5098. MARKETS, Wheat and flour.—
We can sell them [the Portuguese] the flour
ready manufactured for much less than the
wheat of which it is made. In carrying to
them wheat, we carry also the bran, which
does not pay its own freight. In attempting
to save and transport wheat to them, much
is lost by the weavil, and much spoiled by
heat in the hold of the vessel. This loss must
be laid on the wheat which gets safe to
market, where it is paid for by the consumer.
Now, this is much more than the cost of
manufacturing it with us, which would prevent
that loss. * * * Let them buy of us
as much wheat as will make a hundred
weight of flour. They will find that they
have paid more for the wheat than we should
have asked for the flour, besides having lost
the labor of their mills in grinding it. The
obliging us, therefore, to carry it to them in
the form of wheat, is a useless loss to both
parties.—
To John Adams. Washington ed. i, 492.
(P.
1785)
