PROTECTION AND TITHES 165 



In the neighbourhood of Boulogne and Dunkirk prices 

 both of corn and cattle have fallen. On the other hand, 

 the important grain trade of Marseilles is suffering severely 

 from the Protectionist policy. The obvious result of 

 Protection is to decrease both exports and imports of 

 agricultural produce ; but the example of France shows 

 that import duties have not raised the prices of wheat and 

 beef, which are lower than when the duties were first 

 imposed. The fault is that the duty is not large enough, 

 and it may be confidently anticipated that it will be 

 shortly raised from 8s. 9d. to at least 12s. a quarter.' 



The result of English and foreign experience on the 

 subject of Protection is universally this. Import duties 

 ruin the grain trade of seaport towns, but they do not 

 necessarily raise the home price of wheat, because they 

 stimulate over-production at home. In England from 

 1820-48, in France and Germany from 1885 to 1887, 

 wheat did not rise, but rather fell, in consequence of the 

 exclusion of foreign competition. Farmers cut their own 

 throats by increasing their breadths of corn cultivation. 

 Hence, if protection is advocated as a remedy for low 

 prices, it fails to produce the desired result, and the cry is 

 raised for higher duties. It is probable that nothing short 

 of a duty of 20s. a quarter would raise home prices to the 

 point at which wheat would become profitable ; and if 

 bread rose to G^cL, this price means an income tax of 

 at least Is. a week on the wages of labour. 



Everyone now regrets that Mr. Gladstone, in 1869, 



took off the Is. duty on corn, which did not keep out a 



single quarter of wheat or raise the price of bread a 



' In Germany the demand of agriculturists for increased Protection 

 seriously embarrasses the political action of the Government. Austria 

 and Hungary export quantities of wheat and flour to Germany, which 

 the agrarian party desire to exclude by doubling the existing duty. 



