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Let us suppose that he generally disposes of his whole stock upon

hand, or of goods to the value of his whole stock upon hand, once

in the year. By being obliged to keep so great a sum unemployed,

he must sell in a year five hundred pounds worth less goods than

he might otherwise have done. His annual profits must be less by

all that he could have made by the sale of five hundred pounds

worth more goods; and the number of people employed in preparing

his goods for the market must be less by all those that five

hundred pounds more stock could have employed. The merchant in

Edinburgh, on the other hand, keeps no money unemployed for

answering such occasional demands. When they actually come upon

him, he satisfies them from his cash account with the bank, and

gradually replaces the sum borrowed with the money or paper which

comes in from the occasional sales of his goods.