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MILADY StAnDArD
®
nAIL tECHnOLOGY
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
12 The Basics of Electricity / 201
Why Study the Basics of Electricity? / 203
Electricity / 203
Electrical Equipment Safety / 207
3
13 Manicuring / 212
Why Study Manicuring? / 214
State Regulations for Nail Professionals / 214
Nail Technology Tools / 215
Professional Nail Products / 224
The Basic Manicure / 228
A Man’s Manicure Service / 231
Massage / 232
Spa Manicures / 234
Aromatherapy / 236
Paraffin Wax Treatment / 236
Nail Art / 238
Only the Beginning / 238
14 Pedicuring / 256
Why Study Pedicuring? / 258
Pedicure Tools / 259
Professional Pedicure Products / 265
About Pedicures / 266
Disinfection / 273
vi Table of Contents
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
18 UV and LED Gels / 354
Why Study UV and LED Gels? / 356
Chemistry of UV and LED Gels / 356
UV and LED Gels / 357
UV and LED Gel Supplies / 360
When to Use UV or LED Gels / 361
Choosing the Proper UV or LED Gel / 362
UV and LED Lamps and Bulbs / 362
Gel Polishes / 364
UV and LED Gel Maintenance and Removal / 365
PART
4
BUSINESS SKILLS / 419
20 Seeking Employment / 420
Why Study How to Prepare for and Seek Employment? / 422
Preparing for Licensure / 422
Preparing for Employment / 426
Résumé and Cover Letter Development / 431
Employment Portfolio / 436
Preparing for a Job Interview / 437
Doing It Right / 451
Glossary / 503
Index / 521
Table of Contents
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 vii
Procedures
■ Procedure 5–1 Cleaning and Disinfecting Nonelectrical
Tools and Equipment / 88
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock
viii Procedures
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
■ Procedure 17–2 Two-Color Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder
Nail Enhancements Using Forms / 341
■ Procedure 17–3 One-Color Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder Maintenance / 346
■ Procedure 17–4 Crack Repair for Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder
Nail Enhancements / 349
■ Procedure 17–5 Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder Nail Enhancement Removal / 351
■ Procedure 18–1 One-Color Method UV or LED Gel on Tips or Natural Nails with
UV or LED Gel Polish / 366
■ Procedure 18–2 Two-Color Method UV or LED Gel on Tips or Natural Nails / 371
■ Procedure 18–5 UV or LED Gel over Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder
Nail Enhancements with UV or LED Gel Polish / 380
■ Procedure 18–7 UV and LED Gel Removal—Soft Gel or Gel Polishes / 383
■ Procedure 19–3 3-D Flower Design Using Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder / 410
Procedures
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 ix
Preface
■ TO THE STUDENT
Congratulations! You have chosen a career filled with unlimited potential, one
that can take you in many directions and holds the possibility to make you a
confident, successful professional. As a nail professional, you will play a vital role
in the lives of your clients. Your clients will come to rely on you to provide them
with ongoing service, helping them to look and feel their best.
According to Nails magazine industry statistics, in 2013, professional nail
technicians performed more than 7.5 billion dollars’ worth of manicuring, pedi-
curing, and nail enhancement services for millions of fashion-conscious clients
in the United States. The business of nails continues to progress and grow with
new breakthroughs in product technologies, application techniques, and business
strategy. The need for educated and competent nail technicians is expanding in
the same way. Milady Standard Nail Technology, 7th edition, is the complete first
step to basic nail technology that all professional nail technicians need to kick
off their career.
You are fortunate because you will learn from gifted instructors who will
share their skills and experiences with you. You will meet other industry profes-
sionals at seminars, workshops, and conventions where you will learn the latest
techniques, specific product knowledge, and management procedures. All of
the experiences in which you have the opportunity to participate will provide
you with additional insights into the profession you have chosen. You will build a
network of professionals to turn to for career advice, opportunity, and direction.
Whatever direction you choose, we wish you a successful and enjoyable journey!
■ TO THE INSTRUCTOR
This seventh edition of Milady Standard Nail Technology was prepared with the
help of many instructors and professionals. Milady surveyed instructors, prac-
ticing nail professionals, and state board officials from across the United States
and received in-depth comments from a host of experts to learn what needed
to be changed, added, or deleted from the previous edition.
Milady Standard Nail Technology, 7th edition, contains new and updated
information on many subjects, including infection control, product chemistry,
manicuring, pedicuring, electric filing, monomer liquid and polymer powder
nail enhancements, and UV and LED gels. Chapter 19, The Creative Touch, is
loaded with the latest nail art mediums and techniques.
As instructors you asked Milady to make your job easier by aligning over-
lapping content between Milady Standard Nail Technology and Milady Standard
Cosmetology, and we listened! This alignment includes the following chapters:
Cosmetology
History and Opportunities; Life Skills; Your Professional Image; Communicating
for Success; Infection Control: Principles and Practices; General Anatomy and
Physiology; Skin Structure, Growth, and Nutrition; Nail Structure and Growth; Nail
Disorders and Diseases; The Basics of Chemistry; The Basics of Electricity; Seek
Seek-
ing Employment; On the Job, Business Skills; Manicuring; Pedicuring; Monomer
Liquid and Polymer Powder Nail Enhancements; and UV Gels. We also listened
when you asked for photographs and art that depict nail technicians performing
x Preface
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
their work and serving their clients; we conducted a 6-day photo shoot to update
more than 230 pieces of art throughout the book, including procedural art.
•
1
Chapter Outline
Full-Color Art. All art is in full color, with brand-new photographs to show • Why Study the History of Beauty and Nail
Technology and Career Opportunities
for Nail Technicians?
• A Brief History of Cosmetology and Nail
Technology
© Valua Vitaly/www.Shutterstock.com
Orientation
•
© iStockphoto/Deborah Cheramie
Learning Objectives and Review Questions. Learning objectives provide History
and Career
CHAPTER 1
Opportunities
Your Professional Image
2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
Chapter 1
These objectives are reinforced by review questions that assess how well Part 1 Orientation Orientation
1
the student has mastered the goals established in the learning objectives.
• Actual Photos of Skin and Nail Disorders and Diseases. Full-color photos ■ Review Questions
are included to help students identify skin and nail disorders and diseases
1. What are the origins of personal beautification? 3. What are some of the career opportunities avail-
2. What are some of the advancements that were able to licensed nail technicians?
made in nail technology during the twentieth
and early twenty-first centuries?
•
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
LO1
© Digital Vision/Thinkstock
needs of each individual client. Key Terms
Page number indicates where in the chapter the term is used.
cosmetology / 4
•
nail technology / 4
topic of chemical safety in the nail salon. Students will learn to identify the
© Kamira/www.Shutterstock.com Chapter 1 History and Career Opportunities
chemicals commonly used in the nail salon, how they can cause harm, how Part 1 Orientation 3
to protect themselves and their clients, and how to read Safety Data Sheets
(SDSs) (formerly known as Material Safety Data Sheets [MSDSs]).
• State Licensing Exam Topics.
Topics The topics required for state licensing 6 7 8
• Procedure 17-4
Reshape the nail enhancement using Buff the nail enhancement until it is Clean nails before application of nail
9 10 smooth. Remove the dust and apply
11 polish or gel sealant.
oil to the enhancement and sur-
Safety Cautions.
Cautions Highlighted safety cautions alert students to services
rounding skin. Wash the client’s hand
and nails with soap and water. Apply
hand cream and massage the hand
Crack Repair for Monomer Liquid and and arm.
that include potentially dangerous procedures. These cautions explain IMPLEMENTS AND MATERIALS
In addition to the basic materials on your manicuring table, you will need the following supplies for the Crack Repair for
Monomer Liquid and Polymer Powder Nail Enhancements Procedure:
•
•
Nail dehydrator
Nail primer
•
•
Monomer liquid
Polymer powder
•
•
Dappen dishes
Abrasives
Preparation 12
Copyright © 2011 Milady, a part of Cengage Learning. Photography by Dino Petrocelli.
Procedure Postservice
clean environment.
Apply nail dehydrator to any exposed , Postservice Procedure. LO6
1 2 natural nail in the crack.
3
• Tips. These tips provide hints on the most efficient and effective ways to
Remove the existing polish or gel seal- Apply nail primer to any exposed
1 ant. File a V shape into the crack or file
3 natural nail in the crack.
Copyright © 2011 Milady, a part of Cengage Learning. Photography by Dino Petrocelli.
technology skills.
Part 3 Nail Care 349
Preface
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 xi
However, if someone calls to ask for an appointment with a particular nail
technician on a particular day and time, every effort should be made to accom-
modate the client’s request. If the nail technician is not available at the time the
client requests, there are several ways to handle the situation:
• Suggest other times that the nail technician is available.
• Application Tips. These tips give additional insight to nail technicians as
they perform the service procedures.
• If the client cannot come in at any of those times, suggest that another
nail technician provide the service for this visit.
• If the client is unwilling to try another nail technician, offer to call the cli-
ent if there is a cancellation at the desired time.
•
WEB RESOURCES This chapter provides a general overview of the
complex issues involved in salon and spa ownership. There are many
Web Resources. Throughout the text, the reader will be directed to a variety
resources on the Internet for further study. The Web sites listed here are a
good start.
Design Advice on business topics from A
http://www.beautydesign.com to Z as well as, business resources
Click on Design Center to view see for accounting, sales, marketing,
various salon layouts and to see salon technology, and more.
photos from all over the world. http://www.isquare.com
of useful and informational Web sites that they can use in and out of school.
Human Resources The Small Business Advisor — Provides
http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide information on starting and operating
Look through this Employment Law a small business.
Guide from U.S. Department of Labor’s http://www.salonbuilder.com
Web site. Search for: employment law Information on starting a salon.
guide
http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com
http://www.eeoc.gov Various business-related articles.
Research relevant equal employment
http://www.strategies.com
opportunity regulations; check out the
The source for salon business growth
compliance manual.
seminars, training, and coaching.
http://hr.blr.com
Human Resources – Business and legal Salon Software
reports related to human resources. http://www.shortcuts.net
Find a forum, dozens of topics, and http://www.salonbiz.com
regulations by state. http://www.http://www.saloniris.
comsalon2K.com
Small Business Ownership
http://www.salon-software.com
and Operation
http://www.business.com
AND INSTRUCTOR
Milady Standard Nail Technology, 7th Edition, features these supplements:
Available Translations
• SPANISH TRANSLATED MILADY STANDARD NAIL TECHNOLOGY CORE
TEXTBOOK
o A Spanish translation of the core textbook
• SPANISH STUDY RESOURCE FOR MILADY STANDARD NAIL TECHNOLOGY
o A Spanish translation of the student Workbook and the Exam Review
• VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED STUDY SUMMARY FOR MILADY STANDARD NAIL
TECHNOLOGY
o This translated text includes the chapters most requested by nail tech schools
with significant Vietnamese student populations, including Infection Con-
trol; Nail Disorders and Diseases; Nail Structure, Growth, and Nutrition;
Manicuring; Pedicuring; Electric Filing; Nail Tips; and Wraps; UV Gels; The
Creative Touch (nail art); and the glossary of key terms and definitions from
the core textbook.
o Exam review questions in Vietnamese
xii Preface
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
New Student Supplement: Milady Standard
Nail Technology Coursemate
CourseMate is an online tool that combines classroom management with
interactive student tools. CourseMate provides instructors with all the reporting
tools they need to track student engagement, while students access interactive
study tools in a dynamic, online learning environment.
Preface
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 xiii
Milady Standard Nail Technology Course
Management Guide on CD
This step-by-step, simple-to-use course guide has been designed specifically
to help the nail technology instructor set up and operate a successful nail
technology training program. It includes:
• Guidelines for starting and implementing a nail technology program
• Detailed lesson plans for each chapter in the book along with a chapter test
• Learning reinforcement ideas or activities that can be implemented in
the nail technology classroom
• Answers to review questions at the end of each textbook chapter and
answers to the Milady Standard Nail Technology Workbook
• A computerized test bank for instant creation of review tests with answer keys
• An image library that includes all images in the text for use as handouts
or in PowerPoint® presentations
xiv Preface
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
About the Authors
■ ALISHA RIMANDO BOTERO
Alisha Rimando Botero is recognized as one of the nail industry’s leading
experts in training and education. In her first 2 years as an educator, she taught
classes in over 100 beauty schools and vo-techs across the United States. In her
14 years of experience, Botero’s work has been described as “groundbreaking”;
she has been a platform artist and motivational speaker for more than 1,500
promotional and educational events. She has competed in over 100 nail com-
petitions around the globe, winning a World Championship in 2005. Botero
■ JOHN HALAL
John Halal began his career in the beauty industry as a hairstylist over 43 years
ago. He is a licensed cosmetology instructor, a former salon and school owner,
and currently the director of education at Tricoci University of Beauty Culture.
Halal is an affiliate member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) and the
treasurer of Beauty Changes Lives (BCL). He is the immediate past president
of the American Association of Cosmetology Schools (AACS) and the current
president of the Indiana Cosmetology and Barbering Association (ICBA). John
ship experience and over a dozen years of dedication as a hair designer, she can
clearly relate to the role of being a manager in a creative industry. Kilgore has
a thirst for learning; while working in the salon during the day, she attended
college and earned her master’s degree in psychology in 2001. She transitioned
her career into a corporate role and still maintained a small clientele.
■ JIM MCCONNELL
Jim McConnell received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Oregon
in 1986. He has been a chemist in the field of polymers since 1988. After
graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked as a catalytic chemist
in the petroleum industry and as a urethane and epoxy chemist in the wood
products, concrete coating, and steel coating industries for 12 years. He and
his wife, Lezlie, founded McConnell Labs, Inc., in 1998, making Light Elegance
Nail Products for their salon in Eugene, Oregon. They soon began selling the
UV gel products internationally. McConnell has contributed to numerous nail
technology magazines around the world to answer questions, contribute
Photo courtesy of Janet McCormick, MS, Nail Technician, Esthetician and Author, Frostproof, FL
■ VICKI PETERS
As a nail technician, Vicki Peters has wowed the industry with her championship
nails. As a cover artist and author, her work has been published worldwide
more than any other tech in the history of the nail business. As an educator, she
has trained techs from Russia, Germany, Japan, Ireland, the United Kingdom,
Canada, Mexico, Africa, Australia, and the United States. As an industry leader,
she has mentored thousands and pioneered the industry to new levels. Peters
is a 31-year veteran nail technician, past competition champion, judge and
competition director, technical educator, and featured business speaker. She
Photo courtesy of Vicki Peters
is also author of the Milady Nails Q&A Book, Drilltalk, The Competitive Edge, and
Novartis’ Nail Healthy Guide. Her nail artistry has been on the covers of TV Guide,
Dayspa, Nails, Nailpro, Nailpro Europe, and numerous fashion magazines. Her
expertise in the nail business ranges from salon work and hands-on technical
experience to R&D, education, and lecturing worldwide.
■ JERYL E. SPEAR
Jeryl Spear is a veteran stylist and previous salon owner who perfected her
craft over a 20-year stint in the beauty business. After spending 4 years as
executive editor of Beauty Launchpad, in 2011 Jeryl became the editor in chief
xviii Acknowledgments
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
• Viv Simmonds, VIVid Nail & Beaute Salon
• Cindy Davis
• Nails made by Massimiliano Braga
• Noble Nails by Louise Callaway
• LCN / Wilde Cosmetics GmbH
• Emilio (http://www.emilio-online.com)
Acknowledgments
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 xix
■ PHOTO SHOOT LOCATIONS:
• Austin’s School of Spa Technology, Albany, NY
■ PHOTOGRAPHERS:
• Joseph Schuyler Photography, Albany, NY
schuylerphoto@gmail.com
xx Acknowledgments
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
1
© Valua Vitaly/www.Shutterstock.com
OrientationCHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 3
History Your Professional Image
and Career
CHAPTER 4
Opportunities
Communicating for Success
CHAPTER 2
Life Skills
© iStockphoto/Deborah Cheramie
2 Chapter 1
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Learning Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
Key Terms
Page number indicates where in the chapter the term is used.
cosmetology / 4
nail technology / 4
© Kamira/www.Shutterstock.com
Part 1 Orientation
Copyright 2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203 3
Cosmetology is a term used to encompass a broad range of beauty specialties,
including hairstyling, nail technology, and esthetics. It is the art and science of
beautifying and improving the nails, hair, and skin and the study of cosmetics
and their applications. In this text, we will primarily focus on nail technology,
which is defined as “the art and science of beautifying and improving the nails
and skin of the hands and feet.”
© iStockphoto/Valentin Casarsa
* * * * *
It still remains to notice the worst ills that beset the fiscal and
commercial life of our land. Indeed, we shall not understand the daring
nature of Pitt’s experiment of the year 1784 unless we take a
comprehensive view of the losses, both material and moral, which
resulted from the extraordinary prevalence of smuggling. Never had
contraband trade been so active as of late. How should it be otherwise,
when the customs dues were tangled and burdensome; when the
Navigation Laws, especially respecting the coasting trade in Scotland,
were so annoyingly complex that the papers which a vessel needed for
crossing the Firth of Forth involved nearly as much expense and delay
232
as if she were bound for Canada. In such a state of things illicit
trade was ever gaining recruits from the ranks of honest merchants
and seamen.
For monopoly, too, depressed their calling and exalted that of the
smuggler. By far the most important article subject to monopoly was
tea. That expensive luxury of the days of Queen Anne, a “dish of tea,”
was now fast becoming a comfort of the many. Indeed, Arthur Young
found that the use of tea had spread into the homes of cottagers; and
he classed as extravagant those villages which owed their refreshment
to China, and commended the frugality of those which adhered to
233
home-brewed ale. The increased use of Bohea was certainly not
due to the East India Company or to the State; for the former sold the
“drug” at the high prices warranted by its monopoly of trade with China;
and on the arrival of the precious chests at our shores, an ad valorem
duty of 119 per cent. had to be met. The increase of habits which
Arthur Young deprecated and temperance reformers now applaud was
due to smugglers. We learn from Adam Smith that Dutch, French, and
234
Swedish merchants imported tea largely; and from their ports
enterprising skippers conveyed it to our shores, there to be eagerly
welcomed by a populace which found the cheating of Government far
more attractive and gainful than agriculture. The annals of the time
show how deeply the coast population was infected. The large barns
which the tourist admires in many an East Anglian coast village, more
often held contraband than corn. Thomas Hardy has shown how the
dull life of a Wessex village kindled at the news of a successful “run
in,” and how all classes helped to defeat the “King’s men.” The poet
Crabbe, with his keen eye for the stern realities of life in his parish of
Aldborough, tells of his grief at finding there, not the simple home-
loving life of an old English village,
Their sport was not cricket or wrestling on the village green, but
smuggling.
One would think there’s not room one new impost to put
From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.
Like Job, thus John Bull his condition deplores,
Very patient, indeed, and all covered with sores.
* * * * *
The plan of a Sinking Fund was not wholly his, although it came to
bear Pitt’s name. Walpole, early in his career, had started a scheme
whereby a certain sum was annually set apart for forming a fund which
would accumulate by compound interest and finally be available for the
extinction of the National Debt. This plan came to grief, because in
1732 Walpole began to draw on his own fund rather than increase the
Land Tax and annoy country gentlemen. This, we may note, is one of
the perils of a Sinking Fund that, guard it as its founder may, some
thriftless Chancellor of the Exchequer will insist on filching from it. That
was the fate of Walpole’s fund. The scheme, however, survived, and
received a new impulse in 1772, when Dr. Price, a Nonconformist
minister, called public attention to it by a pamphlet on the National
Debt. In this he proved by irrefutable arithmetic that a Sinking Fund, if
honestly worked, must ultimately wipe out the largest debt that can be
conceived. For, as he hopefully pointed out, a single seed, if its
produce could be entirely set apart for sowing, would in course of time
multiply so vastly as to fill all the lands where it could grow. This is true;
but the simile implies singular powers of self-control in the sowers,
especially if they are beset by hunger before that glorious climax is
attained. Descending to the more practical domain of the money
market, Price proved that a sum of £200,000, set apart annually,
together with its compound interest, would in eighty-six years be worth
£258,000,000. Whether the nation were at peace or at war, said Dr.
Price, the stipulated sum must be set aside, even if it were borrowed at
a high rate of interest; for the nation borrowed at simple interest in
order to gain the advantages of compound interest. While admitting the
folly of such conduct for a private individual, he maintained with equal
naïveté that a State must benefit by it, even if there were no surplus of
247
revenue and if money were dear.
Such was the scheme which fired Pitt with hope; but it is very
questionable whether he accepted all its details. Certainly he did not
act precipitately. On 11th April 1785 he felt the pulse of the House of
Commons by stating his confident hope of having a surplus of one
million available for the present plan, and his determination next year
to found “a real Sinking Fund” on a basis which would absolutely
preclude pilfering in the future. It is also noteworthy that he resolved to
raise that million by taxation, not by borrowing. This is a fact which has
been ignored by Hamilton, McCulloch, Lecky, and other critics of Pitt’s
experiment; but the debate just referred to and those soon to be
considered place it beyond possibility of denial. Mr. Dempster urged
him to begin at once, even if he had to borrow, seeing that France had
started a Sinking Fund which “would enable her in a few years to get
rid of the greatest part of her National Debt.” But the Prime Minister
declined to be hurried, especially if he had to borrow at a high rate of
248
interest. Clearly, then, Pitt did not share the extravagant hopes of
Price.
His relations to Price cannot be wholly cleared up. Early in January
1786 he wrote to him in the following terms:
With his reply Price sent the three alternative plans which the
curious may peruse in his “Memoir and Works.” Unfortunately the ten
volumes consecrated to his fame by his nephew, William Morgan, are
instinct with so bitter a prejudice against Pitt as to be worthless on all
questions affecting him. Morgan does not print Pitt’s proposal, but
brushes it aside as puerile, and gives the impression that Price did so;
he gives no account of the interview which Pitt had with Price in the
middle of January, but asserts that the Minister threw aside his own
proposals, adopted the third and least efficient of Price’s plans,
mangled it in the process, and never acknowledged his debt to his
250
benefactor. The first of these charges can be refuted by Price’s
reply to Pitt’s letter given above. He pronounced the Prime Minister’s
proposals “very just,” but pointed out some defects, especially the
proviso which placed the Sinking Fund at the disposal of Parliament
when the interest on it amounted to £4,000,000, as he expected it
251
would by the year 1812. Morgan’s unfairness is further revealed by
his statement that Pitt did not choose to increase the taxes in 1786 so
as to provide the million surplus which ought to have been
forthcoming. Whereas the fact is that in the Budget of 1785 the
Minister imposed taxes for that very purpose; and when these proved
252
scarcely sufficient, he imposed others on 29th March 1786.
False and acrid charges such as these do not surprise us in the
partisan biographies of that age. What is surprising is that McCulloch
and Lecky should have endorsed some of Morgan’s statements,
especially respecting Pitt’s omission of his acknowledgements to
253
Price. On this I must observe, firstly, that it is not proven that Pitt
owed to Price everything that was good in his Sinking Fund, and
spoiled the plan by his own alterations of it; for the omission of Pitt’s
proposal by Morgan leaves us without means of comparing the original
proposals of the two men; secondly, that the official reports of the three
debates of the spring of 1786 on this subject are so meagre as to
furnish no decisive evidence on what was, after all, a minor detail.
Further, it is probable that Price’s influence on Pitt’s proposal was less
than has been supposed. In the Pitt Papers is a letter of Pulteney to
Pitt dated 18th April 1786, in which he urges him carefully to
reconsider Price’s third plan before finally adopting it. He states that Sir
John Sinclair, Sir Edward Ferguson, Mr. Beaufoy, and Mr. Dempster
had yesterday met Dr. Price at Bath House in order to discuss the
merits of Price’s plan, and also one by Mr. Gale. The discussion left
Pulteney with the conviction that Gale’s plan was “infinitely preferable
to any of the three produced by Dr. Price,” and he begged Pitt to add it
254
to his Bill as an alternative. I have not found a copy of Gale’s plan
or any evidence as to its adoption in part by Pitt; but the statesman
certainly repudiated the notion of borrowing in order to pay off debt, on
which Price had laid stress. And yet by a strange irony of fate, this
expedient, to which the statesman had temporary recourse only under
the strain of war, is that which has been pronounced by nearly all
critics the characteristic part of his scheme.
The chief features of Pitt’s proposals were his efforts to raise the
whole of the annual million from revenue, and to safeguard this fund
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from the depredations of wasteful financiers in the future. He
therefore placed it under the control of six responsible persons, among
whom were the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the
Bank of England. The disposal by Parliament of the fund when the
yearly income arising from it should amount to four millions, may be
termed a concession of the financier to the parliamentary spirit.
The scheme met merely with indirect criticism, the debates turning
on general policy, or on the question whether there was a surplus of a
million, or any surplus at all. These were the issues to which the eager
partisanship of Fox and Sheridan sought to divert the attention of the
House. Let them beware, exclaimed Fox, of tying up a sum of a million
a year, when they might want all their available resources for a war. As
for Sheridan, he sought to ridicule the experiment, not on financial
grounds, but because it was the height of folly to add to the present
enormous burdens when “we had but one foe, and that the whole
world.”
There seems to have been in these debates no reference to Dr.
Price’s schemes, though they then enjoyed considerable notoriety.
Mention was made of the writings of Baron Maseres on the efficacy of
Compound Interest; but the Opposition confined itself almost entirely to
complaints about the taxes, and gloomy prophecies about the advent
of another war. Surely some member of that angry and disappointed
group would have accused Pitt of filching his scheme wholesale from
that of Price, if the charge had been possible. We can imagine that
Sheridan, instead of croaking over the impending coalition of Europe
against England, would in that case have declaimed against Pitt as the
thief of the magic wand of the real Prospero of finance. Would not Fox
also have brought his sound and sturdy sense to the congenial task of
exposing the fallacies of Price and the imposture of Pitt? The darling of
Brooks’s Club, who well knew the perils of borrowing in order to pay off
old debts, would have fastened on the folly of borrowing at high rates
in order to gain the advantage of Compound Interest. We can picture
him asking how a plan, which was admittedly foolish for an individual,
could be profitable for a nation, and where the taxes could be raised
that would make good the interest on the sums set apart every year for
the wonder-working fund. Surely the Opposition was not so ignorant of
finance and of Price’s proposals as not to detect the weakness of the
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Prime Minister’s plan, had it been modelled solely on them.
The debates in which the Commons dealt with this great and
complex subject seem to have been fruitful only in personalities. At the
final stage of the Bill, however, Fox moved an amendment with the aim
of lightening the burdens on the nation in time of war. He proposed
that, whenever a new loan should be raised, the Minister should be
pledged to raise moneys sufficient to pay the interest on the loan, and
also to make good to the Sinking Fund what might be taken from it. He
stated as a concrete example that, if a new loan of £6,000,000 were
required in time of war, and if £1,000,000 were in the hands of the
Commissioners of the National Debt, that sum should be transferred to
the account of the loan; for this, he claimed, would save the public the
expense of raising that million through bankers and the Stock
Exchange, and the Sinking Fund would not be injured if the million
temporarily borrowed from it were made good by taxation. His speech
contained one statement of personal interest, namely, that he had
shown his proposal to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who approved
of it. This, then, was one of the few occasions on which Pitt conferred
with Fox. He now accepted Fox’s amendment, because (to take the
supposed case), apart from the saving of commission on the million,
Government would be able to raise the five millions on better terms
than the six millions. Pitt also expressed the hope that the addition of
the amendment to his Bill would do away with all temptation to a
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Minister to rob the Sinking Fund.
This last argument cut both ways. As Earl Stanhope (formerly Lord
Mahon) pointed out to the Lords, when he introduced a rival scheme a
few days later, it would be absurd to lessen the temptation to commit
an offence which he (Pitt) had declared to be thenceforth impossible.
In fact, the permission to transfer the yearly million to another fund
rather tended to strengthen the argument for alienation in any other
case where expediency might be urged. Stanhope’s plan for rendering
the Sinking Fund permanent is too complex to be discussed here; the
debates on it were closed by the royal assent being given to Pitt’s
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measure on 26th May.
If we examine carefully the many criticisms that have been levelled
against Pitt’s Sinking Fund, they apply only to his handling of the fund
during the Great War with France. Every sciolist in finance can now
see the folly of borrowing money at a high rate of interest in order to
259
provide the fund with its quarterly supply. It is clearly a case of
feeding a dog on his own tail. But such a proceeding, though lauded by
Price, was quite contrary to Pitt’s original intention, which was the
thoroughly sound one of paying off debt by a steady application of the
annual surplus. He departed from this only under stress of
circumstances which he looked on as exceptional and temporary.
Strange to say, even the officials of the Treasury seem to have
overlooked the fact that the nation was thereby increasing its debt in a
cumbrous attempt to lessen it. In 1799, when the pinch caused by the
withdrawal of a million a year was severely felt, George Rose, the
Secretary of the Treasury, praised the Sinking Fund as an example of
integrity and economy which must in the highest degree promote the
prosperity of the nation. And Lord Henry Petty, who succeeded Pitt as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated in his first Budget Speech in
March 1806 that “it was owing to the institution of the Sinking Fund that
the country was not charged with a much larger amount of debt. It was
an advantage gained by nothing.” This extraordinary statement,
coming from a political opponent, shows how that generation was
mesmerized by the potency of Compound Interest.
Yet, delusive as the scheme came to be, it conferred two benefits
on Great Britain. Firstly, it tended to the reduction of the National Debt
during the time of peace. Nearly eleven millions were written off in the
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years 1784–1792; and the country felt no inconvenience until the
million had to be borrowed at ruinous rates. But, far more than this,
faith in the Sinking Fund buoyed up British credit at a time when
confidence was the first essential of the public safety. In the dark days
of 1797 and 1805 Britons were nerved by the spirit of their leader, who
never quailed even in face of mutiny, disaster, and the near approach
of bankruptcy. There are times when unjustifiable trust is better than
the most searching scrutiny. Finally, it is the barest justice to the
memory of Pitt to remember that his whole financial policy in the early
part of the Great War rested on the assumption that France would
soon be overborne; and, as we shall see, that assumption was justified
by the experience of the past and by every outward sign in her present
life. It was the incalculable element in the French Revolution, from the
levée en masse of 1793 down to Austerlitz in 1805, which baffled Pitt
and metamorphosed his Sinking Fund into a load of lead.
CHAPTER IX
REFORM
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London, March 11, 1784.
Gentlemen,
I consider myself greatly obliged to you for the favour of
your letter, which I received upon the 6th instant. I beg leave to
assure you that my zeal for Reform in Parliament is by no means
abated, and that I will ever exert my best endeavours to
accomplish that important object.
(Signed) W. Pitt.