ascertained exactly what takes our fancy. Whenever they had a tasteful novelty to show, we were eager to buy it. If I lounged into the shop, my looks may have said quite plainly, "Show me anything very smart and good, and I will buy it." If they had nothing particular to show, they would say, "The season is not yet begun; our buyer is just leaving for Paris." And the buyer buys to suit our taste. Now the buyer, it is already agreed, in buying the novelty, bought labour. When we buy the same article, we buy over from him what he obtained from the Parisian, and pay an additional price for his labour in placing this within our reach. The shopkeepers would not exist without us; the buyers could not exist without employers; the Parisian, without the buyers, would be without a market. But my desire for a novelty was the cause of the shopkeeper's desire; the shopkeeper's was the cause of the buyer's; buyer's was the cause of the manufacturer's. Of all these, I alone wanted the article.

the

This way of looking at economical problems from the side of demand, is certainly as safe as to look at them from the side of supply. Demand is surer of meeting production than production is of meeting demand. Berkeley would have no world but what we see; there is practically no world for man but what he desires. Beauty, value, interest, are all relative terms. We apply them to nature; they exist only in ourselves.

To advocate this study of consumption as over against production, is what many are doing now; but only Mr. Moffat has devoted an immense volume to the cause. One may be quite sure that, within the compass of so large a book, the subject could have been exhausted. But Mr.

Moffat has not exhausted the subject. He criticises, and scarcely can win our attention; he theorises, but does not gain our assent to his theories; he ends his book without having begun to convince. He insists on the claims of Consumption to study; that is what is valuable in his work. The question to those attempting this study is, Must consumption be regarded as the great cause of economics, or as a branch of the subject? Mr. Moffat inclines to the latter view. He would not consult consumption, but command it. He disbelieves, to a certain extent, in free production, and also in free consumption. Consumption is to be watched, guided, educated. By whom? Not by the consumers themselves, but by the producers! It will be seen that Mr. Moffat's views have the merit of novelty.

on

In the critical part of this book, there are several strictures Adam Smith's way of putting propositions which are just; here and there the systems of other economists are shown to have actual, though unimportant, flaws; but most of the writing is devoid of any point save that of abuse. Were Mr. Moffat surer of his case, he would be more sparing of hard words for the great names he summons up. One or two specimens may show the peculiarity of this author's views :

"The work of Malthus on 'Population' is a contribution to economy intrinsically more valuable, in my opinion, even than 'The Wealth of Nations,' the theory of Malthus being the true foundation of the science" (p. 4).

On the next page we find, apropos of Free Trade principles: "But a merely historical and dead science cannot, without injury, occupy the place of a living one; and this is the posi

tion to which orthodox Political Economy is reduced. In the face of industrial facts-I should rather say of industrial revolutions of the most momentous character-Political Economy is dumb, or speaks without authority and without effect."

To this the reader will immediately rejoin,-Were the Malthusian theory of population to supply the orthodoxy of Free Trade, would it have any voice whatever in affairs of practical life -business and government?

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The general doctrines of this school are, that the interests of society are best served by leaving to industry a wide field, entirely unrestricted, and that the interests of industry are promoted by being left under the sole control of individual interest, which is deified as a supreme power of industry, under the name of competition.

This school, as I have said, does not number among its strict adherents any great authorities, or any men of much depth of thought, who have given serious consideration to social subjects."

"Mill's proposals are unscientific, being impracticable as well as morally outrageous."

"John Stuart Mill is, however, deeper in the mire of economical fallacies in regard to land than Ricardo. His whole treatment of

the question .. besides being without theoretical foundation, is

deeply tainted with practical fallacies, especially with an utterly inadequate, superficial, and shortsighted view of motives."

"Mr. Fawcett, who is by no means an uncompromising enemy of strikes, mentions some advice which he gave to the operative builders of London about a strike on which he seems to believe they had injudiciously entered. I have no means of knowing whether his advice was practically sound or

not; but it was founded on some very loose and inaccurate theoretical reasoning about a natural rate of wages, and profits, and a wages fund (things which have no existence); which, if it had any effect in the minds of the labourers at all, could only mislead them," &c.

This last sentence is quoted, in order to show a favourite device of the author's; when a difficulty lurks in the way, he fires at it with blank cartridge, to frighten it off. The reader, after reading the clause in brackets, is to trouble his head no more about a wages fund, and is to imagine it proved a nonexistent. Occasionally this bold method is varied by the promises of arguments further on; but these arguments are like Mr. Jingle's luggage, which could never overtake the brown-paper parcel.

We have yet to look at the most important section of the book under notice, that which puts forth positive doctrine. Having discussed and discarded competition, trades unions, and arbitration, as regulators of consumption, Mr. Moffat propounds the theory of a time policy.

"The nature and development of this doctrine as embodying a policy may be thus stated. When the labourer, unprovided with necessaries, has his whole time at his command, he is absolutely constrained to dispose of some of it in order to supply his wants. The price obtainable for his labour, provided it is sufficient to meet his pressing wants, cannot and ought not to be at this step a consideration with him. Being in want, he must work to supply his wants at whatever price his labour will bring. But when by an instalment of his labour, provided he is able to do this without exhausting his whole labouring capacity, he has met his most pressing wants, the value of his remaining labour

ought to rise. He is no longer in absolute want, and can afford to wait and bargain before he disposes of a larger amount of his time. If he deems the price formerly obtained for his labour inadequate, he is now in a position to demand more. If the second instalment procures him an advance in material comfort, he can be still more stringent in his demands in disposing of a third. . . . Any employment, then, at any remuneration which enables him to live, and leaves him a few moments to breathe and say, 'I am a man,' is preferable to the state of idleness and dependence or want. But when a labourer has provided for his pressing wants, any leisure that is left to him becomes valuable in proportion to its scarcity. By this natural principle of graduation the dignity of the labourer as a man is vindicated; as, although he may surrender a part of his time on very easy terms, he does so expressly in order that he may redeem the rest, and raise it above all pecuniary price."

Thus a combination of workmen could endeavour to regulate, not wages, but hours of labour. Whenever a tendency to over-production was observed, a reduction of working time would be effected. The labour within this working time, as far as one can make out, would be open to competition. Most workmen would look upon this policy as ingenious-that it really is—and as also satisfactory. The time being shortened, the rate of wages would rise; and once the rate of wages had risen, it would be within the option of the workmen to add the hour again, at the increased rate.

But in this scheme Mr. Moffat neglects that very consumption he writes about. When there is a tendency to over-production, the operative cannot choose whether or

not he will reduce his time. It is demand or consumption that refuses to take his work, and forces him to lessen production. Thus, far from its being the case that the labourer puts the pressure on those for whom he labours, the reverse is the truth.

Com

It need only be added that, as this substitute for competition is thoroughly impracticable, so the blows dealt at competition in its defence produce scarcely any effect. What Mr. Moffat's policy aims at is the maximum of effect, with the minimum of effort. Competition solves this problem better every day. It enlarges the bounds of the useful, by economising what before was wasted; it increases the value of articles, by creating speciality of trades, and producing more perfect work; it equalises prices, by extending the market. petition puts good horses in our cabs; it transports us by train at the rate of sixty miles an hour; it sends our messages to America in a few minutes; it puts the classics in the hands of poor students, and newspapers upon the workman's breakfast table ; that breakfast table it furnishes with tea, coffee, and other luxuries; it insures cheap bread and good bread; if we find Sheffield tools too dear, it brings us cheaper tools from America; it fetches wire from Germany and Belgium at this present moment, and will continue SO to do until our own prices fall; it transports raw cotton from India to England, and sends it back woven for less than the cost of native weaving; it brings us timber from Canada, from Norway, from the Baltic, and gives us our choice at the same price; it gives us Veuve Cliquot in the Trossachs, and Bass on the Righi; it enables a man to live comfortably for twelve shillings a day in any town of Europe. It is the sworn enemy of

all lazy workmen. In the open market it proclaims the price of an article, without question regarding time spent in its production. Yet it searches into the very roots of this production. It demands of the workman how much of the result falls to his share-of the seller, how much he paid for the raw material, how much profit he takes over all. Here is a selection

of the fittest! Mr. Moffat might as soon attempt to fit a regulator on the revolving world as try to modify competition by his time policy.

George Moore. By S. Smiles. London: Routledge and Co. 1878.

While George Moore of Bow Churchyard was alive, it probably did not seriously occur to any of his friends that his life would ever be written. He was a great-hearted merchant prince. His name was a synonym for pluck and sagacity and uprightness in the business world. In the larger world he was known as a munificent host and an unfailing source of charity.

"

But, to be worthy of a biography now-adays, a man must have been in something different from others who have been before him. Even after Mr. Moore's death, when Mr. Smiles talked to friends of a biography, they said, "What can you make out of the life of a London Warehouseman?' How ever, the short space of time since Mr. Moore's death has sufficed to show that even in London his position was unique, and not easy to fill again. Jean Paul remarks that it is not until they make their exit that we applaud men and actors. Here, then, we have the "Life of George Moore," a thick octavo of 530 pages, with Watts's

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We feel bound to say for Mr. Smiles that, with perhaps the exception of the first chapter, which describes ancient Cumberland scenes and manners, there is scarcely a word of his work superfluous or uninteresting. We have accounts of George's father, the Statesman; of his own apprenticeship under Messenger, the drunken Wigton draper; of his falling into bad company, and gambling at such a rate that even his master read him sermons; of his reforming and winning the respect of the whole town. He was on one occasion sent to Dumfries with several hundred pounds for a cattle dealer. The dealer engaged him to help in herding the cattle home, and the two resolved to take a short cut across the Solway Sands. Here is a picturesque situation, with a hairbreadth escape:

"It was gloaming by this time, and the line of English coastabout five miles distant-looked like a fog bank. Night came on. It was too dark to cross then. They must wait till the moon rose. It was midnight before its glitter shone upon the placid bosom of the Firth. The cattle dealer then rose, drew his beasts together, and drove them in upon the sands. They had proceeded but a short way when they observed that the tide had turned. They pushed the beasts on with as much speed as they could. The sands were becoming softer. They crossed numberless pools of water.

Then

they saw the sea waves coming upon them. On! On! It was too late. The waves, which sometimes rush up the Solway three feet

abreast, were driving in amongst the cattle. They were carried off their feet, and took to swimming. The horses upon which George Moore and his companion were mounted also took to swimming. They found it difficult to keep the cattle together-one at one side and one at the other. Yet they pushed on as well as they could. It was a swim for life. The cattle

became separated, and were seen in the moonlight swimming in all directions. At last they reached firmer ground, pushed on, and landed near Bowness. But many of the cattle had been swept away."

It will be observed that the sentences of Mr. Smiles are very short. They are not always as graceful or as correct as might be, but somehow they suit the man he writes about, and seem like echoes of Moore's quick business step.

Having exhausted the teaching Wigton tradesmen could give him, the draper's apprentice pushed on for London, where we find him, on the first day after arrival, winning a prize in a great wrestling match. His ways and looks were against him in all applications for employment. Meeking, of Holborn, asked him if he wanted a porter's situation. This took the last bit of conceit out of the sturdy Cumberland lad, but it did not diminish his pluck. One of the plucky things he did was to march right into the House of Commons.

"I got a half holiday for the purpose. I did not think of getting an order from an M.P. Indeed, I had not the slightest doubt of getting into the House. I first tried to get into the Strangers' Gallery, but failed. I then hung about the entrance to see whether I could find some opportunity. I saw three or four members hurrying in, and I hurried in with

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How George fell in love with his master's tiny daughter (afterwards marrying her), how he rose to be the prince of commercial travellers, The The Napoleon of Watling-street," how he entered the firm of Groucock and Copestake, and how in this position he made himself known over the land as a really great and a good man, Mr. Smiles must tell in his own pages. Mr. Moore was fond of distributing large quantities of improving books among his employés and friends. Any merchant wishing to follow his example in this habit could find no better book to begin with than this same Life of George Moore, Merchant and Philanthropist."

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An Inland Voyage. By Robert Louis Stevenson, in 1 vol.: C. Kegan Paul and Co. 1878.

The pretty little picture on the cover of this volume, in which the gilded river seems flooded with sunshine, is a pleasantly fulfilled augury of its pages. Mr. Stevenson's style is full of a gentle humour and bright with the peculiar charm which a scholar alone can impart. It belongs to a certain fashion of writing, and can hardly be called original, for it often recalls, by the very freshness of its simplicity, Thoreau and other quaint authors. But, however much Mr.