Middlemen in English Business 167 



of corn ; b}' filling the newspapers with false reports as to the abundance 

 of the harvest at home or abroad, or as to the likelihood of the export 

 bounty being removed, or as to the destruction of crops by storm, 

 etc., prices of corn were depressed soon after harvest or other times 

 and the corn bought up cheaply.^ Such operations were more easily 

 performed then than they would be today, when the means of commu- 

 nication are well perfected. But whenever they be executed, they are 

 economically harmful, even though they may for the time swell 

 the merchant's profits, for the}- create public distrust and lessen 

 production. 



CORN CHANDLER. 



The corn chandler was the retailer of corn in the towns and cities. 

 He bought corn and meal in the country or on markets and sold it in 

 the city in the public markets or in shops. He usually kept a shop 

 with a supply of corn, flour, and meal, which he retailed to the public. 

 Not until the repeal of the law against regrating in 1673' was such 

 shop-keeping wholly free from public interference. The city and 

 state did not observe a consistent policy with respect to his business; 

 at times he was treated as regrator and ingrosser and his dealings were 

 done outside the pale of the law in "shopps and other obscure places 

 within this Cittie;"^but gradually about the middle of the seventeenth 

 century he was more leniently treated and his shop became the real 

 protot^'pe of our present-day flour-, meal-, and feed-store."* Later 

 statutes^ specifically excepted such retailers from the list of ingrossers 

 and allowed them to buy in the markets and sell the same again in the 

 city. The chandler sometimes combined with his retail business a 

 wholesale or merchant business or bought on commission for stable 

 keepers." 



MILLER. 



Among the middlemen who handled corn-products, the millers, 

 maltsters, mealmen, brewers and distillers were the most prominent. 

 The prime function of the miller was the conversion of corn into meal 

 and flour. As such he was essentially a manufacturer who served the 



' ' Considerations on tiie Present.," 10. 



- 15 Chas. II, Cap. 7, Sec. .'>. 



'■' See Rep. XXXII, 364, and LVIII, pt. II, 54-55. 



' Rep. LVIII, pt. II, 54-55; LXV, 59b; LXVI, 143b. 



' For example, 31 Geo. II, Cap. 25, Sec. 21. 



« Rep. Com. H. C, IX, 157. 



