17 



disadvantages which he shares with other consumers, but 

 which, in his case, react on his position as a producer. 

 He has to pay enhanced prices not only for his clothing 

 and certain articles of his food, but also for his instruments 

 of production — for his ploughs and other agricultural im- 

 plements, for his horses and horses' harnesses, for his 

 farm utensils, for his paint and for his tar, for his bricks 

 and for his tiles — in short, for everything which he uses 

 in his life and work. To take but one apparently trivial 

 example.* Leather has to pay a duty according to weight. 

 The peasant, even if he be the most cultured person on 

 earth, must have for his field and farm work heavy boots. 

 These weigh in Germany not less than 3% lbs. This 

 carries with it a duty of is. 3d., as against 5d. which a 

 fashionable young lady has to pay on her pair of dancing 

 shoes. Such additional expenditure tells heavily on the 

 peasant's budget, and cannot easily be made good by the 

 high prices of corn which he does not sell, or by the prices 

 of meat, which constantly fluctuate, or by the good prices 

 for dairy produce which he cannot supply either in 

 adequate quantities or of adequate quality. 



But the above are only the direct effects of Protection 

 working chiefly through the high prices for the auxiliary 



requires a considerable amount of human labour, and the price of the 

 latter is raised by the increased cost of breadstuffs. Also the fodder 

 plants are expensive. In consequence of this the prices for cattle and corn 

 frequently exhibit a movement directly opposite to each other. Official 

 statistics show that high corn prices bring about low prices for cattle, 

 especially when the hay crop turns out unsatisfactorily. A high price for 

 corn compels the peasant to get rid of his cattle at all costs, whereby 

 cattle prices are forced to a low level. The author shows how, since the 

 increase of Agrarian duties, numerous peasant farms have been working 

 at a loss, and how, even in the Alpine districts, the standard of life 

 among the peasantry has been lowered. He asserts that the Alpine 

 peasantry is becoming, in consequence of the high agrarian duties, 

 pauperised and must soon, like a ripe fruit, fall into the lap of the 

 Social Democracy." Tout comme chea nous, may well a German reader 

 say on perusing these words. 



* Janssen, I.e., p. 71. 



