Sawing planks and boards is his employment, at which ſome will earn three or four ſhillings a day. There are great numbers of them, which is given as a reaſon why we ſhould not erect ſaw-mills as the Dutch do, and by the help of which one man will do as much as fifty can by their labour. Thus the Dutch run away with moſt of the trade of Europe for planks and timbers ready framed for building ſhips and houſes, But ſurely a publick good ought to be preferred to that of any private men. And if we ſtill want hands, as ſome ſuggeſt, theſe men might find employment in other branches of buſineſs.
The General Shop Book: or, Tradesman’s Universal Director – 1753
—Jeff Burks