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average price of corn began to fall somewhat towards the end of

the last century; and has continued to do so during the course of

the sixty…four first years of the present; I have already

endeavoured to show。 But this event; supposing it to be as real

as I believe it to be; must have happened in spite of the bounty;

and cannot possibly have happened in consequence of it。 It has

happened in France; as well as in England; though in France there

was not only no bounty; but; till 1764; the exportation of corn

was subjected to a general prohibition。 This gradual fall in the

average price of grain; it is probable; therefore; is ultimately

owing neither to the one regulation nor to the other。 but to that

gradual and insensible rise in the real value of silver; which;

in the first book in this discourse; I have endeavoured to show

has taken place in the general market of Europe during the course

of the present century。 It seems to be altogether impossible that

the bounty could ever contribute to lower the price of grain。

     In years of plenty; it has already been observed; the

bounty; by occasioning an extraordinary exportation; necessarily

keeps up the price of corn in the home market above what it would

naturally fall to。 To do so was the avowed purpose of the

institution。 In years of scarcity; though the bounty is

frequently suspended; yet the great exportation which it

occasions in years of plenty must frequently hinder more or less

the plenty of one year from relieving the scarcity of another。

Both in years of plenty and in years of scarcity; therefore; the

bounty necessarily tends to raise the money price of corn

somewhat higher than it otherwise would be in the home market。

     That; in the actual state of tillage; the bounty must

necessarily have this tendency will not; I apprehend; be disputed

by any reasonable person。 But it has been thought by many people

that it tends to encourage tillage; and that in two different

ways; first; by opening a more extensive foreign market to the

corn of the farmer; it tends; they imagine; to increase the

demand for; and consequently the production of that commodity;

and secondly; by securing to him a better price than he could

otherwise expect in the actual state of tillage; it tends; they

suppose; to encourage tillage。 This double encouragement must;

they imagine; in a long period of years; occasion such an

increase in the production of corn as may lower its price in the

home market much more than the bounty can raise it; in the actual

state which tillage may; at the end of that period; happen to be

in。

     I answer; that whatever extension of the foreign market can

be occasioned by the bounty must; in every particular year; be

altogether at the expense of the home market; as every bushel of

corn which is exported by means of the bounty; and which would

not have been exported without the bounty; would have remained in

the home market to increase the consumption and to lower the

price of that commodity。 The corn bounty; it is to be observed;

as well as every other bounty upon exportation; imposes two

different taxes upon the people; first; the tax which they are

obliged to contribute in order to pay the bounty; and secondly;

the tax which arises from the advanced price of the commodity in

the home market; and which; as the whole body of the people are

purchasers of corn; must; in this particular commodity; be paid

by the whole body of the people。 In this particular commodity;

therefore; this second tax is by much the heavier of the two。 Let

us suppose that; taking one year with another; the bounty of five

shillings upon the exportation of the quarter of wheat raises the

price of that commodity in the home market only sixpence the

bushel; or four shillings the quarter; higher than it otherwise

would have been in the actual state of the crop。 Even upon this

very moderate supposition; the great body of the people; over and

above contributing the tax which pays the bounty of five

shillings upon every quarter of wheat exported; must pay another

of four shillings upon every quarter which they themselves

consume。 But; according to the very well informed author of the

tracts upon the corn trade; the average proportion of the corn

exported to that consumed at home is not more than that of one to

thirty…one。 For every five shillings; therefore; which they

contribute to the payment of the first tax; they must contribute

six pounds four shillings to the payment of the second。 So very

heavy a tax upon the first necessary of life must either reduce

the subsistence of the labouring poor; or it must occasion some

augmentation in their pecuniary wages proportionable to that in

the pecuniary price of their subsistence。 So far as it operates

in the one way; it must reduce the ability of the labouring poor

to educate and bring up their children; and must; so far; tend to

restrain the population of the country。 So far as it operates in

the other; it must reduce the ability of the employers of the

poor to employ so great a number as they otherwise might do; and

must; so far; tend to restrain the industry of the country。 The

extraordinary exportation of corn; therefore; occasioned by the

bounty; not only; in every particular year; diminishes the home;

just as much as it extends the foreign; market and consumption;

but; by restraining the population and industry of the country;

its final tendency is to stunt and restrain the gradual extension

of the home market; and thereby; in the long run; rather to

diminish; than to augment; the whole market and consumption of

corn。

     This enhancement of the money price of corn; however; it has

been thought; by rendering that commodity more profitable to the

farmer; must necessarily encourage its production。

     I answer; that this might be the case if the effect of the

bounty was to raise the real price of corn; or to enable the

farmer; with an equal quantity of it; to maintain a greater

number of labourers in the same manner; whether liberal;

moderate; or scanty; that other labourers are commonly maintained

in his neighbourhood。 But neither the bounty; it is evident; nor

any other human institution can have any such effect。 It is not

the real; but the nominal price of corn; which can in any

considerable degree be affected by the bounty。 And though the tax

which that institution imposes upon the whole body of the people

may be very burdensome to those who pay it; it is of very little

advantage to those who receive it。

     The real effect of the bounty is not so much to raise the

real value of corn as to degrade the real value of silver; or to

make an equal quantity of it exchange for a smaller quantity; not

only of corn; but of all other homemade commodities: for the

money price of corn regulates that of all other home…made

commodities。

     It regulates the money price of labour; which must always be

such as to enable the labourer to purchase a quantity of corn

sufficient to maintain him and his family either in the liberal;

moderate; or scanty manner in which the advancing; stationary; or

declining circumstances of the society oblige his employers to

maintain him。

     It regulates the money price of all the other parts of the

rude produce of land; which; in every period of improvement; must

bear a certain proportion to that of corn; though this proportion

is different in different periods。 It regulates; for example; the

money price of grass and hay; of butcher's meat; of horses; and

the maintenance of horses; of land carriage consequently; or of

the greater part of the inland commerce of the country。

     By regulating the money price of all the other parts of the

rude produce of land; it regulates that of the materials of

almost all manufactures。 By regulating the money price of labour;

it regulates that of manufacturing art and industry。 And by

regulating both; it regulates that of the complete manufacture。

The money price of labour; and of everything that is the produce

either of land or labour; must necessarily either rise or fall in

proportion to the money price of corn。

     Though in consequence of the bounty; therefore; the farmer

should be enabled to sell his corn for four shillings a bushel

instead of three…and…sixpence; and to pay his landlord a money

rent proportionable to this rise in the money price of his

produce; yet if; in consequence of this rise in the price of

corn; four shillings will purchase no more homemade goods of any

other kind than three…and…sixpence would have done before;

neither the circumstances of the farmer nor those of the landlord

will be much mended by this change。 The farmer will not be able

to cultivate much better: the landlord will not be able to live

much better。 In the purchase of foreign commodities this

enhancement in the price of corn may give them some little

advantage。 In that of home…made commodities it can give them none

at all。 And almost the whole expense of the farmer; and the far

greater part even of that of the landlord; is in homemade


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