160 APPENDICES. 



A Tax on Coiix. 



" My opponents say that I am going' to reduce you to 

 famine and starvation becaus3 I propose to put a tax of 

 2s. a quarter upon foreign (not Colonial) corn. I do pro- 

 pose to put on that tax. (Cheers.) But if you will listen 

 to me, I think I can show you that it will not injure you 

 in the slightest degree, and certainly it will not bring 

 you back to times when the duty on corn was not 2s. a 

 quarter, but 20s. and even more. I want, however, to show 

 you — this is my statement, and I am going to prove it — 

 that the cause of the misery from which your fathers 

 and your grandfathers suffered was not the price of corn, 

 bi(f the lack of emphnjmeiit and the lowness of wages 

 (cheers);* and the proof of that is that for 30 years after 

 the Corn Laws were repealed there wag no substantial 

 decrease in the price of bread. The reason for the improve- 

 ment in the condition of the agricultural labourer and 

 the workman was not the reduction in the cost of his food, 

 but the development of trade, which was brought about by 

 the progress of invention and by the discovery of gold in 

 Australia and America and which raised his wages and 

 increased his employment. (' Hear, hear.') Now let me 

 once more impress upon you the fact that those who try 

 to induce you to believe that everything depends upon 

 the price of corn are deceiving you. (' Hear, hear.') Vi'Itat 

 you have to find is emjiloyment (cheers) — p?en^^ of 

 f/nploynient and tJie best wages you can get for that 

 employment. (More cheers.) If you want an illustration, 

 let me take it from two very different examples: — If the 

 Eadioals are right when they come and tell you that even 

 a small increase in the price of yoiir food would be 

 ruinous to you, then the happiest countries in the world 

 must be the countries where food is cheapest. And what 

 countries are those? China (cheers)— China and India. 

 (Eenewed cheers.) Well, ladies and gentlemen, in China 

 and India, although food is cheap, wages are only a few 

 pence a day; and I should be very sorry to see any of you 



*1? this M a simj'le hifforir fact and capable of prcof 

 both from Cohdcn's fpeeches and other authorities, the j^iMic 

 should bear it well in mind. It is a very important point 

 in /his controversy. 



