《马尔萨斯作品选·津贴的高昂代价_英文》经典中外文学教育丛书.pdfVIP

An Investigation of the Cause of the Present High Price of Provisions By the Author of the Essay on the Principle of Population. London, Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Pauls-Church-Yard, by Davis, Taylor, and Wilks, Chancery-Lane. 1800. by Thomas Robert Malthus 1800 1 High Price of Provisions: An Investigation of the Cause Among the many causes that have been assigned of the present high price of provisions, I am much inclined to suspect, that the principal one has hitherto escaped detection; at least, in the discussions on the subject, either in print or conversation, which have fallen within my knowledge, the cause, which I conceive to have operated most strongly towards increasing the price of the necessaries of life, has not yet been suggested. There are some disorders, which, though they scarcely admit of a cure, or even of any considerable mitigation, are still capable of being made greatly worse. In such misfortunes it is of great importance to know the desperate nature of the disease. The next step to the alleviation of pain, is the bearing it with composure, and not aggravating it by impatience and irritation. It cannot admit of a doubt with persons of sense and information, that, during the last year, there was a scarcity, to a certain extent, of all sorts of grain; but it must be at the same time acknowledged, that the price was higher than the degree of that scarcity would at first sight appear to warrant. In the summer of 1799, in the course of a northern tour, I passed through Sweden. There was at that time a general dearth of corn throughout the country, owing to a long drought the preceding year. In the province of V mland, adjoining to Norway, it approached