‎BOURDON-DESPLANCHES, (L.J.)‎
‎Projet nouveau sur la manière de faire utilement en France le commerce des grains. Par M. Bourdon Desplanches, ancien premier Commis dans les Finances.‎

‎A Bruxelles, et se trouve à Paris, Chez la Veuve Esprit, 1785. 152 pp. 8vo. Modern half citron morocco, spine gilt with raised bands, gilt lettering, marbled boards, top edge gilt, a lovely copy. Kress B.820; Goldsmiths 12849; INED 735bis; Leblanc, De Thomas More à Chaptal, 132; not in Einaudi. First edition, very rare. It is a reply to Roubaud's work Representation to the Magistrates ...... The author denounces the French policies rergarding wheat and criticizes the absolute freedom of its trade and circulation. He proposes the maintenance of the legislation in force, but he tempers it by proposing the creation of companies of commerce, which will have the sole authority to import or export in the kingdom. They will have to create, in the important cities, granaries where the farmers and proprietors will be able to carry the unsold grains, which are bought for them at a fixed price. The author concludes his study with a critique of Necker's Traité de l'Administration des Finances with regard to the paragraphs relating to grains, which contradict the propositions set out in his own work (Leblanc, our translation). 'The unlimited freedom of the grain trade has many disadvantages for the economy and the population. Bourdon proposes a more moderate system: to set up a trading company entrusted exclusively with the export and import of grain, the establishment of public granaries, the fixing of the price of bread in each place, and so on. This system, moreover, would make it possible to abolish taxes without diminishing the revenues of the king: levying a duty on the quintal of wheat (INED, our translation). ‎

Reference : 18480

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