Middlemen in English Business 175 



that it is likely very little change of organization took place during 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.^ They were also, among other 

 regulations, restrained from hiring "any mill for any term."- 



This prohibition suggests the tendency of the baker to take up 

 other trades than simple baking. Four centuries later the same ten- 

 dency existed and it was common for bakers in country places to buy 

 corn and have it ground on hire or at mills of their own, thus combining 

 the functions of corn buyer, miller, mealman, and baker.^ As was 

 noted in the last section, the bakers assumed to eUminate the meal- 

 man and deal directly with the miller. Some such direct dealing was 

 made possible by their large purchases and by the improved means 

 of communication. In Dublin a like integration of mealman and 

 baker functions was going on and in 1746 an ordinance reexpressed 

 the oldtime policy to differentiate the two and keep them distinct.^ 

 But the regulation was not effective, for the two trades thereafter 

 had "secret trusts" and pooled their interests. The bakers illustrate, 

 therefore, a common feature of all middlemen in the corn trade, viz., 

 to function in several capacities and break down the ordinary de- 

 markations that in public estimation and policy were supposed to 

 put and keep each man in one trade only. 



The government during the eighteenth century' tried out the policy 

 of regulating the price of bread by making the size of the loaf conform 

 to the price of wheat, by a sliding scale. Such an act was passed in 

 1709. '^ In 1757^ it was made to apply to other grains than wheat." 

 This act only extended to the places where the assizes of bread were 

 held, and another statute^ shortly afterwards applied it to the other 

 markets. The execution of this legislation resulted in great uncer- 

 tainty among possessors of corn, meal, and flour. These merchants 

 had to incur the expense sometimes of withdraAving their stocks from 

 one market for sale in another. If the assize fixed too high a price 

 larger profits than necessary were made by the bakers; while, on the 

 other hand, if too low, the corn- and mealmen would not bring their 

 wares to town or market. In either case the trade suffered disadvan- 

 tage.^ 



1 Selden, XIV, p. 38. 



2 Ibid., 37. 



' Smith, On the Com Trade, 22-23. 



■* "Case of the Bakers," 3. 



^ 8 Anne, Cap. 18. 



^5 31 Geo. II, Cap. 29. 



' For its working see Rept. 1772, Pari. Hisl. XVII, 555. 



«3 Geo. Ill, Cap. 11. 



' See C. Smith, Three Tracts on Com, 28. 



