The same flaws are more or less encountered in the other professions. Fathers, mothers, and relatives are usually so biased in favor of their children that as long as they have absolute control of the choice of their profession, there will always be very bad practitioners in every profession and trade. They do not regard so much the natural disposition of the child, which they always believe to be excellent for undertaking everything, (332) as their own plans and the advantage that they want to procure for their family. Things will go much better when the prince gets a little involved and when he always has an eye on the youth through a wise council, which will disabuse the family or even the children on the choice of their profession. There is nothing so inconvenient for a state and nothing delays the increase of its wealth more than people who are poorly suited for and poorly skilled in every profession, especially in those that must principally contribute to the state’s wealth. A skilled man makes products more frequently, in greater number, and more perfectly than an ignorant one. Consequently, the latter not only harms himself, (333) but also others who are deprived of a large number of products that his ineptitude prevents him from providing.
There are still other ways to establish a proportional distribution of conveniences in a state, which will be clearer when we speak in detail of administering and increasing the goods that individuals have in their possession: everything will boil down to the secret of reducing everyone’s time and effort as much as possible in order to reach the highest degree of wealth that one can seek according to the universal rule established by the natural order and according to the maxims that I have proposed on this subject.
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