OF AGRICULTURE. 139 



prices in this country, which imports them, 

 we find no difference in favour of the import- 

 ing country. On the contrary, the balance is 

 rather in favour of France, and it decidedly 

 was so for wheat until the new protective tariff 

 was introduced. As soon as one goes out of 

 Paris, one finds that every home fyroduce is 

 cheaper in France than it is in England, and 

 that the prices decrease further when we go 

 farther East on the Continent. 



There is another feature still more unfavour- 

 able for this country : namely, the enormous 

 development of the class of middlemen who 

 stand between the importer and the home 

 producer on the one side and the consumer 

 on the other. We have lately heard a good 

 deal about the quite disproportionate part of 

 the prices we pay which goes into the middle- 

 man's pockets. We have all heard of the 

 East-end clergyman who was compelled to 

 become butcher hi order to save his parish- 

 ioners from the greedy middleman. We read 

 in the papers that many farmers of the midland 

 counties do not realise more than 9d. for a 

 pound of butter, while the customer pays from 

 Is. 6d. to Is. 8d. ; and that from IJd. to 2d. for 

 the quart of milk is all that the Cheshire farmers 

 can get, while we pay 4d. for the adulterated, 

 and 5d. for the unadulterated milk. An 



