300 



Agriculture and the Corn-Lav^. 



Vol. VIII. 



in 1839, in spite of an importation of 2,681, 

 400 quarters, prices never ranged so low as 

 66s,, and averaged above 70s. The fact 

 beyond all question is this, — and it should 

 be immoveably rooted in the understanding 

 of every farmer, — that low prices are oiving 

 to abundant harvests, and not to the admis- 

 sion of foreign corn; and that high prices 

 are owing to defective harvests, and not to 

 the exclusion of foreign corn; — since in 

 the former case it is never admitted, and 

 in the latter case it is never excbided. 

 There is one case, and one case only, in 

 which this rule will not altogether hold 

 good. There is one case, and one case 

 only, in which harvests of extreme plenty 

 will not bring prices of extreme depression; 

 and that is, where the prosperity of trade, 

 and the thriving condition of the whole com- 

 munity, enable the poor to live better and 

 to eat more, and the rich to add to the num- 

 ber of their servants and their horses ; and 

 thus to increase the consumption till it keeps 

 pace with the increased production. There 

 is one case, and one case only, in which 

 scanty harvests will not ensure to the farm- 

 ers prices extravagantly high; — and that is, 

 where the distress of trade and the impover- 

 ishment of all classes have produced a dimi- 

 nution in the demand for food equivalent to 

 the diminution in its supply. Had the coun- 

 try been flourishing, and the people been in 

 easy circumstances during the last two 

 years, good wheat would have reached 100s. 

 instead of 80s. Low prices may be pro- 

 duced by two causes; either by excess of 

 production, or by diminished power of pur- 

 chase on the part of the consumer. High 

 prices may be produced by two causes; 

 either by a deficient supply, or by a brisk 

 and vigorous demand , and it is evident that 

 they will be most profitable to the farmer 

 when produced by the latter cause. Under 

 the present system, high prices are only 

 produced by deficient crops; so that when 

 the farmer obtains the highest price, then 

 he has the least to sell. If he is ever to 

 profit equally by good harvests and by had 

 ones, it can only be by the community, who 

 constitute his customers, being in a condi- 

 tion to buy largely in the former case, and 

 to pay dearly in the latter. If large crops 

 and high prices are ever to go together, it 

 can only be when manufactures are profit- 

 able, when industry ia well remunerated, 

 when all the people are well off. In the 

 production of this general prosperity, then, 

 the farmer is as deeply and directly inte- 

 rested, as the merchant, the tradesman, or 

 the labourer. Yet to this general prospe- 

 rity the corn-laws are notoriously the great- 

 est obstacle. By the concurring evidence 



of the ablest men in every department ; of 

 practical merchants, of theoretical econo- 

 mists, of celebrated statesmen ; the corn- 

 laws restrict our commerce, depress our 

 trade, deprive our people of employment, 

 and derange our friendly relations with for- 

 eign powers. 



The second great mischief, then, which 

 the corn-laws inflict upon the farmer, is 

 that they spoil his market, by impoverish- 

 ing his customers. 



4. We presume that no doubt can exist 

 in the mind of any one, that the steadier 

 prices can be made, the better for the pro- 

 ducer, as well as for the consumer.* A 

 trade in which the fluctuations are exces- 

 sive, partakes of the nature of gambling; 

 and a gambling trade is in the long run 

 always a losing one, and generally a ruin- 

 ous one. The uncertainty which pervades 

 prices, prevents any thing like safe esti- 

 mates, or accurate calculations. The farmer 

 being wholly unable to foresee whether he 

 shall obtain 40s. or 80s. for his wheat, 

 knows neither what rent he can afford to 

 pay, nor in what style he can afford to live. 

 If the price of corn were fixed, he would 

 know pretty exactly what he had to expect, 

 would be able to lay out his expenses be- 

 forehand, and to calculate beforehand on a 

 certain, though it might be a moderate, 

 amount of profit. This degree of uniform- 

 ity, we know, is not attainable; but the 

 nearer we can approach to it, the more de- 

 sirable will become the condition of the 

 farmer. Now nothing can be more certain 

 than that our corn-laws have increased fluc- 

 tuations of price — except that they were in- 

 tended to prevent them. One of the chief 

 pleas for the perpetual legislative peddling 

 on this subject has been, the necessity of 

 preventing excessive variations in the price 

 of so important an article as food. The far- 

 famed sliding-scale is the result of thi.s al- 

 leged necessity; the offspring of previous 

 variations; "the fruitflil parent of a thou- 

 sand more." It was a patent invention to 



* " Fluctuations of price, whether they arise from 

 alteration in the value of money, or from changes in 

 the corn-laws, cannot fail to produce evils in every 

 branch of rural economy, which independently of these 

 disturbing causes, must ever remain exposed to griev- 

 ous vicissitudes from the uncertainty of seasons. 

 These artificial fluctuations, however, only aggravate 

 the natural evil: they render the income of the land- 

 lord precarious, the fired rent of the farmer a hazardous 

 speculation, and the «ages of the labourer an uncer- 

 tain remuneration. . . . Steadiness of price, which is 

 conducive to settled habits, and forms the basis of all 

 fixed engagements, is the primary object never again to 

 be overlooked."— UppoTl of committee of House of Com- 

 mons, 1833. 



