" He proceeds: "That which is not possible by a Government is
possible by individual and social exertions. Everyone who travels
through Ireland observes the large stacks of corn, which are the produce
of the late harvest. There is nothing to prevent the purchase of grain
by proprietors or committees, and the disposal of these supplies in
shops furnished on purpose with flour at a fair price, with a moderate
profit. This has been done, I am assured, in parts of the Highlands of
Scotland, where the failure of the potatoes has been as great and as
severe a calamity as it has been in Ireland.[176] There is, no doubt,
some inconvenience attending even these modes of interference with the
market price of food; but the good over-balances the evil. Local
committees or agents of landowners can ascertain the pressure of
distress, measure the wants of a district, and prevent waste and
misapplication. Besides, the general effect is to bring men together,
and induce them to exert their energy in a social effort directed to one
spot; whereas the interference of the State deadens private energy,
prevents forethought--and after superseding all other exertion, finds
itself, at last, unequal to the gigantic task it has undertaken.
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