It is impossible ever to gauge the depth of human
stupidity. To judge from a correspondence in the Standard, there are men, educated and able to write good letters, who firmly believe that if we place a five-shilling duty on corn, the Americans—the producers—must pay it, and not the consumers. They think, evidently, that if the Americans do not, the English farmers would undersell them, which would only be true if the English farmers could feed the market, and we did not want the American corn. But we do want it, and, consequently, must give the American dealer's price, and the duty too. Why should he sell lower because there is a duty Suppose one of these correspond- ents told his little boy that for every pound of butter that came to the house he would give him a penny, would the butterman pay that penny ? If not, why not, on the theory? All the correspondent has to say is that if the buyer does not want the butter, he can insist that the butterman shall give the child the penny, or he will not deal with him. But the essentials of that bargain are that he can do without the butter, and that the butterman can afford the penny off his price.
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