The Express.
London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

THE ONE SHILLING DUTY OK CORN.

Pion the Return et the amount of Customs Duties
is the year 181:4, it appears test the Government
plieetrd by the is. duty levied on corn of all descrip-
tions in

1852.
£406,928 ....

1863. 1854.
£632,793 .... £417,279

Io thew years the average prices of wheat per
gutter in England won respectively 41e., 53e., and
720. 7d. Thus, wilco the prim was Oa. per quarter the
Government took away from the people more than
half a million on the prim of their bread, and wham
it was 72a. 7d. the Government took upwanilll
of 400,0001. The money collected by the Govern•
went from the food of the people, however, forms b
a small portion of the evil of this tax.

By levying Is. per quarter on all corn imported, the
rice of all the corn grown in the country, and all the
corresponding products of the soil, and all the articles
made from them, is raised at least Is. higher, or kept
Is. higher per quarter than it would otherwise be.
It enhances to the consumer the price of everything
grown or fed on the soil of England, and reduces the
earnings of the labouring classes wherever the la-
bourer is not in a condition of independence, and
cannot make a fair bargain. It enhances the price
of butcher's meat and potatoes, as well as of bread;
and we must direct attention to the sum of money
It takes out of the pockets of the consumers by thus
enhancing the price of food, and we must consider
where this money goes to.

We suppose that, in addition to the quantity of
wheat imported, at least 15,000,000 qrs. are con-
sumed. This is a modest estimate. We will take
auly 8,000,000 qrs. for the barley grown at home and
consumed in addition to that imported; 24,000,000
qrs. for the oats; and 3,000,000 qrs. for the beans
and peas. Throwing in only 10,000,000 qrs. for all
the other things grows—such as potatoes, turnips,
the materials for fattening cattle, &c.—we shall have
60,000,000 qrs. of corn grown at home, or the Nei-
Talent of 60,000,000 qrs., on which the price was
mind to the consumer in each of the years 18M,
1853, and 1832, Is. per quarter. Now 60,000,000
shillings are 3,000,0001. ; so that while the Exch.-
Tier collects from the people by the Is. duty on corn
412,0001. on the average of the three years, 3,000,0004
in addition, or almost seven times as much more is
taken out of their pockets by the indirect action of
the woe duty. There is no tax now levied which
impoverishes the people to such a vast extent, to put
each a small sum into the public coffers.
What becomes of this 3,000,000/. ? It is not
mated. None of it goes to the agricultural labourer.
He has to pay a part of it, in the additional price of
his food. He is very little better than a serf. He
cannot make a fair bargain for himself, and he
sodas by every rise in the price of provisions. As
a rule, the demand for labour declines as the price
of food rises, and with every such rise, if the rate of
wages does not fall the amount devoted to the
payment of labour does. The labourer is sure, there-
fore, nut to get a farthing of the 3,0000001. Very
little or none of it goes to the farmer. The compe-
tition for laud, which still continues, guarantees to
the landlord the full ge rent for his land, what-
ever that may be. The farmer will get no more
thin the ordinary rate of profit, which is usually
lows r in agriculture than in other arts, and the ordi-
nary and general rate of profit is more likely to be
lowered than raised by the tax. The former, then,
gets little or none of the 3,000,0001., and it all goes
to swell the income of the landowner and the tithe-
*weer. Three millions a year, by means of an Act
of Parliament, are taken from the bread-eaters, to be
distributed amongst the gentry and clergy of Eng-
feed. This would be scandalous if it were intended.
Sometimes laws are made expressly to assist these
classes at the expense of the people; but this law
wee made with no such intention, nor was the result
coctemplated by the legislature. It aimed only at
securing that an account should be kept of the,
quantity of corn imported ; this might have
been accomplished without the imposition of a
duty; but, unexpectedly, and with no such design,
the law fakes away annually the sum of 3,000,0001.
from the general community, to hand it over to a few
landowners and tithe-owners.

The ls. duty imposes upon the people a tax (qui-
'Cent to a twentieth part of all the taxes they pay,
which goes into the pockets of two opulent classes.
In proportion, it makes the Government so much the
more onerous to the nation. It relieves these two
claws, who ought, because they live on the surplus
wealth of the community, and their existence merely
as landowners and tithe-owners is not necessary to its
welfare, to contribute more liberally than others to the
public r , to an equal extent, from their fair
share of the public burdens. The subsistence of the
labourer is indispensable to the welfare of society ; it
le the last thing which should be taxed for the behoof
of the State. It is bad enough that the tea and
Nagar of the labouring classes are taxed for national
parposes, but the tax on them does not enhance the
price of corresponding articles grown in the country ;
the whole proceeds of these taxes go into the exche-
quer, while the duty on corn takes from the people
nearly seven times as much more than it yields to the
exchequer.

After cotton, and perhaps timber, corn is the next
tact bulky sr tic's imported. Unlike cotton ,which is im-
parted almost exclusively into Liverpool and London
—unlike tea and sugar, both of which are brought
lady to a few ports—corn of all kinds is imported
into every port of the empire. The article being
bulky, and the imports diffused, • large staff of
Custom-house officials must be required to levy the
tax. Accordingly, in proportion to the expense of
collectiag it, the tax yields comparatively little to the
exchequer.

The yield of the duty, as is evident, varies in
amount ; and, as a rule, increases as the price of
corn increases. More corn is nasally imported as the
price risco. Thus, in 1833, when the price of wheat
eau 531., it gave 632,793/. ; and in 1852, when the
price was only 415., it yielded only 406,9261. If the
rule did not hold good in 1854, it was the conse-
quence of • general deficiency abroad ; so that our
high average price was insufficient to bring hither
as large a quantity as in 1863, with • comparative
abundance at home. But, NO the effect of this on
our own farmers and landowners. They grew a larger
crop than usual last year, they have at lead
one-third more to sell, and they get a price of
►bout 20s. more per quarter than in 1853, and upwards
a 30s. more per quarter than in 1852. At the
very time, therefore, when these 'lames have most to
'ell, and the price is the highest, the people have to
y them more than usual. There is a greater gami-
ly of corn of home growth enhanced in price. If
the gain go to the farmer this year, the next year
or the year after it will lead to a rise in rent, and
In increase in the rate of tithe commutation, and
thus the bounties of heaven are in part intercepted
by the laws before they reach the people, and not
allowed to gladden industry.
The budget will soon come on for discussion, and
this is now the time, therefore, to attract the atten-
tion of the public and the Parliament to this unin-
tentionally injurious tax. A great outcry ham bees
made against farmers and bakers for levying, u was
ly alleged, a large tax on the people's bread;
here, however, is an instance of the State levying
3,000,0001. on their food, not for itself, but unad-
Madly and ignorantly putting this sum into the