THE FARMERS' SALT QUESTION. 



1857- 



1873- 



NOTE. The report from which we quote does not give any quotation for fine salt during the 

 month of July, 1857. 



These authentic figures should put Mr. Wells to the blush ; for 

 they strip off the pompous disguise which has long hidden a sta- 

 tistical blunderer from the public gaze. He asserts that salt under 

 Protection has doubled in price. Where is the evidence of that 

 in the above quotations? He necessarily implies that the price of 

 wheat has remained stationary. What support does this find in 

 our tables? He insists that the barrel of salt which would have 

 cost the farmer only one bushel of wheat under partial Free Trade 

 now costs him two bushels. This is contradicted point-blank by 

 the facts. In twenty-three out of thirty-six months, under Mr. 

 Wells's pet tariff system, it required two or more bushels, and in 

 five of those twenty-three above three bushels of wheat to purchase 

 one barrel of salt; yet, in all the thirty-six months under Protec- 

 tion, there was only one in which so many as two bushels of wheat 



