Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Abuses Practised By Millers And Dealers In Corn.
ON THE ABUSES PRACTISED BY MILLERS AND DEALERS IN CORN .
To the EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , HAVING read , in your Magazine of last month , some very ingenious and pertinent observations on some of the causes of the high price of grain , 1 beg to send you a few loose thoughts on what appears to me another principal cause of that great evil . Should you think them worthy of notice , their insertion in your valuable Magazine will oblige Your constant reader
, Sept . 2 , 179 6 . J . C . T \ K ANY of the millers are now metamorphosed into wholesale meal-- *¦ '•*• men , or flour merchants!—Let us view the miller attentively in this light , and he will be found something different from the person deemed a miller in the eye of the law . We will rest this point upon the authority of Daltonc . 112 as quoted by the . learned and ingenir
, , ous Mr . Burn : ' Millers are not to be . common buyers of corn , to sell the same again either in corn or meal , but only to serve for the grinding of corn that shall be brought to their mills . ' Now , do these gentlemen condescend to take a poor man ' s grist ? Do not the greatest part , and those of the largest dealings , grind wholly for
themselves?—In ancient days , when lords of manors built mills , it was purely for the benefit of their tenants , and of the neighbourhood ; the rent being scarce ever equivalent to the eXpencts of repairing and supporting them . But , alas ! the case is sadly altered ; and what was originally intended for the convenience , is become the nuisance and bane of the public . Every flour-merchant is now the ruler and the lord within his district ; audba combination of these
, y , all sorts of people , rich and poor , are entirely governed in the most necessary articles of food . —The farmer looks upon this dealer as his oracle , who pronounces what shall be the price of grain . Inquire how markets go , and the answer frequently is , Mr . A . Z . gives so and so . —This important man is never wanting in any policy conducive ro his own ends . His table and cellars are always open to the
principal farmers , whom he finds it worth while to cajole . He makes them the highest professions of friendship ; and , as a proof of it , pretends , now and then , from his large intelligence , to let them a little into the secret , when it may be proper to sell , and when to forbear ; by which means , amongst others , he opens or shuts the barns af ' -iii $ pleasure . At these conferences ( 1 do nut assert it from mere imagination , but from a careful inquiry , and good authority ) great stress is
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Abuses Practised By Millers And Dealers In Corn.
ON THE ABUSES PRACTISED BY MILLERS AND DEALERS IN CORN .
To the EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , HAVING read , in your Magazine of last month , some very ingenious and pertinent observations on some of the causes of the high price of grain , 1 beg to send you a few loose thoughts on what appears to me another principal cause of that great evil . Should you think them worthy of notice , their insertion in your valuable Magazine will oblige Your constant reader
, Sept . 2 , 179 6 . J . C . T \ K ANY of the millers are now metamorphosed into wholesale meal-- *¦ '•*• men , or flour merchants!—Let us view the miller attentively in this light , and he will be found something different from the person deemed a miller in the eye of the law . We will rest this point upon the authority of Daltonc . 112 as quoted by the . learned and ingenir
, , ous Mr . Burn : ' Millers are not to be . common buyers of corn , to sell the same again either in corn or meal , but only to serve for the grinding of corn that shall be brought to their mills . ' Now , do these gentlemen condescend to take a poor man ' s grist ? Do not the greatest part , and those of the largest dealings , grind wholly for
themselves?—In ancient days , when lords of manors built mills , it was purely for the benefit of their tenants , and of the neighbourhood ; the rent being scarce ever equivalent to the eXpencts of repairing and supporting them . But , alas ! the case is sadly altered ; and what was originally intended for the convenience , is become the nuisance and bane of the public . Every flour-merchant is now the ruler and the lord within his district ; audba combination of these
, y , all sorts of people , rich and poor , are entirely governed in the most necessary articles of food . —The farmer looks upon this dealer as his oracle , who pronounces what shall be the price of grain . Inquire how markets go , and the answer frequently is , Mr . A . Z . gives so and so . —This important man is never wanting in any policy conducive ro his own ends . His table and cellars are always open to the
principal farmers , whom he finds it worth while to cajole . He makes them the highest professions of friendship ; and , as a proof of it , pretends , now and then , from his large intelligence , to let them a little into the secret , when it may be proper to sell , and when to forbear ; by which means , amongst others , he opens or shuts the barns af ' -iii $ pleasure . At these conferences ( 1 do nut assert it from mere imagination , but from a careful inquiry , and good authority ) great stress is