The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-17 00:00:00

EVENING SUN

THE HARVEST-THE CORN-
LAWS.

With a few days more of weather equal to the last
four days, the harvest in this neighbourhood will be
over, and the built of it secured ; and then the farmer
may see, in the falling markets, how little interest ha
really has in supporting the present system of Corn-
laws. A thousand times we have been told, that with-
out the protection afForded by these or some similar
system of laws, agriculture in this country must be
ruMed ; and it has in vain been asserted and demon-
strated, that in whatever light these laws may be
represented by those having an interest in upholding
them, they weic intended only for the protection
of the landed proprietor. His interests, certainly,
have been c ffectually served by them, as the rent
paid for land in every, district of the kingdom most
amply and unequivocally testifies. But although the
farmer pays an adelitional rent to the landlord for the
protection it is supposed those laws afford him, the ques-
tion still recurs as to whether they do afford him that
protection for which he pays. It is clear, that any al-
teration of the laws having the cif.ct of eliminishiug the
price of agricultural produce in the market, is just so
much money out of the pockets of the farmer who pays
a money-rent for his farm ; and it is equally clear that
he has no c!airn for indemnification from the 1 endiord
for way loss he may so incur. Let us consider for a mo-
ment, then, how far this protection for which the farmer
pays, is effectual.
For several years preceding 1838, farming had been
one of the most unfortunate concerns in this country . All
farmers had been losing money, and many were utterly
ruined. A successicn of fine seasons some years
before the period of which we are now speaking,
had brought the price of wheat, of as flue
quality as eser was produced in this country, as
low as forty shillings a quarter. The lower the
price, the greater the quantity thrown into
the market, for this plain reason, that the farmer had
a certain sum to make up in payment of his rent and
other expenses ; and if one hundred quarters of grain
were not sufficiett to make up the sum, he was under
the necessity of sending such further quantity as might
be required for the purpose ; and thus the very effarts
he was making for his extrication, only involved him the
more deeply, by relueing the value of his commodity in
the market. The taro quantities thus brought into
the market were bought up and stored by speculators,
who calculated safely that the first years of a defectise
crop would afford them an ample return for their
money. In the meantime, the farmer is grievously
pressed for cash, and for a succession of years every
bushel of grain was out of his hands as fast as it. could
be got into condition for the market ; and, with
very few exceptions, the st eek-yards were thoroughly
cleared by the month of Mares'. This state of mat-
ters continued for several years, till about the time that
the crop of 1838 was brought to the mai-ket, when mat-
ters began to improve. It' the farmers had then
had in their possession the grain which they had been
forced to sell to speculators, by whom much of it was
still held, it would have enabled them to pay every one,
and have lift an ample reversion besides. It was not,
however, in their hands, and they had the martific
Lion of seeing wheat which they had grown, aid had
sold at 40s. a quarter, bring 70s. and upwards in the
market; while they themselves, from the inferior qua-
lity of the then current year's crop, could realise oaly
about 60s. Thus, from the difficulties which several
years of low prices had brought upoa them, they had
to force their produce prematurely u?on the market,
and dispose of it at such prices as they could obtain;
and so, with only occasional slight differences, matters
have continued thl the present season. This year, the
crop, with few exceptions, was out of the hands of the
farmer by the end of April ; so that a very small num-
ber of them oily have benefited, cud that only to a
small extent, by the recent adraece in the prices ;
end thence arises the question as to how far the
farmer is protected by a system of Corn-laws for which
he pays to his landlord an additional rent, commen-
surate not to the protection he gets, but to the protec-
tion be expects. In the first place there is no consider.
able rise in price ti 1 the farmer ha; no grain to sell ;
and hence the holders only, and not the growers, are
benefited. But the question as regards the farmer,
does not remain in this neutral state. There were
symptoms this se eson of an unfavourable as well as a
deficient harvest ; and, while the farmer trembled at
the appearance of a scanty crop, and that of inferior
quality, the speculator was at, work, pouring in thou-
sands of quer era into our bonded warehouses; every
expedient being tried (revolting as sons of these ex-
pedient, are) to keep up the averages till they arrived
at the price at which grain can be admitted to our
markets at a trifling or nominal duty. It must be
closely kept in view, that tl c farmer, meanwhile, is de-
riving no benefit from the high prices, his crop
having been disposed of some months previously.
The averages, however, at last arrive at the point
at which the grain can be liberated ; and the ware-
houses everywhere being choke-full, the market is in-
undated, and the farmer is deprived of the power of
realizing the price for his grail which otherwise he
would obtain, and that at the only period during which
it would benefit him—that is, between the end of
harvest and the middle or end of spring, when he has
grain to sell. So it has been for years past, and so wid
it be now Toe grain in bond wid be immediately set
free, and brought te market, in competition with the
farmer, at the only season of the yimr when it is in his
power to be a competitor at all ; and thus probably,
for a time, reduce the prices below what will remune-
rate him for his outlay and labour.—Scotsmen.