Este estatuto, sin embargo, autoriza en cierta medida dos prejuicios populares muy absurdos.
First, it supposes that when the price of wheat has risen so high as forty-eight shillings the quarter, and that of other grain in proportion, corn is likely to be so engrossed as to hurt the people.
But from what has been already said, it seems evident enough that corn can at no price be so engrossed by the inland dealers as to hurt the people: and forty-eight shillings the quarter besides, though it may be considered as a very high price, yet in years of scarcity it is a price which frequently takes place immediately after harvest, when scarce any part of the new crop can be sold off, and when it is impossible even for ignorance to suppose that any part of it can be so engrossed as to hurt the people.
En segundo lugar, supone que existe un determinado precio al cual es probable que el maíz sea acaparado, es decir, comprado para ser revendido poco después en el mismo mercado, de modo que perjudique a la gente. Pero si un comerciante llega a comprar maíz, ya sea dirigiéndose a un mercado en particular o dentro de este, con el fin de revenderlo poco después en el mismo mercado, debe ser porque juzga que el mercado no podrá ser abastecido con tanta generosidad durante toda la temporada como en esa ocasión particular, y que, por lo tanto, el precio debe subir pronto.