CORN DUTIES. 333 



merely profitless, but ruinous ; and that the result would be to 

 throw much land out of cultivation, and consequently deprive 

 the laborer of his present resources ; and though the price of 

 bread were reduced, yet such would be the scarcity of employ 

 ment, and the reduction of his wages, that he would be without 

 the means of paying even a reduced price. 



2. ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROTECTION. The opponents of 

 restrictions in the introduction of foreign grain maintain, on the 

 other hand, that, from the necessities of the case, the land will 

 continue to be cultivated j that the introduction of foreign grain 

 will induce the farmer to cultivate more land, to introduce im 

 provements in cultivation, to bring into a productive condition 

 much land which is now waste and profitless, and thus increas 

 ing the amount of his crops by a more skilful cultivation, this 

 excess will be very much more than an equivalent for any 

 diminution of price. The saving of the expenses of transporta 

 tion, incident to the importation of grain from abroad, must be 

 considered, in its very nature, as virtually a considerable protec 

 tion to the English farmer. 



I do not deem it necessary further to discuss this great ques 

 tion. It does not appear probable to me that, even if the ports 

 were thrown open, much larger amounts would come in than 

 what are now brought ; and one effect is certain that of increas 

 ing the price of wheat in the exporting countries. If more 

 wheat is cultivated in foreign countries for exportation, then it 

 must be obtained from territories more distant than those from 

 which it is now brought, and the expense of transportation 

 would be proportionately increased. The production of wheat 

 would be in no case, as many persons seem to imagine, without 

 limit. The United States have vast markets growing up among 

 themselves for the consumption of their surplus products ; and in 

 a free trade, the wheat from the United States must come into 

 severe competition with the continental wheats. Every one 

 must see that the financial bearings of the question are quite 

 complicated ; and under such a change in the policy of the 

 country as the abrogation of all duties or restrictions, many new 

 circumstances would spring up to affect the results, little thought 

 of by even the shrewdest calculators. How limited is human 

 prescience ! and what countless and complex influences are con- 



