Page:The Three Prize Essays on Agriculture and the Corn Law - Morse, Greg, Hope (1842).djvu/32

 time, for it would not keep without injury, and the interest of the money would always prevent corn being held for many years together. Now if it should happen that either from an abundant harvest, or increased importation from abroad, the quantity of corn produced should suddenly or permanently amount to a million or two of quarters more than before, it is clear that the relative quantity of corn compared with the quantity of labourers in existence for the time being is altered. Instead of there being 90 quarters of corn to 100 labourers, there are 100 quarters of corn to 100 labourers. The farmer is a seller of corn, and the labourer is a large buyer and consumer of corn. Here is a bargain to be made between the two parties as to the amount of corn to be given for a certain quantity of work, and the principle that comes into operation here is precisely the same as that of two men going into the market, each with something to sell. One has apples and the other has eggs to dispose of. If apples are abundant and eggs are scarce, the man wishing to obtain eggs for his apples, must give a larger quantity of apples than he would have done if apples had been scarce. This is the principle which regulates the exchange of all commodities, of which man has a surplus to dispose of that he cannot consume himself; and it is this principle which operates in the same way between two men dealing, the one for labour and the other for corn. If corn is abundant, and a man is able to earn as much in four days as will keep him for six, it is not likely that he will give his other two days labour for nothing. Our corn laws alter the relative supply of labour and corn,—our corn laws make a provision that corn shall be less plentiful, but they make no provision that the number of the labourers should not increase—the relative supply of labour and corn is altered, and the consequence to the labourer is that he gets less for his share of the produce of the soil than he otherwise would.

The irregularity of the price of corn has been of serious injury to the labourer in more than one respect, for it has induced the habit on the part of the farmer of lowering the wages of the labourer, and the habit on the part of the labourer of submitting to the reduction. A rise in the price of labour seldom takes place until some time after a rise in the price of corn, and during these periods the habits and modes of living of the labourer are lowered, and many comforts are. sacrificed. The condition and habits of the labourer thus reduced, enable the farmer to take advantage of a fall in the price of corn;