Page:Vindication of a fixed duty on corn.djvu/18

12 condemned the alternatives proposed are, a modified sliding scale and a fixed duty.

The vice of the present system is in the variableness and uncertainty of the duty; and while a check upon the fraud which has attended its working would add to the stringency of its operation, and lengthen the period of exclusion (when foreign corn was wanted,) the variation of duty would, in whatever degree it was retained, perpetuate in the same degree the evils of the present system, which may briefly be described as—

1st. The subjection of the duty to the influence of purchases and sales, either fictitious or made by speculators operating upon the averages.

2nd. The sacrifice of a considerable revenue to the advantage of the speculator and foreigner.

3rd. The conversion of the foreign corn trade into a mere gambling speculation.

4th. A fitful and uncertain trade, exposing (whenever an importation is required) the circulation to a sudden and rapid contraction through the export of bullion, and the community to the inconvenience and danger of discredit and fluctuation of prices.

It should be the object of any new regulation of the Corn-Laws not only to avoid these evils, but also to attain the following results:—

1st. The preservation of our own agriculture.

2nd. The acquisition of a foreign supply, commensurate to our wants, upon the most favourable terms, i. e. at the lowest price the grower can take for it.