February, 1899. The Commercial Future. I. The New Struggle for Life among Nations. BROOK ADAMS. II. The Commercial Sovereignty of the Seas. BENJAMIN TAYLOR. Contemporary Review. Does Trade Follow the Flag? Lord FARRER. The "value received" from our African Empire is (Board of Trade Journal, September and October 1898) trifling in the present, uncertain in the future. The statistics of the past fifty years [C. 8211] show that the percentage value of our trade with foreign countries and with British possessions have remained almost constant, viz., 73.5; 26.5 nearly, "in spite of the gigantic extension of our Indian and Colonial empire. in spite of wars, conquest, and change of territory." Our trade with India, notwithstanding its political dependency and free trade, has not grown faster than our trade with the rest of the world. Our trade with Egypt has hardly increased at all since she has been under our management. While trade with the United Kingdom was 52 per cent. of the whole trade of Egypt in 1886, it was only 44 per cent. in 1896. Jealousy of the extension of other civilised nations into the waste places of the earth is unreasonable. Trade follows the price-list, not the flag. February, 1899. Does Trade Follow the Flag? A reply [to Lord Farrer]. Lord The increase of our exports with decrease of our imports is a proof of decline due to fighting hostile tariffs with free imports. The Indian Currency. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK. The writer recommends the imposition of an import duty of say 6d. an ounce on silver, looking forward to the possibility of some day, with the assistance of a seignorage, reopening the mints. The Quarterly Journal of Economics (Boston). January, 1899. The Preconceptions of Economic Science. THORStein Weblen. A Collectivist Philosophy of Trade Unionism. EDWARD CUMMINGS. Reflections, not altogether favourable, on Mr. and Mrs. Webb's books. Natural Divisions in Economic Theory. JOHN B. CLARK. The first division contains universal principles, which hold true whether society is organised or not. The second division superadds Catallactics, a "static society" being supposed, without mobility of economic agents, and without profits. The third division, Dynamics, is characterised by "change, movement, friction, disturbance, reorganisation." Profit in this régime "can only perpetuate itself by an endless series of improvements." The United States Treasury in 1894-1896. F. W. TAUSSIG. A detailed history of the operations of the Treasury during the years of depression after the crisis of 1863, from which theory derives the lesson that in respect of raising prices it is questionable whether a clear difference in effect between inconvertible and convertible paper can be satisfactorily proved in any specific case. However, "experience has amply shown that the greatest freedom and temptations among banks to extend their convertible note issues cannot prevent prices from falling during a period of sluggish industry"; while " an issue of inconvertible notes does not tend to raise prices-nay, it may sometimes be predicted will raise prices; but by a mechanism, slower in its operation and more uncertain as to the quantities, than the enormous versions lead us to expect." Political Science Quarterly (New York). A Study of Trade Unionism. J. H. HOLLANDER. Journal of Political Economy (Chicago). December, 1898. Spanish Currency. A. de FoVILLE. In harmony neither with other nations nor itself the coinage of Spain up to 1868 presented ninety-seven different monetary units enjoying general currency. Though not included in the Latin League, Spain fixed a ratio of 15 to 1 between gold and silver in 1868, but continued to coin silver after its depreciation. Alone among the nations of Europe Spain went through the hollow farce of ignoring the fact that silver is a metal which has become unfit for monetary uses." That the Spanish five-franc piece should not have been, like the French one, suspended above its intrinsic value, goes without saying. It is less easy to understand how the silver coin should have sunk below its intrinsic value and been melted for exportation. The depreciation of the note circulation followed the increase of its quantity. The notes continued at par with gold so long as they did not amount to 300 millions of pesetas. That is up to 1881. By 1892 the depreciation as measured by loss on foreign exchange had reached 15 per cent., while the issues of notes had risen to nearly 900 million pesetas. The increase of notes to 1206 million by the end of 1897 was attended with a depreciation of 25 per cent. The year 1898 (up to September) shows a rise in the notes out to 1400 million pesetas, a depreciation of nearly 40 per cent. Socialism in France. G. FRANÇOIS. The Measure of the Value of Money according to European Economists. G. M. FIAMINGO. The Quantity Theory of Money from the Market Standpoint. A. P. HARGELL. Stable Money. T. E. WILL. It is proposed that a trustworthy barometer of general prices should be formed, and that guided thereby Government should control the movement of prices by buying, or selling, "call" bonds, and by exercising the functions of banking through the Post Office. Revue d'Économie Politique (Paris). December, 1898. Ce que content et ce que rapportent les Départements au Budget de la France. V. TURQUAN. An investigation into the financial relations between the different parts of France. Allowing for the receipt by frontier departments of custom duties for goods which are distributed throughout the country, and making other corrections, the eminent statistician finds that some departments contribute more, some less, than they receive. Speaking generally, the taxation per head is heaviest where the population is richest a state of things which results from the solidarity of the French-people in respect of the needs of the central administration and of the national defence ["devant les besoins de l'administration generale et surtout ceux de la défense nationale"]. Le Commerce Extérieur de la France en 1897. M. ZABLET. La Législation Sociale en 1897 (continued). HECTOR LAMBRECHTS. La Réforme de la Circulation Monétaire en Russie. N. FAN-JUNG. January, 1899. Si les Institutions Sociales sont un Mal Social. CHARLES GIDE. A Plea for institutions such as the Musée Social and Co-operative Associations. De l'Influence du Milieu sur le développement de l'Homme. E. VILLEY. Les Classes de la Société. E. GOBLOT. Les nouvelles Compagnies Ouvrières. M. WATON. Journal des Économistes (Paris). December, 1898. Adam Ferguson et ses Idées politiques et sociales. H. BOUET. Mouvement de la Population en divers Pays. G. FRANÇOIS. Un Manuel de Politique Commerciale Internationale. M. A. RAFFALOVICH. Mouvement Scientifique et Industriel. DANIEL BELLET. Revue de l'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. M. JOSEPH LEFORT. Le Développement de l'Industrie Sucrière en Russie. E. D. Meeting Annuel du Cobden Club. January, 1899. La 1898. G. DE MOLINARI, Correspondant de l'Institut. Le Marché financier en 1898. ARTHUR RAFFALOVICH. Revue des principales Publications Economiques de l'Étranger. MAURICE BLOCK. Concentration du Trafic de Banque en Allemagne. M. ANDRÉ SAYOUS. A quoi tient l'Infériorité actuelle des Français. ROUXEL. Une Idée sur le Baccalauréat. LE CONTRE-AMIRAL Réveillère. Les deux Moissons. M. FREDERIC PASSY. February, 1899. La vraie et la fausse Coopération. YVES GUYOT. La Viticulture française en présence de la baisse des Vins. Pozzi-ESCOT. Mouvement Agricole. GRANDEAU. Revue des principales Publications économiques en Langue française. M. ROUXEL. La vraie Solution de la Question juive. FRÉDÉRIC PASSY. Le dixième Congrès des Banques populaires. M. G. FRANÇOIS. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie (Jena). Die Chinesischen Vertragshafen. (I.) H. SCHUMACHER. Der Luxus in seinen Beziehungen zur Sozial-Oekonomie. VELLEMAN. ΑΝΤΟΝ After the inevitable "Begriffsbestimmung" follow topics more attractive to the English reader the influence of luxurious ex penditure on the accumulation of capital and the labour market, change of fashions, the relation of luxury to the growth of population. Der Trinkgelderunfug. R. ZIMMERMAN. The growing nuisance of "tips" demands a remedy. Archiv für Soziale Gesetzgebung (Berlin). 1899. Vol. XIII. Nos. 3 and 4. Feminine interests predominate in this number. DR. HEINRICH HERKNER in an article on Das Frauenstudium der Nationalökonomie, regards Mrs. Webb's work as exceeding all that has been hitherto done in the scientific domain by women; Miss Clara Collet is also in the first rank. The feminine interest in persons "das individuelle persönliche Moment" is a useful corrective of the soulless abstractions to which the masculine economist is prone. The Italians of Chicago are described by Florence Kelley, and the origin of the Frauenbewegung by Lily Braun. Die Schranken der kapitalischen Landwirtschaft. KARL KAUTSKY. Jahrbuch f. Gesetzgebung, &c. (Leipzig). 1899. No. I. contains an article by the editor, Prof. G. Schmoller, on the early history [Urgeschichte] of the family "Mutterrecht, &c."-not favourable to the visionaries (Schwärmer) who would like to restore that primitive right to modern women. Zeitschrift für Volkwirtschaft, &c. (Vienna), Vol. VII., No. 4. Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Ungarns seit, 1867. ALEXANDER V. MATLEKOVITS. A description of Hungary's economic progress, based on the reports compiled on the occasion of the Millennary celebration. In the first number of the eighth volume Dr. R. Meyer gives "the first results of the Austrian income-tax" [Personaleinkommensteuer]results which seem highly satisfactory. De Economist (La Hague) for January-February 1899 contains an article by Prof. Baron D'Aulnis de Bourouill on the Protection Debate in the second Chamber of December 1898; showing that certain arguments in favour of Protectionism are neither new nor valid. |