Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
remuneration than the coarse rye bread, and similar fare, which
is necessary to support existence. The manufactures of Manchester
and Sheffield have not found their way into this region, and never
will; because the population, being utterly without means, could
not purchase them, and probably would not were the means within
their power. Their dress is of the most primitive kind, and differs
in no respect from that of tribes utterly barbarous--being chiefly
constructed of the skins of animals. They are hardy, docile,
and exceedingly sensitive to kindness, but as far removed from
civilisation as the tribes of Tartary; and their owners--for that
is the proper term--take especial care that no doctrine shall reach
them which in any way may interfere with the exercise of despotic
rule. In short, they are like so many cattle cultivating the land
for their masters at the bare expense of their keep. To demonstrate
more clearly the difference of the value of labour, we may here
state, on the best authority, that in that district where the finest
wheat, distinctively known as "high-mixed Dantzic," is grown, the
ordinary price of a quarter of wheat will defray the expense of
from forty to forty-five days' work, whilst here it can procure
only from twenty to twenty-five days. The climate is excellent, and
the yield of the soil considerable. Wheat may be grown for several
years successively without manure, and always with comparatively
little work. The produce is floated down the numerous rivers which
intersect the district, to Dantzic and other coast towns on the
Baltic, where it is stored; and these will in future form the
great depots of the grain furnished by central Europe for British
consumption. Contrast this state of matters in modern Poland with
that of England in 1688, when land yielded a considerable rent, when
poor-rates and public burdens were levied, and when the labouring
man received a reasonable wage; and we must arrive at the conclusion
that the remunerating price of wheat in the former country must be
something greatly lower than 28s. per quarter. We are almost afraid
to state our conviction, lest it should appear exaggerated; but
we do not doubt that Polish wheat could be delivered at Dantzic
at 16s., and yet leave a considerable profit to the grower. We
must also note that the variableness of our climate, and the
comparative poorness of our soil, places us at a vast disadvantage
in point of quality, as compared with the southern grower. It can
be established, by consulting the prices-current of Mark Lane
for a series of years, that it would require a differential duty
of 6s. per quarter on wheat, on this account alone, to put the
British farmer on a fair footing with the great bulk of his foreign
competitors. Last season, the difference between the best foreign
and English wheat throughout the year, as proved by the same
authority, was upwards of 10s. per quarter.
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