9 Decr 1801

Maximum

1

It has been observed – and with great appearance of truth that the interest of

the Vendor {and Grower} of corn is always the same as that of the public in all

conjunctures /at all times/.

It certainly is so at a time of moderate plenty: it may be so at the time of a

slight degree of scarcity. It as certainly is not /But It seems by no means

equally clear that it is/ so in a time of extraordinary scarcity. In a time of

extraordinary scarcity it is the interest of the public that the price should

rise to {the degree sufficient to produce the utmost degree of economy

consistent with the preservation of the lives and healths of the inhabitants of

the inhabitants. /such a degree of economy as shall if possible be sufficient to

keep the supply from being exhausted in any superior degree before the time when

the first crop assisted by such intermediate supplies as shall have been

obtained from abroad shall have come to its relief./ That the price should rise

thus high is also the interest of the grower and vendor of the articles of

subsistence. But at that point the union of interests stops /interests

separate/. It is not the interest of the public /consumer/ that the price should

rise a single step beyond this mark. It is the interest of the grower and dealer

that it should keep on rising above this mark as high as possible.

In the case of a moderate stock what makes it the interest of the Grower and the

vendor that the price should not rise beyond /above/ a certain mark is that if

it were to rise above the mark the diminution might be so great that by the

commencement of the next harvest they might find a