68 Of Poor- Laws. Bk. iii. 



servation, that the price of corn in a scarcity will 

 depend much more upon the obstinacy with which 

 the same degree of consumption is persevered in, 

 than on the degree of the actual deficiency. A 

 deficiency of one half of a crop, if the people could 

 immediately consent to consume only one half of 

 what they did before, would produce little or no 

 effect on the price of corn. A deficiency of one- 

 twelfth, if exactly the same consumption were to 

 continue for ten or eleven months, might raise the 

 price of corn to almost any height. The more is 

 given in parish assistance, the more power is fur- 

 nished of persevering in the same consumption ; 

 and, of course, the higher will the price rise be- 

 fore the necessary diminution of consumption is 

 effected. 



It has been asserted by some people, that high 

 prices do not diminish consumption. If this were 

 really true, we should see the price of a bushel 

 of corn at a hundred pounds or more, in every 

 deficiency, which could not be fully and com- 

 pletely remedied by importation. But the fact 

 is, that high prices do ultimately diminish con- 

 sumption ; but, on account of the riches of the 

 country, the unwillingness of the people to resort 

 to substitutes, and the immense sums which are 

 distributed by parishes, this object cannot be at- 

 tained till the prices become excessive, and force 

 even the middle classes of society, or, at least, 

 those immediately above the poor, to save in the 

 article of bread from the actual inability of pur- 

 chasing it in the usual quantity. The poor who 



