Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/175

WHEAT PRICES. The letter referred to on page 150 was reprinted in the Times of July 30th:

'35 Upper Addison Gardens, Kensington, W. 'July 21st, 1903. '

'I was very glad to see your name appended in today's Times to the letter headed "Liberals and Fiscal Policy," in which, having called myself all my life a Liberal and something more, I entirely concur.

'When quite a young man I was a member of the Anti-Corn-Law League. I knew several of its leaders, and remained on friendly terms during all his life with John Bright.

'But I separated from the League on the question of the equalisation of the sugar duties, which, having stayed twice (for seven months each time) in the West Indies, I knew to be absolutely cruel to our sugar-producing Colonies. In fact, it is only now, after half a century, that they are recovering from the blow.

'I own I was startled by Mr. Chamberlain's throwing out the idea of an impost on corn. But, on looking at the table in Whitaker's Almanack of the "Average Prices of Wheat," &c., a quarter (which unfortunately does not come below 1865), I have been surprised to find that while the average of the seventeen years since 1845 shows a reduction of rather more than 2s. a bushel compared with the seventeen years before, there has been nothing of the stability of price which was looked forward to by us Corn-Law repealers, the figures of the post-repeal years frequently rising above those of the pre-repeal years, and vice versâ.

'Thus the highest post-repeal prices, 74s. 8d. (1850) and 72s. 8d. (1854), are actually higher than the one price in the seventeen years which exceeds 70s., 70s. 8d. for 1839 being the lowest for this period; whilst the lowest post-repeal price, 38s. 6d. in 1851, is not much lower than the pre-repeal lowest, 39s. 4sd. in 1835. (Note that whilst the 70s. 8d. of 1839 was the only instance in the pre-repeal group of a rise above 70s., the post-repeal one has two such instances.) I find myself thus compelled to admit, much against my will, that as respects stability of price, the repeal of the Corn Laws has, so far as I can judge, quite baffled my  157