80 THE HERRING IN HISTORY 



the buyers, and charging the pubhc as high 

 a price as they chose by some similar arrange- 

 ment/ The principle of the statute was not 

 new, since six years earlier, in 1351, a law had 

 been passed imposing pains and penalties upon 

 " forestallers " or " regrators " or " ingrossers " 

 as these early dealers in " corners " were called. 

 The statute was therefore, merely a case of 

 applying a recognised principle to a particular 

 industry and with special reference to a par- 

 ticular locality. A " corner " in herrings 

 existed in Yarmouth, and the statute of 1357 

 was passed to break it. 



The statute cannot, however, have been 

 carried out to the letter. It is on record that 

 in October, 1382, lodging-house keepers in 

 Yarmouth and elsewhere were ordered to 

 desist from their practice of manipulating the 

 prices of herring or any other fish. 



Certain modern cynics have recently ob- 

 served that while trusts, rings and profiteering 

 practised by sellers of commodities have always 

 earned the hatred of the public, labour ^ rings 

 and trusts, and profiteering by labour — the 

 policy, that is, of compelling the public to pay 

 higher prices for labour in the production of 

 necessities — have never been regarded from the 

 same point of view by the very people who 



^ In the same way, the great joint-stock banks of to-day, by means 

 of a ring, or agreement, fix by advertisement the rate of interest as 

 high or low as they think proper when taking money on deposit 

 from the public in London, while charging for loans rates of interest 

 fixed roughly among themselves. 



^ See ISaturday Revieiv, November 10th, 1917, p. 364. 



