the form of a constant duty upon foreign corn, not to act as a
prohibition, but as a protecting, and at the same time, profitable
tax. And with a view to prevent the great fall that might be
occasioned by a glut, under the circumstances before adverted to,
but not to create an average surplus, the old bounty might be
continued, and allowed to operate in the same way as the duty at all
times, except in extreme cases.

These regulations would be extremely simple and obvious in their
operations, would give greater certainty to the foreign grower,
afford a profitable tax to the government, and would be less
affected even by the expected improvement of the currency, than high
importation prices founded upon any past average.(5*)

NOTES:

1. From the reign of Edward III to the reign of Henry VII, a day's
earnings, in corn, rose from a pack to near half a bushel, and from
Henry VII to the end of Elizabeth, it fell from near half a bushel
to little more than half a peck.

2. Wealth of Nations, b. iv, c. 2, p. 202.

3. The cheapness of corn, during the first half of the last century,
was rather oddly mistaken by Dr. Smith for a rise in the value of
silver. That it was owing to peculiar abundance was obvious, from
all other commodities rising instead of falling.

4. The sudden fall of the price of corn this year seems to be a case
precisely to point. It should be recollected however that quantity