Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Reign of Adolph Frederick, 1751–1771 - D. Administration of the Younger Cap Party
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The Younger Cap Party 277
An important step in reform was begun, about the
middle of the eighteenth century, with a system of con-
solidation of the many small strips into a few larger
strips for each villager. A still greater reform was
effected at the opening of the nineteenth century when
the various strips were consolidated into one tract for
each owner. This led to a gradual dissolution of the
village as each peasant moved his home to his own
tract of land. These reforms largely increased the
acreage of cultivation and removed ancient handicaps
from agriculture, and the peasant could now give more
attention to stock raising. But the reform met with
much opposition from those who held to the ancient
customs and were loth to leave their old surroundings.
The Passing of the Mercantile System. The care giv-
en to agriculture from the middle of the eighteenth
century, and especially during the administration of
the Caps, indicates that the belief in the Mercantile
System was shaken. Everywhere in Europe people be-
gan to think that each country should not attempt to
produce everything that it needed, but that each coun-
try should produce such things as it was especially
adapted for, and import other necessaries from other
lands. As it became apparent that many protected in-
dustries were artifically created and maintained, voices
began to be raised against this system of paternalism.
The state should rather let free competition control.
An Industrial Crisis. Notwithstanding certain mer-
its, the administration of the Caps suffered from seri-
ous faults. The party had determined to put an end
.to waste by the practice of economy. But they made
the mistake of going to the other extreme. They sud-
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