238 Agriculture during Two Great Wars. [june, 



producers. The laws of supply and demand which, in the last 

 40 years, have been strictly enforced so long as they favoured 

 consumers, have been set aside as soon as they favoured pro- 

 ducers. Not unreasonably that has been a sore point with 

 farmers. 



Wheat may be taken as an illustration. In the French war 

 prices found their natural level. They soared in years of 

 deficiency ; they fell in years of abundance. Farmers were 

 compensated for the fall by the larger quantity which they had 

 to sell. In the German war a flat maximum price was fixed 

 which did not vary with the seasons. Whether the yield was 

 large or small the price remained the same. W^hat was a good 

 price in a good year might become a poor one in a bad year. 

 The whole of the loss fell on the farmer, and it is worth noticing 

 that the harvests of 1917 and 1919 were most disappointing 

 in their yield, while the disastrous rain in the late summer of 

 1 918 ruined the quaUty of a large part of a magnificent crop. 

 Meanwhile the 4-lb. loaf was stabilised at gd. at the expense of 

 the tax-payer. Foreign wheat was brought into the country 

 at a much 'higher price than that which was fixed for home- 

 grown. Every quarter of British wheat put on the market 

 relieved the British tax-payer, who would have had to pay 

 something hke 25 s. per qr. more for the imported sub- 

 stitute. Consumers benefited by eating a loaf which cost them 

 at least 3<^. less than its cost to the Government and the tax- 

 payer. 



In the French war, as already stated, the poorest consumers 

 were subsidised put of the rates ; in the German war, all con- 

 sumers alike were subsidised out of the taxes. Throughout, 

 the tax-payers' burden was reduced by restricting farmers' 

 profits. The point has been Uttle understood. It would be, 

 in all the circumstances, reasonable that the Wheat Commission 

 should publish in parallel columns the prices paid for home- 

 grown and imported wheat during the period of control. It 

 would be an act of tardy justice to British farmers. Probably 

 the sum which producers of home-grown wheat have, in the 

 years 1917, 1918 and 1919, saved the tax-payer, would be in 

 the region of £25,000,000, and possibly more. 



The fiat rates for beef and mutton afiord another illustration 

 of care for consumers at the expense of producers. It was 

 essential that the scanty supply should be so distributed that 

 those who could, or could not, af'ord to pay high prices should 

 get the same quantity and the same quality. The best and 

 the worst meat commanded the same price in the British meat- 



