Part 25 (1/2)

{127} The whole taxes in this country do not amount to above four pounds a head, of which one-third is paid entirely by those wealthy, or at least affluent; it is, then, putting the share paid by the labouring body very high to put it at three pounds each person.

{128} Both in France and England, during the last scarcity, the use of every other sort of [end of page #151] food was recommended, to save the consumption of bread-corn. Potatoes are the only subst.i.tute that tended really to relieve the distress; all others, and, in particular, animal food, had an effect in augmenting it.

The danger of wanting food, though very formidable, does not act so instantaneously as to serve as an excuse for want of reflection, like an alarm of fire, where the anxiety to escape sometimes prevents the possibility of doing so; yet the fact is, that all the measures that have generally been taken, in times of scarcity, have tended rather to increase than to diminish the evil.

In monopoly, a sort of combination is supposed to exist between the sellers of an article, when the article does not happen to be all in the hands of one person, or one body of persons. But combinations are of various sorts; there are express combinations entered into by people having the same interest for a particular purpose. Those are done by a sort of an agreement, when the interest of the individual and of the body are the same. Such combinations are generally effectual, {129} but unlawful. There are combinations not less effectual, that arise merely from circulating intelligence of prices, and certain circ.u.mstances on which prices are known to depend, amongst all those concerned, who immediately know how to act in unison.--This is not unlawful.

An elegant historian has said that there was a time when the sovereign pontiff, like the leader of a band of musicians, could regulate all the clergy in Europe, so that the same tones should proceed from all the pulpits on the same day. The list of prices, at a great corn-market, has the same effect on the minds of all the sellers within a certain distance.

Intelligence now flies so swift that there is no interval of uncertainty; the whole of the dealers know how to act, according to circ.u.mstances, and they are all led to act nearly as if they were in one single body.

Like gamesters, who have won a great deal, rather than hasten to sell, even when they fear that prices may fall, they keep back their stock, and risk to lose something of what they have gained, by continuing to speculate on the agreeable and winning chance by which they have already profited.

{129} There are sometimes combinations which it is the interest of a whole body to preserve, but of each individual to break, if he can with impunity; such generally soon fall to the ground.

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The dealers in an article of ready sale, or for which there is a certain demand, have never any difficulty, in a wealthy country, of procuring money to make purchases, or to enable them to keep their stock; and the gains are so immense that there is no speculation equally attractive.

As the rent of land, in England, is reckoned at twenty-five millions a year; and it is reckoned that, in a common year, the rent is worth one- third of the produce; it follows that, of all sorts of produce of land, the value is seventy-five millions. But, in the year 1799, when the prices were more than doubled, the value was one hundred and fifty millions, of which the landlord received (as usual) twenty-five to his share, leaving for the farmer, &c. one hundred and twenty-five, instead of fifty, the usual sum. As the wages of servants remained the same, and, in an ordinary year, would amount to one-third of the rent, eight millions went for that, leaving one-hundred and seventeen millions, in place of forty-two, the usual residue. Two-thirds of the value of rent, or sixteen millions, is, in an ordinary year, supposed to go for seed, the maintenance of cattle, and labourers; so that, in that year, the portion so consumed must be estimated at double value, or thirty-four millions, which, deducted from one hundred and seventeen, leaves eighty-three for the farmers, in place of twenty-five, in an ordinary year: so that, when the price doubles, the farmers =sic= profit does more than triple. In the year 1799, the farmers were known to have the profit of four ordinary years, supposing that they had been the actual sellers in the market. The fact was otherwise no doubt, with regard to those who pocketed the profit, which went in part only to farmers, and the rest went to the monopolists, dealers, regraters, forestallers, &c.

who advanced money to keep up the price. To the public who paid, the matter is the same, and, to the business itself, there is little difference as to who profited, or who found capital; for, as they shared the profit amongst them, and as they received three times as much as in an ordinary year, they could, out of the sales of the first four or five months, make all the payments [end of page #153] for the whole year to the landlord; and, therefore, could have the means of keeping the remainder, just as long as they thought proper.

Thus, then, while there is any degree of scarcity, the provisions of a country are at a monopoly-price; and the dealers act, though individually, as if they enjoyed one general monopoly. {130}

Before leaving his important subject, it is necessary to observe, that, though dealers in provisions, in times of any degree of scarcity, that is, when there is not quite enough fully to supply the consumption of the country, act, in keeping up prices, as if they had an exclusive privilege for monopoly, yet that is the only cases =sic= in which they do so. A single monopolizer can diminish the quant.i.ty, and perhaps destroy a part of it with advantage to himself. Thus the Dutch East India company were said to have done with the spices. {131} But the individual dealer, though he is interested in a general high price and monopoly, is still more interested in selling as much as he can; and the higher the price, the more careful he is not to waste or consume more than he can help. In this respect, the monopoly of the many is not half so hurtful as the individual monopoly. This proves that all the vulgar errors, which occasion reports of farmers and dealers destroying their corn, are not only without foundation, but would produce an effect quite contrary to the avaricious principle, by which such men are considered as being governed. {132}

{130} There is one moment only when they do not, that is, when they find out, for certain, that prices are going to fall. There, for a moment, individual interest, and general interest are opposite, and they hasten to sell, and to reduce the price too much. But even this does not relieve the public; for, though it makes the reduction very rapid for a time, and may sometimes bring it below the level, it quickly rises again and finishes when the panic amongst the dealers is over, by remaining higher than it ought to be.

{131} If diminis.h.i.+ng the quant.i.ty one-quarter rises =sic= the price one-half, then the monopolist gains, if he possesses the whole market; but the individual dealer, if he were to burn his whole stock, would not diminish the quant.i.ty in the country one-thousandth part, and therefore make no sensible difference.

{132} Both in London and Paris, the reports of this sort, and, (making a little allowance for the language and nature of the people,) exceedingly similar in nature and tendency, prevailed during the scarcity of 1789 and 1799.

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Monopoly of this sort, by raising the prices of the necessaries of life, in the end, augments the prices of labour, the rent of land, and the taxes of a country. We have already examined the tendency of all this; it is only necessary to observe that the rise in prices, or depreciation of money, which other causes bring on by degrees, this brings on violently and suddenly. {133} This cause will always exist in a country that cannot provide enough for its own subsistence.

How far this may go it is not easy to say; for if it is clear that the farmer, by double prices, gets eighty-three pounds in place of twenty- five, he can certainly afford to give his landlord something more. If he gave him double the usual rent, it would still leave more than double for himself. {134}

Of all the causes, then, that hasten the crisis of a country, none is equal to that of the produce becoming unequal to the maintenance of the inhabitants; for it is only in that case that the effects of monopoly are to be dreaded.

In the case of animal food becoming too much in request, there is a remedy which may be easily applied; of which it will be our purpose to speak, in treating of the application of the present inquiry to the advantage of the British dominions.

{133} The few years of dearth altered wages and rent more than had been known for half a century before. Wages rose more, from 1790 to 1802, than they had done from 1740 to 1790.

{134} As the usual rent was twenty-five, and the usual profit twenty- five, the landlord and tenant had fifty to divide, at ordinary prices; but, at double prices, they had eighty-three added to twenty-five, or one hundred and seven to divide: so that, if the farmer gave fifty, that is, double, he would still have fifty-seven to himself, which is more than double, by nearly one-third over and above.