Page:The Three Prize Essays on Agriculture and the Corn Law - Morse, Greg, Hope (1842).djvu/46

 the average of wheat being 67s. 2d.; yet in those years we imported the enormous quantity of 7,858,500 qrs. Of this we say nothing more at present than that it undoubtedly establishes the fact, that low prices of wheat in England are not, and have never been, the effect of foreign competition. For five months at the close of 1835, and the commencement of 1836, the price of wheat ranged under 36s. a quarter; at which price no foreign wheat could have been imported from any country in the world, even had the corn-trade been perfectly free, instead of being burdened as it was with a duty of 50s. a quarter. And in 1839, in spite of an importation of 2,681,400 qrs. prices never ranged so low as 66s. and averaged above 70s. The fact beyond all question is this,—and it should be immoveably rooted in the understanding of every farmer,—that low prices are owing to abundant harvests, and not to the admission of foreign corn; and that high prices are owing to defective harvests, and not to the exclusion of foreign corn;—since in the former case it is never admitted, and in the latter case it is never excluded.

There is one case, and one case only, in which this rule will not altogether hold good. There is one case, and one case only, in which harvests of extreme plenty will not bring prices of extreme depression; and that is, where the prosperity of trade, and the thriving condition of the whole community, enable the poor to live better and to eat more, and the rich to add to the number of their servants and their horses; and thus to increase the consumption till it keeps pace with the increased production. There is one case, and one case only, in which scanty harvests will not ensure to the farmers prices extravagantly high;—and that is, where the distress of trade and the impoverishment of all classes have produced a diminution in the demand for food equivalent to the diminution in its supply. Had the country been flourishing, and the people been in easy circumstances during the last two years, good wheat would have reached 100s. instead of 80s. Low prices may be produced by two causes; either by excess of production, or by diminished power of purchase on the part of the consumer. High prices may be produced by two causes; either by a deficient supply, or by a brisk and vigorous demand; and it is evident that they will be most profitable to the farmer when produced by the latter cause. Under the present system, high prices are only producible by deficient crops; so that when the farmer obtains the highest price, ''then he has least to sell. If he is ever to profit equally by good harvests and by bad ones, it can only be by the community, who constitute his customers, being in a condition to buy largely in the former case, and to pay dearly in the latter.'' If large crops and high prices are ever to go together, it can only be when manufactures are profitable, when industry is well remunerated, when all the people are well off.

In the production of this general prosperity, then, the farmer is as deeply and directly interested, as the merchant, the tradesman, or the labourer. Yet to this general prosperity the corn-laws are notoriously the greatest obstacle. By the concurring evidence of the ablest men in every department; of practical merchants, of theoretical