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castes followed those occupations. There were some general occupations, such as general agricultural work, which members of various castes might engage in. These permitted an adjustment of the supply of people in different occupations to the demand for their services. |
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Currently, tariffs, fair-trade laws, import quotas, production quotas, trade union restrictions on employment and so on are examples of similar phenomena. In all these cases, governmental authority determines the conditions under which particular individuals can engage in particular activities, which is to say, the terms on which some individuals are permitted to make arrangements with others. The common feature of these examples, as well as of licensure, is that the legislation is enacted on behalf of a producer group. For licensure, the producer group is generally a craft. For the other examples, it may be a group producing a particular product which wants a tariff, a group of small retailers who would like to be protected from competition by the ''chiseling" chain stores, or a group of oil producers, of farmers, or of steel workers. |
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Occupational licensure is by now very widespread. According to Walter Gellhorn, who has written the best brief survey I know, "By 1952 more than 80 separate occupations exclusive of 'owner-businesses,' like restaurants and taxicab companies, had been licensed by state law; and in addition to the state laws there are municipal ordinances in abundance, not to mention the federal statutes that require the licensing of such diverse occupations as radio operators and stockyard commission agents. As long ago as 1938 a single state, North Carolina, had extended its law to 60 occupations. One may not be surprised to learn that pharmacists, accountants, and dentists have been reached by state law as have sanitarians and psychologists, assayers and architects, veterinarians and librarians. But with what joy of discovery does one learn about the licensing of threshing machine operators and dealers in scrap tobacco? What of egg graders and guide dog trainers, pest controllers and yacht salesmen, tree surgeons and well diggers, tile layers and potato growers? And what of the hypertrichologists who are licensed in Connecticut, where they remove excessive and |
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