434] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
asked, why cannot markets be held 
at these towns?—I answer, the 
establishments of markets are not 
the work of a day ;—and suppose 
they were established, still that 
would not increase the quantity of 
corn grown in that country. ‘Fhe 
dealers must sti'] go castward for 
three-fourths of cheit supply, to the 
neglect of their own trifling markets, 
which of course would soon come to 
nothing again. 
The avowed object of the plan 
before the committee is, doubtless, 
to defeat a supposed combination. 
between buyers and seliers of cern 
to keep up its price, and to lay the 
markets, open to a fair competition ; 
and a very laudable objet it is. I 
have already stated my doubts as to 
the possibility of carrying this plan 
into execution, or indeed. any plan 
that would defeat this kind of com- 
bination; but I have very great 
doubts in my own mind as to the 
existence of combination to the ex. 
tent we frequently hear of, and still 
greater as to the magnitude of ‘the 
injury supposed to be done thereby 
to the public.—I am sensible I am 
taking the unpopular side of the 
argument.—I think you w il] agree 
with me in some parts of it at least 
and. if you do not, I am sure you 
will not be offended at my giving 
my opinion. 
That a combination should exist 
among farmers is impossible ;—they: 
are too numerous, and many of them 
too necessitous, ever to a(t in con- 
cert. 
Rich farmers may undoubtedly 
(and this year they have dene it) 
keep their wheat from market. In 
times of scarcity, like the last 
months of June and July, it is 
well they did, we should other. 
wise have been quite starved in 
Auguste ‘The shortness of the stp. 
ply pilot produced a saving in the 
consumption, and thereby the stock 
in hand lasted out. ‘Suppose we 
had a wet harvest; in that casé: 
the new corn could not have 
been ground without an ‘addition of 
eld. The rich: farmers who had 
wheat left would then have betn 
useful men, The faét speaks for 
itself, : 
As to jobbers of corn, these men 
may combine tegether ; their num- 
ber is but few, comparatively speak. 
ing; but how do they combine ? 
net to raise the price of corn, but 
to sink it! Warminster market, 
though a sack market,’ and not a 
sample market, is in a great mea- 
sure governed by these men ;—and 
were it not for them, Bath and 
Bristol must be. fed much dearer 
than they are now. ” If these meir 
cannot get corn at one market they 
go to another, and if there is not 
enough at market they go to farm-' 
houses. But when they get to the 
places of consumption, there the 
combination ends, and competition 
begins ;—less profit will suffice 
these men than the expence that 
would be incurred by ten times ‘the 
numbers of bakers and maltsters, 
coining twenty or twenty-five miles” 
tomarket. In fact, had it not beén 
for men of this description} Bristok 
would have been starved last sum. 
mer.—There were instances, more 
than once, of that city being with- 
out a fortnight’s supply of corn. 
These men knew it, and ransacked 
the country for more.—They did it 
for their own sakes, and thereby 
served the community. 
. But even admitting a combina ’# 
tion between-farmers and jobbers 
to exist in any particular country ;. 
the moment corn gets above the 
_ price. 
