destroyed for the state as well as for each individual. Then, we only see (243) in the streets and on the main roads poor people and beggars who become dependent on others to the point of publicly stealing from and murdering them. The harm that began with the common people spreads imperceptibly to the wealthy and to the well-off, even to the prince himself, because of the general costliness of everything that the excessive price of grains usually causes; they find themselves reduced to doing without many pleasant and convenient things. Those who make them do not sell enough to meet their needs and are often obliged to close the shop and find another job, which causes a considerable decrease in the prince’s revenues, since it is not possible for those who only (244) earn their daily bread with unending difficulties to still be able to pay public obligations.
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