Chapter XIII: Socialism and Dear Bread

The tariff of January 11, 1892, replaced the minimum tariff affecting agricultural produce by a duty of 4s. per hundredweight on live oxen, 6s. on sheep, and 3s. 2d. on pigs, while the duty on fresh beef was 10s., pork 4s. 10d., and mutton 14s. Public health regulations only permitted the importation of mutton in quarters, the entrails attached to one of the forequarters; and thus kept out Hungarian and La Plata mutton. To avoid rousing public opinion, the 1889-1891 Ministry shelved the question of a higher duty on corn, leaving that responsibility to its successor. In 1894 the question came up. The 1893 election had returned some forty Socialists. They behaved strangely enough. With M. Jaurès at their head they made it their aim to win over the small peasant proprietor by outbidding the Protectionists in making bread dear for the workmen who had returned them, and whose interests they pretended to represent. A Bill of February 27, 1894, raised the duty to 2s. 10d. per hundredweight. Most of the Protectionists were not satisfied; they declared that farmers must grow their corn at a loss. This is the usual argument; the poor things always work for loss, not gain.