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Cornell University Library 
 HG 293.L3 
 
 GoWwdprJ^^I'Ja. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES 
 
 SINCE 
 
 1873 
 
 BY 
 
 J. LAURENCE LAUGHLIN 
 
 HEAD PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CHICAGO 
 
 Reprinted from Quarterly Journal of Economics, April, /88? 
 
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 189s 
 
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 Hatt (^allege of Agriculture 
 
 At Cornell ImaerattB 
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CHAPTER I. 
 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873. 
 
 § I. Much of the difference of opinion as to the sig- 
 nificance of recent movements of prices is due to the fact 
 that the value of gold is a ratio which varies with a varia- 
 tion in either of its terms. Whether commodities fall in 
 relation to gold or gold rises in relation to commodities, 
 in either case the value of gold has risen. The same 
 phenomena, therefore, may be due to radically different 
 causes. So that, admitting the fall of prices, it is said, 
 on the one hand, that the rise in the value of gold is due 
 to some cause affecting gold itself, such as scarcity; and, 
 on the other hand, it is claimed that the fall in prices is 
 due to causes connected solely with commodities, and not 
 with gold. 
 
 The believers in the scarcity value of gold substan- 
 tiate their position by reference to the falling off in the 
 anmial production of gold ; the unusual demands for gold 
 since 1873, by Germany, Italy, and the United States; 
 stringencies in the money market; the increased use of 
 gold in the arts ; the claim that the fall of prices is gen- 
 eral ; the exceptional character of the depression of trade 
 since 1873 ; the general existence of low wages, profits, 
 and rents ; and the absence of any progress since 1873 in 
 the means of economizing gold and silver. These opin- 
 ions have been prominently associated with Mr. Robert 
 Giffen,* the statistician of the English Board of Trade, 
 and Mr. Goschen,f the present Chancellor of the Ex- 
 
 * Journal of the Statistical Society (London), March, 1879. 
 t Journal of the Institute of Bankers, April 18, 1883. 
 
2 JutOtD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 chequer ; while the evident connection of the main propo- 
 sition with bimetallism has given it a semi-political char- 
 acter, and many supporters in both Europe and America. 
 
 § II. Inasmuch as the rise in the value of gold since 
 1873 is in proportion to the fall of prices, it is a matter 
 of some importance to look critically at the facts in regard 
 to prices. With this object in view, the more important 
 tables of prices since 1850 have been collected in the 
 Appendix, with explanations as to the methods of compu- 
 tation, sources, and reliability. It is hoped that a com- 
 parison of the diverse methods and results of these tables 
 will serve a useful purpose. 
 
 Hitherto, the figures of the London Economist for 
 twenty-two articles have been almost universally used as 
 evidence in regard to the movement of prices ; but it is 
 time that the worship of this fetich should cease.* Of 
 late, much more trustworthy tables have been published. 
 
 In Chart I., a comparison is presented of the prices in 
 Great Britain, Germany, France, and the United States. 
 The untrustworthiness of the Economist table as a basis 
 for inferences in regard to causes affecting the whole 
 world will be seen at a glance in the years 1862-67. The 
 table of Mr. Sauerbeck,! however, which gives the prices 
 of thirty-eight articles, but all of raw produce, furnishes a 
 somewhat better view of the movement of English prices 
 to the present day. The French prices % show a less rise 
 to 1873 and a less fall since 1873 than the English figures, 
 which accords with what we know as to the exemption of 
 France from the violence of the crisis of 1873. The table 
 of American prices cannot be depended upon. It is in- 
 
 *For detailed criticism, see Appendix, Table A. 
 
 t For the relative value of these tables, see the notes in the Appendix. 
 
 X The number 100 in this table corresponds on the chart to 123.6 of Soet- 
 beer's table, which is the average of the latter's numbers for 1865-69 (the years 
 used as a basis in the French prices). 
 
GOLD AND PBICES SINCE 187S 
 
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4 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 serted only for the sake of comparison. The Hamburg 
 prices, published by Dr. Soetbeer, in the second edition of 
 his Materialien (1886), furnish the most satisfactory, accu- 
 rate, and complete collection of prices yet made. It will 
 be seen that, while Sauerbeck's English figures * show a 
 greater fall since 1 873 than the Hamburg prices, they do 
 not fall so low in 1885 as the Economist prices. The 
 very important fact to be observed, however, from the 
 Hamburg table is that prices in 1885 were still 10 per 
 cent, higher than they were before the discoveries of gold 
 (1847-50) ; and it is significant that prices seem to have 
 fallen less as we go to tables which include a greater 
 number of articles. There is thus a difference of about 
 30 per cent, in the results of the Hamburg and Economist 
 table, much to the discredit of the latter ; and, in fact, 
 the Economist table is not of a kind to be compared with 
 the other. 
 
 The separation of the movements of prices in special 
 groups of commodities in the Hamburg tables, as presented 
 in Chart II., shows a striking divergence in the prices of 
 agricultural, animal, mineral, and manufactured products. 
 The eye is at once struck with the great rise in the prices 
 of animal and agricultural products since 1850 ; while 
 there has been the expected fall in the case of manufact- 
 ured goods, accompanied by a surprising fall in the prices 
 of mineral products. 
 
 Among other illustrations f of economic principles to 
 be seen in these charts, there is one which Englishmen 
 may well consider. It seems possible that English prices 
 have fallen since 1873 more than prices in other countries. 
 If so, may this not be attributed to a readjustment of the 
 equation of Internation Demand, due to a lessened de- 
 
 * The standard 100 in Sauerbeck's table represents the average of the 
 years 1866-77, which corresponds on the chart to 128.7 of Soetbeer's table. 
 
 t A verification is given of the principles laid down by Mr. Cairnes, Lead- 
 ing Principles, pp. 117-16, on derivative laws of value. 
 
GOLD AND PMIGES SINCE 1873 
 
 
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6 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 
 
 mand in other countries for England's products compared 
 with England's demand for the products of other coun- 
 tries ? Many complaints have been heard in England of 
 the increasing competition of Germany, France, and the 
 United States in foreign markets ; for only since the war 
 of 1870 have Germany and France given full play to 
 their modern industrial spirit.* In fact, evidences are 
 multiplying to the effect that the demand for English 
 goods has not grown in a sufficiently gratifying manner. 
 If this explanation be given full weight, it may suggest 
 that other causes are at work to bring about a fall of Eng- 
 lish prices than the scarcity of gold. Too often, the 
 reasoning on this subject takes for granted that what is 
 true of Great Britain is true of all the rest of the world. 
 It will not by any means be admitted that the lower 
 range of prices, when once reached, has prevented pros- 
 perity -\ in other countries. 
 
 § III. Granting a fall in prices since 1873 of 20 per 
 cent., yet it will not be possible to reason directly from a 
 fall of prices to a scarcity of gold. But this is the import 
 of Laveleye's argument f in answering Mulhall, — who had 
 gone to quite as great an extreme in the opposite direc- 
 tion, and had denied § any connection whatever between 
 prices and the quantity of the precious metals, — for 
 Laveleye even classes Mill among the believers in what 
 the Germans call the Quantitats-theorie, by quoting his 
 words : || '* The value of money depends, eaeteris paribus, 
 
 *Cf. Fowler, Appreciation of Gold, p. 34. 
 
 t The clearings in the United States for October 1, 1886, were one-fourth 
 larger than for October 1, 1885, at the lower range of prices. 
 
 X Contemporary Review, May, 1886, p. 632. 
 
 § History of Prices since the Year 1850, pp. 138, 139 ; and Contemporary 
 Review, August, 1885. 
 
 II Laveleye strangely omits the succeeding sentence : "In any state of 
 things, however, except the simple and primitive one which we have supposed, 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 7 
 
 on its quantity, together with its rapidity of circulation. 
 . . . An increase of the quantity of money raises prices, and 
 a diminution lowers them. This is the most elementary 
 proposition in the theory of currency, and without it we 
 should have no key to any of the others." In his final 
 statement, however, Mill plainly says (B. III., chap, xi., 
 § 3), " In a state of commerce in which much credit is 
 habitually given, general prices at any moment depend 
 much more upon the state of credit than upon the quan- 
 tity of money." The devices for economizing money 
 which the progress of society has developed render it im- 
 possible to say that prices depend directly upon the quan- 
 tity of money.* 
 
 Credit in its full development is quite modern, and its 
 relation to prices is not always carefully defined. Mill,f 
 for example, prefaced his discussion of the effect of credit 
 on prices by the remark : " It is not, however, with ulti- 
 mate or average, but with immediate and temporary, 
 prices that we are now concerned." Now there is no 
 conceivable moment but that of a total stoppage of trade 
 when credit is not in active operation ; and as credit is 
 
 the proposition is only true, other things being the same ; and "what those other 
 things are which must be the same we are not yet ready to pronounce " (B. III., 
 chap, viii., §4). In his final conclusion, quoted above by me, he pronounces 
 what they are. 
 
 * Frewen, Nineteenth Century, October, 1885, p. 595, carries the error still 
 further by claiming that prices change with the production of gold. One can- 
 not assign much weight to Mr. Frewen, when he declares that capital is spent 
 rather than accumulated in the United States, because of the heavy taxation ! 
 (p. 601). Dr. Soetbeer, Materialien, p. 81, reminds us that both Huskisson and 
 Jacob attributed the depression which prevailed in Europe after 1815 to a 
 scarcity of the precious metals. He also mentions an interesting book by 
 J. Helferich, published in 1843, which combated the Quantitats-theorie, and 
 explained that credit can separate the function of a medium of exchange from 
 that of a measure of value, and can serve as the former without affecting the 
 latter. Most German bimetallists (excepting Dr. Arendt) agree with Messrs. 
 Giffen and Goschen in attributing the fall in prices and the depression of trade 
 to the scarcity of gold. But, on the other hand, Bourne, Journal of Statistical 
 Society, June, 1879, p. 417, who denies the scarcity of gold, claims, with Mul- 
 hall, that the quantity of gold has no relation to prices. 
 
 tB. III., chap, xii., §1. 
 
8 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 purchasing power of a highly efficient kind, often prefer- 
 able to actual coin, it must be regarded as affecting prices 
 not temporarily, but always, with greater or less force. 
 At some periods it may be more actively used than at 
 others.* In truth, in society as it exists to-day, the gen- 
 eral level of prices for considerable periods (sufficiently 
 long to permit the effect of changes in the business habits 
 of the community, or changes in the existing stock of 
 gold, to be felt) must depend upon a combination of the 
 quantity of money with the various forms of credit. The 
 two are inextricably bound together. So, therefore, the 
 level of prices (so far as it is affected by the offer of 
 purchasing power) depends on the expansion or contrac- 
 tion of two factors, quantity of money and credit, each of 
 which may change to a considerable extent independently 
 of each other. Both may increase or diminish together, 
 or the gain of one may offset the loss of the other. A 
 great collapse of credit, for example, without any change 
 whatever in the quantity of the precious metals, might 
 lower the general level of prices ; and, if this demoraliza- 
 tion of confidence was sufficient to alter existing condi- 
 tions of mind in the commercial classes, it would produce 
 an effect over a considerable period of time. On the other 
 hand, a period within which there occurred not only an 
 enormous increase in the quantity of the metals used for 
 money, but also an unusual expansion of credit, would 
 show an advance of prices quite out of the natural order 
 of things. Such a period was that from 1850 to 1873. 
 
 * Between 1833 and 1839 prices rose 22 1-2 per cent., and between 1839 and 
 1844 fell 44 per cent. ; and "this great oscillation," Jevons asserted, "was 
 entirely due to the general expansion of trade and credit, and to its subsequent 
 collapse." Contemporary Review, May, 1881, p. 752. Again, in 1857, at a time 
 when the mines were yielding unprecedented quantities of gold, a collapse of 
 credit produced a fall in prices of fully 15 per cent. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINGE 1873 9 
 
 § IV. The series of events which led to the expansion 
 of trade and the collapse in 1873 were unprecedented in 
 their magnitude. The greatest production from the mines 
 which the world has ever seen was pouring gold into the 
 channels of trade. In spite of the expansion of commerce 
 and the absorption of gold by France, the new gold must 
 have affected prices. But this set in motion other forces 
 which had an effect on prices. The gold discoveries them- 
 selves created a spirit of adventure, and stimulated high 
 hopes of gain in unusual ways. Then, too, a period of 
 rising prices breeds speculation. The figures of home and 
 foreign trade were swelled by the higher range of prices, 
 and added to the buoyant feeling, under the inspiration of 
 which new enterprises were eagerly entered upon. The 
 Crimean War and the extraordinary rise of agricultural 
 products (see Chart II.) aided the movement, which re- 
 ceived but a partial check in the panic of 1857. The war 
 in Italy of 1859 was followed by the Civil War in the 
 United States in 1861. The latter produced a great rise 
 in the prices of cotton, tobacco, and breadstuffs * in 
 Europe ; and the issue of inconvertible paper drove gold 
 out of the country. Then Italy also gave f up her specie 
 after 1865. The war between Prussia and Austria added 
 to the abnormal extension of trade, which in 1866 again 
 received only a partial check. The years from 1867 to 
 1873, in the United States, witnessed an unlimited expan- 
 sion of extravagance and overtrading, such as has been 
 seldom equalled, accompanied by excessive railway build- 
 ing. Our imports were out of all proportion to our abil- 
 ity to pay for them.J In this period, also, came the Fran- 
 
 * This is seen in the Economist figures, in Chart I. 
 
 t The writer in the Edinburgh Review for July, 1886, p . 34, estimates the 
 addition of gold to Europe from the United States and Italy as about i 
 000,000. 
 
 % Cf. Caimes, Leading Principles, pp. 3G4-372. 
 
10 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 co-German War of 1870, and the distribution of the 
 indemnity of war by Germany. The extraordinary and 
 exceptional demand for commodities in periods of war, at 
 the very time of the great destruction of wealth, produced 
 an unhealthy state of affairs; but on the outside all 
 seemed fair, and men had begun to believe that prices 
 were fated always to rise. The speculation in metals (see 
 Chart II.) in 1873 was of an unparalleled kind.* Noth- 
 ing, in fact, marks this period from 1850 to 1873 (as com- 
 pared with the period from 1873 to 1886) more distinctly 
 than the extreme variations in the rate of discount at the 
 great banks of Europe. There were all the evidences of 
 an unhealthy and abnormal condition of affairs. But the 
 unchecked demand, when the actual power to buy had been 
 greatly impaired, could not go on forever. When it was 
 once found that men had been creating liabilities beyond 
 their means to meet them, the end had come. The crisis 
 of 1873 was the painful return to a consciousness of the 
 real situation, after a prolonged fever of speculation for 
 nearly twenty years, which had spread over many coun- 
 tries. The effects were the more serious because the 
 disease had got such great headway. The period since 
 1873, on the other hand, is stamped by a radical change 
 in methods of business ; and a new epoch in production 
 practically dates from that year. The peculiar changes 
 in the organization of industry will themselves sufficiently 
 explain any exceptional characteristics of the present 
 period. 
 
 Those commodities, moreover, for which the demand in 
 the period of overtrading had been most extended (and 
 which were of a character capable of rapid production) 
 would be the ones in regard to which, after the collapse, 
 there would be the greatest difference between the power 
 of production and the now lessened demand, based on 
 normal wants. Demand and supply had been thrown out 
 
 *See Leroy-Beaulieu, Revue des Deux Mondes, May, 1886, p. 393. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 11 
 
 of their reciprocal adjustment. Just as when a large 
 building, erected by fitting one timber or board to an- 
 other, is levelled to the ground by a tornado, exactly the 
 same building can never again be reconstructed out of 
 the old materials, — for reciprocal parts are wanting ; — 
 so, after a serious commercial disaster, like that of 1873, 
 producers must make entirely new estimates as to the 
 extent of demand, and supply must be adjusted to new 
 conditions. In this way, a great derangement of trade 
 and credit will produce unequal effects on different com- 
 modities. 
 
 § V. To support the claim that we are now dealing 
 with practically new conditions of production, no facts 
 of the industrial situation since 1873 can be adduced 
 which are more convincing than those relating to improve- 
 ments and new sources of supply. The period follow- 
 ing a great financial upheaval is naturally crowded with 
 improvements in processes and in methods of lowering 
 the cost of production. Necessity becomes the mother 
 of invention. The extent to which producers have been 
 driven by the fierce competition since 1873 to cheapen 
 production leads to the inquiry how far the fall of prices 
 can be accounted for by influences connected solely with 
 commodities, and not with gold. If these influences have 
 been widely extended, it will be strong evidence that the 
 scarcity of gold has had less effect than some suppose. 
 
 In order to take a definite point of departure, I shall 
 select from Mr. Goschen's list of articles * twenty-three 
 which have fallen in price, and see whether the fall can be 
 
 * Journal of Institute of Bankers, May, 1883, pp. 277-279. These commodi- 
 ties, be it observed, are practically the same as those given by Mr. Giffen (see 
 Appendix, Table E) to show the effects of a scarcity of gold in lowering prices. 
 I have omitted from Mr. Goschen's table only cocoa, rice, indigo, cotton, hides, 
 jute, and hewn timber ; of which cocoa, cotton, and hides have practically not 
 fallen at all ; rice and jute are affected by the fall of silver ; while indigo and 
 timber are subject to peculiar fluctuations. 
 
12 
 
 GOLD AND PBICES SINCE 187S 
 
 accounted for by conditions affecting each commodity 
 itself : — 
 
 
 1873. 
 
 1883. 
 
 
 1873. 
 
 1883. 
 
 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 & 8. d. 
 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Sugar jbrown, 
 " W. Indian 
 
 cwt. 
 
 16 6 
 
 12 
 
 Wool, Australian, lb. 
 
 2 
 
 1 10 
 
 it 
 
 29 
 
 20 
 
 " alpaca, " 
 
 2 9 
 
 1 3 
 
 Tea, Congon, 
 
 lb. 
 
 Hi 
 
 5 
 
 Cochineal, " 
 
 2 5 
 
 10 
 
 Coffee, Ceylon, 
 
 cwt. 
 
 87 
 
 70 
 
 Nitrate of soda, cwt. 
 
 16 6 
 
 12 
 
 Wheat, 
 
 S: 
 
 2 16 
 
 2 6 
 
 Saltpetre, " 
 
 1 10 6 
 
 19 
 
 Pepper, 
 
 7 
 
 BJ 
 
 Coals, ton, 
 
 1 10 
 
 18 
 
 Iron, Scotch pig, 
 
 ton 
 
 6 7 
 
 2 9 
 
 Paper, 
 
 3 9 
 
 1 16 3 
 
 Lead, English, 
 
 <i 
 
 21 10 
 
 13 15 
 
 Staves, load, 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 Copper, 
 
 tt 
 
 91 
 
 65 
 
 Mahogany, " 
 
 11 12 
 
 9 5 
 
 Tin, foreign, 
 
 lt 
 
 143 
 
 93 
 
 Railway carriages, 
 
 111 10 
 
 85 
 
 Wool, English, 
 " Monair, 
 
 lb. 
 
 2 3 
 
 105 
 
 Boots and shoes, doz. 
 
 3 4 9 
 
 2 17 2 
 
 a 
 
 3 3 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 
 Taking these commodities in the order given, we find 
 the fall in price of sugar due to the revolution in produc- 
 tion since 1873 stimulated by the bounties on beet sugar 
 in France, Germany, and Russia. The sugar of the West 
 Indies was thus deprived of the vast European market. 
 The supply was increased in this way without any con- 
 nection whatever with the demand. From 1877 to 1882, 
 the product of cane sugar increased 33 per cent., and that 
 of beet sugar 40 per cent.* 
 
 Tea has fallen in price, owing to the great increase of 
 production in Japan, which has risen to forty-five million 
 pounds, to the enormous extension of tea cultivation in 
 India, and to the addition of large supplies from Java and 
 Ceylon ; while, unlike coffee, the consumption of tea has 
 not increased in proportion to the increased production.! 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu, Bevue des Deux Mondes, May, 1886, p. 398. According 
 to Fowler, Appreciation of Gold, p. 23, the price of sugar in 1830 was £50 per 
 ton ; in 1840, £40 ; in 1880, £25 ; in 1886, £16. He finds, Contemporary Re- 
 view, April, 1885, p. 539, the imports of unrefined sugar from Germany into 
 England in 1884 were seven and three-fourths million hundred-weights as com- 
 pared with four and one-half million hundred-weights in 1882. 
 
 t Tea is also bought with silver in the East, and, like jute, its gold price 
 falls ; while the lowered freights have also had a serious influence. The ex- 
 ports of tea from India have quadrupled since 1873. See Sauerbeck, ibid., p. 23. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 13 
 
 Coffee has not fallen in price to the extent shown in 
 Mr. Goschen's table. The average price at Hamburg in 
 1866-70 was expressed by 142 ; in 1876-80, by 207 ; and 
 in 1881-85, by 139. Although the total production has 
 increased,* the variations in the seasons cause violent 
 fluctuations. The fall in the price of Brazilian coffee is 
 accounted for by the extension of railways into the inte- 
 rior, which has dispensed with the carriage of coffee on 
 mules to the seaports. 
 
 A fall in the prices of wheat and agricultural products 
 seems to strengthen Mr. Goschen's argument, for com- 
 modities affected by the law of diminishing returns have 
 a tendency to increase in price. A fall in the prices of 
 such articles, therefore, might suggest a general cause, 
 like the scarcity of gold. But at no time for centuries 
 have there been in operation stronger forces to oppose 
 this law than in recent years. The tremendous gains in 
 cheaper transportation have, as never before, opened up 
 new and superior wheat-growing soils,")" so that the " mar- 
 gin of cultivation " for Europe is now found in India and 
 the United States. The effect of this has been, irrespec- 
 tive of freight, to raise the margin of cultivation for 
 Europe. It is only strange that the price of wheat has 
 not fallen more seriously. Improved methods of farming, 
 moreover, have enabled each acre to produce more than 
 in 1870. Even in Europe, Leroy-Beaulieu thinks that, in 
 the last twenty-five years, food has increased faster than 
 population. 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu, ibid., gives the production as follows: 1855, 321,000,000 
 tons ; 1865, 422,000,000 ; 1875, 505,000,000 ; 1881, 588,000,000. The deliveries 
 of Rio coffee in New York in 1873 were 68,863 tons, but in 1886 189,319 tons. 
 
 fThe United States in 1870 had 88,000,000 acres planted with wheat, 
 which was increased to 157,000,000 acres in 1884. India, moreover, increased 
 her acreage from 18,000,000 in 1870 to 25,000,000 in 1884 ; while Europe planted 
 440,000,000 in 1870 and 482,000,000 in 1884. Leroy-Beaulieu, ibid., p. 396. Neu- 
 mann-Spallert, Uebersichten der Weltwirthschaft, p. 155, states that from 1869 
 to 1879 the production of cereals in Europe was actually doubled ; while the 
 imports of grain in 1869-70 were valued at 1409,000,000, and in 1879 at 
 $817,000,000. 
 
14 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 
 
 Pepper has not fallen, but risen, in price since 1873.* 
 For 1871-75 the average prices at Hamburg are ex- 
 pressed by 229.7, but for 1881-85 by 233.8. 
 
 The introduction of improvements in the iron industry 
 since 1873 shows the tendency to adopt new devices in a 
 time of financial depression.! When a business is profita- 
 ble, there is no reason for stopping at a great loss each 
 day to introduce better processes. In a time of depres- 
 sion, a stoppage is no loss. The cost of production of the 
 coal, ore, and lime which enter into the production of pig 
 iron, writes Mr. Joseph D. Weeks, has been lowered by 
 the following agencies : — 
 
 The use of steam-drills instead of hand-drills, of coal-cutting ma- 
 chines for the pick of the miner, of compressed air in place of 
 steam, of locomotive and water carriage in place of mules and of 
 human carriage, of dynamite and its associate explosives in place 
 of powder, of lime and water cartridges instead of powder cartridges, 
 of the long-walled system of mining instead of the pillar and room, 
 etc. In the blast furnaces there have been important changes in the 
 lines of the furnaces, — in the methods of blowing and admitting the , 
 air, of charging the furnaces, of using the metal without allowing 
 it to become cold, and of improved hoisting apparatus. In the roll- 
 ing-mill, the improvements are almost without number. Some of 
 them are growths ; that is, a little change to-day, another change 
 to-morrow, until in months' or years' time a gradual improvement 
 has taken place, as compared with the years before, that would 
 hardly be believed without making the comparison. I presume that, 
 had I time, I could name at least five hundred improvements, some 
 that have decreased cost and others that have improved quality. 
 
 Even in the case of improvements introduced before 
 1873, it has been only since then that their use has been 
 applied on an extended scale. The manner in which im- 
 provements have lowered the price of iron illustrates the 
 characteristics of modern industries in general. 
 
 *See, also, Appendix V. 
 
 tA few years after the panic of 1873, a large iron manufacturer, after 
 lamenting the poor prospects in his industry, said, " And yet we were never 
 making so many improvements as now." 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1S7S 15 
 
 The price of lead has fallen, as is well known, because 
 of the extraordinary amount of lead liberated in treating 
 the argentiferous lead ores discovered in Colorado, Mon- 
 tana, Nevada, Utah, and other Western States and Terri- 
 tories. The lead, being produced as secondary to the 
 yield of silver, was sold for what it would bring,* regard- 
 less of the conditions affecting the mines worked solely 
 for lead. 
 
 The effect on prices of a sudden opening of new sup- 
 plies has never been more marked than in the matter of 
 copper. The recent discovery of immense deposits in 
 Arizona, Montana, and Spain has caused a revolution in 
 this industry. The great yield in the West utterly over- 
 whelmed the Lake Superior combination, which formerly 
 controlled the market in the United States, f In the 
 spring of 1882, copper here fell from twenty-two cents 
 per pound in the spring of 1882 to only eleven and a half 
 cents in 1885, solely from the causes named. 
 
 Tin has not fallen seriously in price. The average 
 price in 1884 was about the same as for 1866-67 at Ham- 
 burg. The unusual speculation in metals about 1873 
 (see Chart II.) carried the price of tin higher than it had 
 been for about forty years, so that the quotation for 1873 
 is 30 per cent, above the ordinary prices. Passing this 
 by, however, the downward movement since 1873, so far 
 as it exists, is fully accounted for by the discovery of 
 large deposits of tin in New South Wales, Queensland, 
 and Tasmania.^ 
 
 The great decline in the prices of English wool (the 
 grade known as " Lincoln "), mohair, and alpaca has a 
 
 *The white lead corroders west of the Mississippi getting their lead at so 
 low a price, the corroders on the Atlantic seaboard were placed in a very criti- 
 cal position. The prices of paints, also, have thus greatly fallen of late. 
 
 t The Anaconda Mine in Montana led in the shipment to Europe of the 
 vast excess of supply, and broke down the price abroad. 
 
 t See Mineral Resources of the United States, 1883-84. I am also indebted 
 for information to Mr, R. W. Raymond, of New York. 
 
16 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 curious cause. Before 1874, they were used on a vast 
 scale in the manufacture of stiff, hard, and lustrous fabrics 
 for ladies' wear, of which " alpaca " is a type. But, by 
 a sudden freak of fashion, about 1874 these goods were 
 wholly given up ; and their place was taken by soft 
 and pliable fabrics made from merino. The change was 
 so marked as practically to destroy the demand * for 
 English long-combing wools as well as for mohair and 
 alpaca. The price of the fine wools, however, has been 
 affected by the greatly increased product of Australia and 
 South America.f 
 
 Cochineal gives another illustration of the changes in 
 modern industries. Cochineal, for which an extensive de- 
 mand formerly existed in dyeing and printing cloths, has 
 been superseded by the aniline dyes, owing to the dis- 
 covery of coloring materials in hydro-carbons, drawn 
 chiefly from coal and petroleum. The yarn was weak- 
 ened by cochineal, and spinners were glad enough to find 
 that the cheaper aniline dyes gave as brilliant colors with- 
 out weakening the yarn. 
 
 Nitrate of soda and saltpetre fell in price because of the 
 excessive yield from the deposits of Western South Amer- 
 ica. The exportation of " Chili saltpetre " (nitrate of 
 soda) has of late been larger than the world's consump- 
 tion. J The average price for 1881-85 is about the same 
 as for the years 1874-76. The article, however, is subject 
 to great fluctuations of price. 
 
 *Lord Penzance, Nineteenth Century, September, 1886, says an English 
 farmer who formerly received £1,400 for his yearly clip now gets only £600. 
 For very careful tables of prices of English wools and for information, I am 
 much indebted to Mr. George William Bond and to Mr. John L. Hayes. 
 
 t Leroy-Beaulieu, ibid., p. 397, finds a close connection between the falling 
 prices of fine wool and the shipments from Australia, the Cape, and La Plate. 
 The number of bales imported in 1864 was 458,000 ; in 1868, 879,000 ; in 1877, 
 1,272,000 ; in 1885, 1,740,000. 
 
 t Wagner's Jahresbericht for 1884 states the facts as follows in metric 
 tons: — 
 
 1881. 1882. 1883. 
 
 Exports from South America, .... 319,000 410,000 530,000 
 
 World's consumption, 286,000 372,000 468,000 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINGE 1873 17 
 
 Coal varies greatly in price from time to time ; but 
 about 1873 it underwent an exceptional rise in price in 
 England, while of late the production has been forced in 
 an unusual way. In twenty years there has been an in- 
 crease of 145 per cent. Apart from the improvements in 
 mining already referred to, iron can be smelted with one- 
 half the coal formerly required, and so requires less coal ; 
 while the growth of English stock companies has stimu- 
 lated the activity of producers. 
 
 The industrial gains of society over nature are espe- 
 cially prominent in the case of paper. A pulp made from 
 the fibre of wood, instead of rags, is used in its manufact- 
 ure. Not only is the wood-pulp ground by machinery, 
 but lately it is also prepared by a chemical process of de- 
 composition. The latter variety is used for the better 
 grades of paper. Of two kjuis of book-paper which in 
 1873 were sold at seventero and fourteen cents per 
 pound in the United States, the price, owing to the new 
 methods, has fallen one-half. The use of pulp, more- 
 over, has cheapened the rags which are still partially 
 used. Where the machine-made pulp is used, as in 
 coarser kinds of paper, like newspaper stock, the fall in 
 price is still more marked. Manufacturers, also, are 
 learning how to use these processes to better effect; and 
 the machinery is being steadily improved. 
 
 The supply of white-oak staves for the United States, 
 since the Civil War, has been drawn from Arkansas and 
 Tennessee, which have been penetrated by railways. This 
 has made a vast difference in their price; but inferior 
 wood is also used, which would have a similar effect on 
 quotations. 
 
 Mahogany has been affected by exceptional influences. 
 The chief supply formerly came from Cuba and San Do- 
 mingo ; but during the rebellion in Cuba, from 1868 to 
 1878, new sources of supply were sought for in Mexico, 
 where^operations were stimulated by the unusually high 
 
18 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 prices about 1873, due to scarcity. After the close of the 
 rebellion, Cuba again furnished mahogany ; and her expor- 
 tation have since been increasing. This is sufficient to 
 account for the fall in price, apart from the fact that in- 
 ferior wood affects the quotations. 
 
 The fall in the prices of iron and steel, and all materials 
 entering into the manufacture of railroad cars, together 
 with improvements in the tools and process of manufact- 
 ure, will, in the United States, account for any decline 
 in the price of cars. The increase of strength, moreover, 
 makes a great difference in the weight to be carried, so 
 that the superiority of the new cars has caused a deprecia- 
 tion in the value of the old ones.* 
 
 The marked progress of improvements is also seen in 
 the making of boots and shoes. In 1870, the operative 
 was also a skilled shoemaker : now, he is known only as 
 an edge-trimmer, an edge-sefter, or a laster, because ma- 
 chinery has been introduced which performs a special part 
 of the manufacture. One machine trims the sole, another 
 the heel, another polishes the shoe ; another, a beating-out 
 machine, disposes of a whole row of shoes instead of one, 
 as in former days. The button-holes are now worked by 
 a machine which enables one operative to make five thou- 
 sand in a day. In the McKay sewing-machine, on which 
 four hundred pairs were sewed in a day, a small arm made 
 two movements to throw one loop of thread over the 
 needle ; but, when it occurred to the inventors to cause 
 the arm to throw one loop at each movement, the opera- 
 tive was enabled to sew eight hundred to one thousand 
 pairs in a day.f Such changes are constantly going on, 
 and it is little marvel that shoes are better made and lower 
 in price. 
 
 * I am indebted for information to Professor Arthur T. Hadley and to 
 Mr. M. N. Forney, Secretary of the Master Car-builders' Association, New 
 York. 
 
 t The Goodyear McKay welt machine sews the welt on to the upper 
 leather, and then sews the outer sole on to the welt, giving practically the 
 advantages of hand-sewed work at a less price. 
 
'i&j/'AND PRICES SIHCE 187 S 19 
 
 The fall of prices shown by Mr. Goschen can thus, with- 
 out a question, be explained by causes other than the 
 scarcity of gold. The course of progress, moreover, has 
 gone farther and in more directions than I have space 
 to describe * here. Suffice it to conclude with the facts 
 in regard to the lowering of charges for transportation, 
 which affect the prices of a great range of commodities. 
 The average rates of freight for wheat from Chicago to 
 New York f have fallen to less than 40 per cent, of the 
 rates of 1873, whether we refer to transit by rail or canal. 
 The charges for ocean transportation have fallen quite as 
 much.:}: One of the mechanical triumphs of recent years 
 has been the transformation of the old steamship into the 
 new,§ which, taken in connection with the improved grain 
 elevators and various expedients for receiving and dis- 
 charging cargoes, has warranted the statement that a 
 single sailor to-day transports two times as much as he 
 did in 1870, three times as much as in 1860, and four 
 
 *As illustrations, we may point to the character of the improvements 
 introduced in the making of glass (which led to the lahor riots at Charleroi in 
 Belgium). One new Siemens " tank furnace " does the work of eight old coal 
 furnaces, while it requires only four men instead of twenty-eight. Common 
 window glass has consequently fallen in price one-half. (See Fowler, Appreci- 
 ation of Gold, p. 39.) Again, steel rails can now be made at a less price than 
 iron rails were made a few years ago, owing to well-known inventions. Still, 
 again, in the cotton mills, spindles which revolved four thousand times in a 
 minute about 1873 now revolve ten thousand times in a minute. 
 
 In connection with the great increase of supplies, see a suggestive investi- 
 gation by Mr. Luke Hansard, in the Report of the Royal Commission on the 
 Depression of Trade, Appendix, pp. 405-414. 
 
 t United States Bureau of Statistics, January, 1885. 
 
 t See Contemporary Review, April, 1885, p. 545, where Fowler gives the 
 charges from Calcutta on jute, wheat, linseed, and rape-seed, from 1881 to 
 1884. See, also, Leroy-Beaulieu, ibid., p. 401 ; Fowler, Appreciation of Gold, 
 pp. 45, 71 ; The Public, December 22, 1881. 
 
 § The improved ship, being a better and cheaper carrying instrument, is 
 itself the cause of the depreciation in value of older ships. In fact, this is the 
 natural result of improvements. This depreciation of capitalized property, 
 owing to improvements, is Mr. Frewen's real difficulty, and is not explained by 
 the scarcity of gold. 
 
20 GOLD AND PBICES SINCE 187S 
 
 times as much as in 1850. The fall in the rates of freight 
 from Calcutta to London would alone account for the 
 fall in price of several articles in Mr. Goschen's list. The 
 tolls and pilotage on the Suez Canal * have fallen about 
 one-third since 1873. 
 
 The steady extension of the electric telegraph, together 
 with changes in methods of doing business, helps to lower 
 the cost of production of many commodities. The means 
 of instant communication with agents and correspondents 
 in opposite parts of the world wholly obviates the carry- 
 ing of large stocks of goods, and economizes the use of 
 capital like a labor-saving machine. The whole world is 
 thus opened to any dealer, and the middle-man is less 
 used than formerly. Producers are brought nearer to 
 consumers. 
 
 Of the fall of prices in his table, Mr. Goschen says, 
 " I am bound to say it appears to me that these figures 
 reveal an extraordinary state of things " ; and he thinks 
 it is due to the scarcity of gold. It has been shown con- 
 clusively, however, that, in every case investigated, a 
 cause peculiar to the commodity has been found, without 
 the need of referring to a general cause connected with 
 gold. The opening of better lands to cultivation, the 
 discovery of richer mineral deposits, the perfection and 
 cheapening of transportation by which all these distant 
 resources have become easily available, the increased mo- 
 bility of labor and capital in finding out these new 
 resources, the steady and extraordinary development of 
 mechanical and chemical improvements in a great number 
 of industries, — these are some of the main causes f which 
 have affected the prices of a variety of commodities since 
 1873. 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu, ibid., p. 4. 
 
 t Courcelle-Seneuil (Journal des Economistes, August, 1886, p. 163) finds 
 that the completion of a period within which productive railways can be built 
 has had an important influence in lowering prices since 1883. 
 
COLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 21 
 
 Laveleye, however, remarks * that improvements made 
 even greater progress in the years 1860-70 than they have 
 since then ; but that prices in the former period rose from 
 18 to 20 per cent. Why, then, he urges, can the same 
 cause have produced an opposite effect since 1873 ? To 
 this, it must be said, If improvements multiplied before 
 1873, and yet the prices of the commodities affected did 
 not fall, the expected result must have been masked or 
 counteracted by other influences. Surely, no one will con- 
 tend for a moment that improved processes in particular 
 industries will not lower the value of commodities rela- 
 tively to gold, if gold has remained unchanged in its con- 
 ditions of production. This would lead one to suppose 
 that the prices of many articles before 1873 must have 
 shown a fall, had it not been for the vast extension of 
 speculation and overtrading and the influences of the new 
 gold. But, now that the inflation and abnormal condi- 
 tions of the previous period have been left behind, the 
 effect of improvements has become more clearly apparent. 
 In fact, when one considers that, with all the unparalleled 
 development of cheapening processes since 1850 in al- 
 most every industry which ministers to human wants, 
 prices are no lower or, by the Hamburg figures, even 
 10 per cent, above the level of prices in 1847-50, one is 
 penetrated by the conviction that prices are still buoyed 
 up by the high tide of an abundant gold supply. Else 
 why should prices not be much lower than in 1850 ? " If, 
 under such circumstances," says Cairnes, f "prices did 
 
 * Contemporary Review, May, 1886, p. 621. 
 
 t " A rise in the price of commodities, if general, implies commonly a fall 
 in the value of money ; but, according to the ordinary use of language, alike 
 by economists and in common speech, money would, I apprehend, in certain 
 circumstances, be said to have fallen in value, even though the prices of large 
 classes of commodities remained unaffected. For example, supposing im- 
 provements to have been effected in some branch of production, resulting in 
 a diminished cost of the commodity, the value of money remaining the same, 
 prices would fall. If, under such circumstances, prices did not fall, that 
 could only be because money had not remained the same, but had fallen in 
 
22 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1878 
 
 not fall, that could only be because money had not re- 
 mained the same, but had fallen in value." Or it would 
 be more correct to say that the cost of producing money 
 had fallen ; for, if prices are now nearly the same as in 
 1850, in reality the cost of production of both commod- 
 ities and money has fallen, leaving them relatively to each 
 other in very much the same position as in the beginning. 
 When we once fully apprehend the influences of the 
 progress of society on prices, we cannot admit that a 
 fall of prices is connected in any necessary way with a 
 scarcity of gold. 
 
 § VI. The preceding discussion, however, does not 
 account for a general fall in prices. If the fall of prices 
 has been general, it might suggest a single cause affecting 
 all commodities, such as the scarcity of the medium by 
 which goods are exchanged. In fact, it seems to be quite 
 necessary to a theory which explains the fall in prices 
 by the scarcity of gold that the fall should be universal. 
 And this is so stated. " The most disastrous character- 
 istic," remarks Mr. Giffen,* " of the recent fall of prices 
 has been the descent all round to a lower range than that 
 of which there had been any previous experience." In 
 the case of English exports and imports, the reader will 
 find in Appendix V. a large collection of commodities 
 which have actually risen in price since 1873, although 
 that was a year of abnormally high prices. Mr. Pal- 
 value. The continuance of prices unaltered would, therefore, under such cir- 
 cumstances, amount to proof of a fall in the value of gold. Now, when, in 
 connection with this consideration, we take account of the fact that over the 
 greater portion of the field of British industry improvement is constantly tak- 
 ing place, it is obvious that the mere movements of prices here, taken without 
 reference to the conditions of production, are no sure criterion of changes in 
 the value of gold." Essays, p. 106. 
 
 ""Contemporary Review, June, 1885, p. 809. This is the ground taken by 
 Laveleye, Contemporary Review, May, 1886, p. 621. Frewen (Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury, October, 1885, p. 601) says : " Prices have all fallen more than twenty per 
 cent. . . . Prices all round are falling lower and lower still, because that circu- 
 lating medium which measures values has diminished." 
 
GOLD AND PBICES SINCE 1873 
 
 23 
 
 grave * points out a rise in price in 1886, as compared 
 with 1881, of six of the articles used in the Economist 
 table. Moreover, in the same list, comparing the period 
 before 1875 with that since 1880, sugar, tea, tobacco, 
 butcher's meat, raw silk, and leather have been at times 
 higher in the latter than in the former period. 
 
 The Hamburg tables also give additional evidence that 
 prices are not all moving in the same direction. I have 
 collected f twenty-one articles, out of the one hundred 
 quoted at Hamburg, which show an upward tendency, 
 by comparing the average prices of 1881-85 with those 
 of 1871-75. The average of the numbers representing 
 the prices of these twenty-one articles in the period 1871- 
 75 was 164.2, and in 1881-85 183.8. In the same lists 
 there can be found at least twenty-one articles $ which 
 have shown a decided tendency to fall in price. The 
 remaining articles do not show a marked movement in 
 either direction. Forsell § makes an interesting analysis 
 of the whole one hundred into two groups, classifying 
 those which show a tendency to rise and those which 
 show a tendency to fall. In the first class he includes 
 fifty-one articles, and in the second forty-nine articles, 
 with the following results in averages : — 
 
 
 1847-50. 
 
 1851-60. 
 
 1861-70. 
 
 1871-75. 
 
 1876-80. 
 
 1881-85 
 
 I. 
 
 100 
 
 125.3 
 
 130.3 
 
 147.1 
 
 143.7 
 
 146.4 
 
 I. 
 
 100 
 
 109.7 
 
 114.6 
 
 121.7 
 
 103.7 
 
 96.7 
 
 * Report of tlie Moyal Commission, 1886, Appendix, p. 3-30. The articles are 
 Jamaica rum, potatoes, flax, hemp, ashes, and tin (although tin is quoted by 
 Mr. Goschen as showing a great decline in 1883). 
 
 t 
 
 1871-75. 
 
 1881-85. 
 
 
 1871-76. 
 
 1881-85 
 
 Malt, . . 
 
 140.7 
 
 143.5 
 
 Almonds, 
 
 111.1 
 
 127 5 
 
 Buckwheat, . . 
 
 . . 131.7 
 
 135.5 
 
 Wine, . . 
 
 . . 221.9 
 
 2841 
 
 Hops, . 
 
 339.4 
 
 355.3 
 
 Champagne, 
 
 . . 121.2 
 
 124.5 
 
 Veal, . . . . 
 
 . 153.1 
 
 183.9 
 
 Cocoa, . . 
 
 156.8 
 
 230.1 
 
 Mutton, . . 
 
 135.4 
 
 158.1 
 
 Pepper, . . . 
 
 229.7 
 
 233.8 
 
 Pork, . . . 
 
 126.7 
 
 126.9 
 
 Allspice, 
 
 60.4 
 
 72.1 
 
 Butter, 
 
 . . 188.3 
 
 191.6 
 
 Rum, . 
 
 181.8 
 
 199.1 
 
 Bristles, . . . 
 
 . 201.9 
 
 225.9 
 
 Ivory, . . 
 
 . . 185.0 
 
 194.3 
 
 Buffalo horns, 
 
 . . 184.9 
 
 235.9 
 
 Flax, .... 
 
 . . 123.1 
 
 128.2 
 
 Herring, . . 
 Dried fish, . . 
 
 149.8 
 
 165.8 
 
 Gum elastic, . . 
 
 141.6 
 
 157.9 
 
 163.3 
 
 184.1 
 
 
 
 
 i Wheat, flour, rape-seed oil, linseed oil, olive oil, palm oil, allspice, rice, 
 sago, cochineal, logwood, quicksilver, salt, chalk, silk, wool, potash, pearl- 
 ash, soda, stearine candles, and wax. 
 
 § The Appreciation of Gold, etc., p. 22. 
 
24 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 
 
 Whether to draw inferences as to a scarcity of gold 
 from forty-nine articles, or to infer that gold was abun- 
 dant, according to the prices of fifty-one articles, is an 
 awkward dilemma for those who think that prices give 
 direct evidence as to the quantity of money. As Forsell 
 remarks, the theory of a scarcity of gold is incompatible 
 with the rise * in price of so many commodities. 
 
 The purchasing power of gold, moreover, has been 
 indicated in other ways, such as the higher prices paid 
 for services, domestic servants, rents for houses, and for 
 a vast number of things which, in their nature, cannot 
 be included in price-lists, but which absorb a large part 
 of every one's expenditure. 
 
 § VII. From the foregoing statements, it must be evi- 
 dent that the connection between prices and the quantity 
 of gold is not so simple as some would have us suppose. 
 But Mr. Goschen and his followers see reasons, in the 
 direct and visible demands for gold, since silver was de- 
 monetized by Germany, to believe that goldf must be 
 scarce enough to cause a general decline in prices. 
 
 Gold to the amount of nearly £200,000,000 has been required for 
 supplying Germany, the United States, and Italy with new gold 
 currencies.^ This extraordinary demand fell on a diminished supply. 
 
 *Mr. Giffen (Journal of Statistical Society, March, 1879, p. 306) refers to 
 the rise in price of textiles and metals (and their manufactures) in 1861-65, their 
 fall in 1865-68, their rise again in 1868-73, and their fall again in 1873-79 ; and 
 yet he cannot claim that there was any such corresponding changes in the 
 quantity of gold in the world. Such fluctuations drove Mulhall (Contemporary 
 Review, August, 1885) to the extreme of asserting the absence of any connec- 
 tion whatever between prices and the quantity of gold. See, also, the irregu- 
 larity of movement in the prices in Bourne's table, Journal of Statistical Society, 
 ibid., pp. 411, 412. 
 
 t Journal of Institute of Bankers, May, 1883, p. 302. Giffen (Contemporary 
 Review, June, 1885, p. 815) computes the demand in the previous thirteen 
 years of Germany at £80,000,000, of the United States at £82,000,000 (£34,- 
 000,000 for imports less exports and £48,000,000 for home production), and of 
 Italy at £20,000,000. 
 
 t Laveleye (Contemporary Review, May, 1886, p. 625) sees in the coinage by 
 various countries since 1873 a cause for alarm. The coinage of £220,000,000 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 25 
 
 The annual production of gold during the iirst five years after the 
 discoveries of 1851 averaged nearly £30,000,000. It now amounts 
 to less than £20,000,000. The new demand has been equal to the 
 total supply of ten years. At the same time, we have to reckon 
 with the normal demand for arts and manufactures,* while more 
 gold has also been required to meet the wants of an increasing pop- 
 ulation and an increased balance of transactions in all gold-using 
 countries. 
 
 No evidence is before us to prove that a fresh development of 
 banking expedients has to such an extent further economized the use 
 of gold as to neutralize this normal rate of increase. On the con- 
 trary, it is believed that, in England alone, the gold circulation has 
 grown by £20,000,000 in ten years. 
 
 Now, if the existing stock of gold in the world, in- 
 creased as it has been since 1850, has not been capable of 
 meeting the demands specified by Mr. Goschen, in what 
 way would the effects of a scarcity manifest themselves ? 
 If the insufficient quantity of gold has lowered prices, the 
 process must have shown itself at some point in the ma- 
 chinery by which commodities are exchanged. Fortu- 
 
 since that year he states to be equal to the production of ten years. It is 
 impossible, however, to judge of the demand for gold by the amounts coined, 
 because there are received at the mints foreign and domestic coins, which 
 should not be counted twice ; and old plate is also brought to be coined. 
 Mulhall probably overstates the case when he says (Contemporary Review, 
 August, 1885) the annual average coinage of the world, 1870-84, was 
 £14,000,000, of which one-half came from recoinage of old coins. One-fifth of 
 the United States gold coinage in 1885 was from foreign coins and jewellers' 
 bas, plate, etc., to the amount of about 810,000,000. At least, the coinage 
 since 1873 is not a demand additional to that referred to by Mr. Goschen. 
 But, when Laveleye (ibid., pp. (>2(j, G27) refers to the falling off in the coinage 
 of gold and silver since 1879 in England and France as evidence of a scarcity 
 of gold, he forgets that this is, on the very surface, a reason for believing 
 that the coinage is already so plentiful that no more is called for in these 
 countries. 
 
 *Soetbeer (Haterialien, p. 38) places the aminal consumption of gold in 
 the arts at 90,000 kilograms, or nearly $60,000,000, and of silver at 515,000 kilo- 
 grams, or about $21,000,000. An abundance of gold, however, will not affect 
 the demand for plate, etc., by lowering the price of such articles ; for the price 
 in gold would not change. 
 
26 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 nately, Mr. Giffen * gives an explanation as to how this 
 scarcity of gold has made itself felt : — 
 
 A sudden pressure on the stock of the precious metals at a given 
 period tends to disturb the money markets of the countries using 
 them, makes money dear, or creates a steady apprehension that it 
 may at any moment become dear, and so, by weakening the specu- 
 lation in commodities and making it really difficult for merchants 
 and traders to hold the stocks they would otherwise hold, contracts 
 business and assists a fall in prices. 
 
 And, later,f he asserts that 
 
 The rate of discount and the interest of money do not depend on 
 the scarcity or abundance of " money," using the term in its strict 
 sense, but on the scarcity or abundance of capital relative to the 
 demands of borrowers. 
 
 As a consequence, Mr. Giffen, in looking over the years 
 since 1871, has been struck with the succession of strin- 
 gencies in the money market directly traceable to the 
 difficulty of getting gold. Now, curiously enough, the 
 period before 1873 was more remarkable for these dis- 
 turbances than was the succeeding period. From 1855 to 
 1873, the rate at the Bank of England rose beyond 6 
 per cent, eleven times, and twice to 10 per cent. ; at the 
 Bank of France, for the same years, the rate rose above 
 5 per cent, ten times, and once to 9 per cent. ; at the 
 Bank of Germany, it rose six times beyond 6 per cent., 
 and once to 9 per cent. There must have been great 
 difficulty in getting gold before 1873, if we are to judge 
 from the frequency and intensity of the disturbances in 
 the money market. But there is no corresponding evi- 
 dence as to a scarcity of gold to be drawn from such dis- 
 
 * Journal of Statistical Society, June, 1879, p. 49. He claims, also (ibid., 
 p. 445), that, after a fall in prices due to a scarcity of gold, there is an apparent 
 superabundance of gold, due to the lower range of prices. Or, as Laveleye 
 puts it, "the more rare it [gold] becomes, the more it apparently exceeds the 
 demand" (Contemporary Review, May, 1886, p. 631). 
 
 t Contemporary Review, June, 1885, p. 816. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 27 
 
 turbances since 1873.* In fact, in the very machinery of 
 borrowing and lending, where any such change might 
 show itself, there is no evidence whatever of a scarcity of 
 gold. 
 
 In order to test this question thoroughly, I have com- 
 piled f the following table, which shows the total note cir- 
 culation and the amount and character of the specie 
 reserves in all the principal banks of Europe and the 
 United States (000 omitted) : — 
 
 
 1870-1874. 
 
 1885. 
 
 
 Reserves. 
 
 Total 
 note 
 circu- 
 lation. 
 
 Reserves. 
 
 Total 
 note 
 
 
 Gold. 
 
 Silver. 
 
 Gold. 
 
 Silver. 
 
 circu- 
 lation. 
 
 Banks of the United 
 
 Kingdom 
 
 Banks of Australia, 
 Hank of France, . . 
 Banks of Italy, . . . 
 National Bank of Bel- 
 Bank of the Nether- 
 lands 
 
 Bank of Austria-Hun- 
 Imperial State Bank of 
 
 Imperial Bank of Swe- 
 den, .... 
 
 Bank of Norway, . . 
 
 National Bank of Den- 
 mark 
 
 National Banks of the 
 United States, . . . 
 
 [1872] If 153,825 
 [1874] 41,380 
 [1869] 131,800 
 [1870] 15,447 
 
 [1870] 4,893 
 
 [1871] 2,109 
 
 [1871] 16,651 
 
 [1871] 80,361 
 
 [1870] 1,749 
 [1873] 7,058 
 
 [1872] 3,801 
 
 [1871] 18,900 
 
 $106,600 
 33,695 
 
 14,230 
 
 65,320 
 
 37,160 
 
 4,775 
 
 4,325 
 1,535 
 
 6,980 
 
 $198,540 
 
 20,580 
 
 274,100 
 
 88,487 
 
 40,505 
 
 62,857 
 
 119,000 
 
 429,486 
 
 7,327 
 11,794 
 
 16,877 
 
 284,561 
 
 $141,205 
 65,890 
 231,483 
 56,121 
 
 13,900 
 
 19,161 
 
 25,902 
 
 102,207 
 
 3,436 
 7,169 
 
 11,566 
 
 158,100 
 
 $217,087 
 11,203 
 
 6,540 
 
 38,366 
 
 48,646 
 
 676 
 
 777 
 
 846 
 7,900 
 
 $186,850 
 
 28,115 
 
 583,610 
 
 189,690 
 
 73,400 
 
 76,972 
 
 136,351 
 
 429,860 
 
 9,835 
 9,287 
 
 18,370 
 
 276,500 
 
 Total 
 
 $477,974 
 
 $264,620 
 
 $1,554,114 
 
 $836,140 
 
 $332,041 
 
 $2,018,840 
 
 From these figures, it will be seen that the reserves 
 in the banks of the civilized world show a very remark- 
 
 * At the Bank of England, since 1873, the rate has never been higher than 
 6 per cent, and for only ninety-six days in all, divided between four occasions 
 (in 1874, 1875, 1878, and 1882). At the Bank of France, in the same time, the 
 rate has never risen higher than 5 per cent., and for one hundred and ninety 
 days, divided between three occasions (in 1874, 1881, and 1882). At the Bank 
 of Germany, also, the rate has never risen higher than 6 per cent., and for one 
 hundred and thirty-seven days, divided between four occasions (in 1874, 1875, 
 1876, and 1882). See Report of Royal Commission on Depression of Trade, 
 Appendix, pp. 370-373. 
 
 t From figures given by Soetbeer, Materialien, etc., pp. 58-70. For France, 
 see Bulletin de Statistique Comparte, January, 1887, pp. 62, 63. 
 
28 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 able increase in gold. Although the total note circula- 
 tion was increased 29 per cent., the gold in the reserves 
 was increased 75 per cent., while the silver was also 
 increased 25 per cent. In 1870-74, the gold reserves 
 amounted to 28 per cent, of the total note circulation, 
 and constituted 64 per cent, of all the specie reserves. 
 In 1885, the gold bore a larger ratio to a larger issue 
 of paper, or 41 per cent, of the total note circulation ; 
 and, in spite of unusual accumulations of silver (in the 
 Bank of France, for example), the gold formed 71 per 
 cent, of the specie reserves. This is a very significant 
 showing. What it means, without a shadow of doubt, is 
 that the supply of gold is so abundant that the character 
 and safety of the note circulation have been improved in 
 a signal manner. In 1871-74 there was $1 of gold for 
 every |3.60 of paper circulation.* In 1885 there was 
 $1 of gold for every $2.40. 
 
 There are, moreover, strong and substantial reasons for 
 believing, on independent grounds, that gold is abundant 
 instead of scarce. When we compare the total produc- 
 tion since 1850 with that since 1492, the result is very 
 striking, and cannot be too strongly emphasized: — 
 
 
 Gold. 
 
 Silver. 
 
 1493-1850, 
 
 $3,314,550,000 
 
 $7,358,450,000 
 
 1851-1885, 
 
 4,452,525,000 
 
 2,399,475,000 
 
 In the last thirty-five years, one and one-third times as 
 much gold has been produced as in the three hundred and 
 fifty-eight yearsf preceding 1850, while only one-third 
 
 *Tn the face of these facts, Frewen's statement (ibid., p. 597) seems a little 
 wide of the mark : " Not only does the note currency diminish as the gold rep- 
 resented hy such currency diminishes, hut, ... as gold becomes scarcer and 
 prices tend to fall, so also does the entire system of credit continue to con- 
 tract." Cernusehi, the very apostle of bimetallism, himself admits that " the 
 fall in prices which is complained of is not due to what has been called a 
 scarcity of gold, — a scarcity which is purely imaginary." London Economist, 
 April 24, 188G. 
 
 f The amount in existence in 1848 is only a matter of conjecture. The 
 estimates vary from $1,000,000,000 to $3,150,000,000. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 29 
 
 as much silver has been produced in the same time. And 
 yet we hear a great deal of the phenomenal yield of the 
 silver mines of late years. What has become of this vast 
 quantity of gold ? We are fairly obliged to explain why 
 gold has not fallen in value. It certainly would have 
 fallen, had not its use been extended; and, out of the 
 extraordinary addition to the world's supply, the demands 
 of France, India, Germany, Italy, and the United States 
 have been easily met. The countries of the world are 
 yet saturated with the new gold.* Mr. Goschen speaks 
 of an addition to England's gold circulation in ten years 
 of $100,000,000 ; while, strangely enough, Mr. Giffen is 
 alarmed because there was no coinage at all in 1881-82 ! 
 Laveleye, also, is troubled because the coinage in France 
 is diminishing ! 
 
 But we hear it said constantly that the annual produc- 
 tion of gold is falling off, and that its value must rise. 
 Now, this is what Mr. S. Dana Hortonf calls the " sempi- 
 ternal object of erroneous reasoning." The value of gold 
 is affected by the total existing supply, which is very 
 large relatively to the annual supply. And yet it is true 
 that the annual production has fallen off from its highest 
 point, about 1853. Before 1840, the annual production 
 of gold amounted to about $14,000,000 : it rose as high 
 as $157,000,000 ; but in 1885 it was about $100,000,000. 
 A millionnaire, however, does not feel poor because his 
 annual increase of wealth is a few thousands less than it 
 was at its greatest: his past accumulations are still his, 
 and his yearly income is yet large. The yield from the 
 
 *Sbetbeer (Materialien, p. 70) gives the following summary of the amount 
 of gold in the civilized countries by years (in millions of dollars) : — 
 
 1877. 
 
 1878. 
 
 1879. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 
 1884. 
 
 1885. 
 
 722 
 
 712 
 
 875 
 
 947 
 
 975 
 
 1,017 
 
 1,150 
 
 1,170 
 
 1,260 
 
 t Quarterly Journal of Economics, October, 1885, p. 58. Laveleye and 
 Disraeli are addicted to the "sempiternal" fallacy. (See Contemporary 
 Review, May, 1886, p. 623.) Cernuschi, however, remarks, " The power of 
 the gramme of gold is proportionate to the whole of the gold, . . . not to the 
 importance of the annual production." Anatomy of Money, p. 11. 
 
30 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 mines to-day is enormous compared with any period pre- 
 vious to 1850, and this has been kept up for thirty-five 
 years. The longer this continues, the less important will 
 be the variations in the annual supply.* 
 
 § VIII. Even though the gold production from 1850 
 to 1885 has been great enough to meet very heavy de- 
 mands, yet it may be asked how far have the means for 
 economizing money developed of late. Mr. Giffen believes 
 no evidence exists as to an extension of credit devices 
 since 1873, that England and the United States were 
 already fully "banked" before this period, and that the 
 clearing-system on the continent shows no progress. The 
 increase in population and commodities, he urges, has not 
 only not been compensated for by any economizing expe- 
 dients, but the increased demand for gold has fallen on 
 a diminishing supply. 
 
 To examine, first, whether the issue of notes has saved 
 the use of gold in the principal countries of the world 
 since 1873, it will be necessary to compare the amounts 
 of uncovered paper, not the amounts of the total circula- 
 tion in the periods taken. To the extent, of course, to 
 which the covered circulation has increased, no extension 
 of credit has taken place. For this purpose, I have pre- 
 pared a table showing the amounts of the total circula- 
 tion, and the amounts of the total circulation less the 
 
 * The annual average production of gold and silver since 1850 is as follows : 
 
 Periods. Gold. 
 
 Silver. 
 
 1851-55 $139,077,000 
 
 $40,096,750 
 
 1856-60 140,729,000 
 
 41,177,250 
 
 1861-65 129,081,000 
 
 49,827,000 
 
 1866-70 136,036,000 
 
 59,924,000 
 
 1871-75 121,302,000 
 
 86,162,000 
 
 1876-80 120,261,000 
 
 95,515,500 
 
 1881-85 104,025,000 
 
 107,190,000 
 
 rield for the single years since 1880 is as follows : - 
 
 
 Gold. 
 
 Silver. 
 
 1881 $110,810,000 
 
 $98,418,000 
 
 1882 103,564,000 
 
 105,916,000 
 
 1883 100,822,000 
 
 108,582,000 
 
 1884 101,940,000 
 
 110,899,000 
 
 Soetbeer, Materialien, p. 1. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 
 
 31 
 
 specie reserves, in the principal countries for the years 
 1870-74 and for 1885 (000 omitted) : — 
 
 Countries. 
 
 1870-74. 
 
 1885. 
 
 
 Uncovered by 
 specie. 
 
 Total cir- 
 culation. 
 
 Uncovered 
 by specie. 
 
 Total cir- 
 culation. 
 
 Great Britain,* . . 
 France,t . . . 
 
 Italy,* 
 
 Austria-Hungary,§ . . . 
 Germany, |l ... . . 
 Russia, <1 ... 
 United States,** . . . 
 
 [1872] $44,719 
 1869] 39,739 
 1870] 168,000 
 1873] 209,678 
 1871] 135,750 
 1873] 339,652 
 1871] 505,400 
 
 $216,939 
 322,869 
 180,000 
 263,616 
 312,649 
 476,357 
 505,400 
 
 $45,644 
 135,041 
 170,000 
 188,646 
 124,500 
 525,000 
 172,000 
 
 $211,139 
 583,610 
 285,200 
 263,194 
 299,905 
 627,000 
 814,300 
 
 Total, 
 
 $1,442,938 
 
 $2,276,830 
 
 $1,360,831 
 
 $3,084,348 
 
 From these figures, it will be seen that in 1885, as com- 
 pared with the years about 1873, the uncovered circula- 
 tion decreased by $82,000,000, or 5 per cent. ; while the 
 total circulation increased by $800,000,000, or 35 per cent. 
 This indicates quite clearly the effects of the great 
 addition to the world's stock of gold and silver since 
 
 1 Soetbeer, Materialien, p. 59, and Statistical Abstract, 1884. 
 
 t The mean of the highest and the lowest circulation is given for 18(»0. 
 See Bulletin de Statistique Comjian'-e, iii., 21, and London Economist, January 
 23 and December 25, 1869. For 1885, see Soetbeer, ibid., p. 7">. 
 
 | See Relazione sulla Circolazione Cartarca, made to the Italian Chamber of 
 Deputies, March 15, 1875, Appendix, pp. 20, 41 ; and Haupt, L'Hisloire Moni- 
 taire de notre Temps, p. 274. 
 
 § See Soetbeer, ibid., pp. 64, 74 ; and Miilinen, Finances de VAutricke, p. 163. 
 
 || For 1871, the uncovered circulation is given by Soetbeer, ibid., p. 74. 
 Taking the total circulation of all the German banks (given for 1871, p. 65), 
 and supposing the Landespapiergeld to be the same in 1871 as in 1870, I get 
 the total circulation for the year 1871 instead of 1X70. 
 
 USee Bulletin de Statistique Comparh, ii., 161 ; Haupt, ibid., p. 366 ; and 
 Soetbeer, ibid., pp. 66, 75. 
 
 **For 1871, from the 674,000,000 of United States notes and National Bank 
 notes there has been deducted .5168,600,000 for notes held by the treasury and 
 the banks. No notes could be presented for specie in 1871. For 1885, from 
 $664,000,000 of United States notes and National Bank notes, $134,800,000 was 
 deducted for notes held by the treasury and the banks. The amount of specie 
 which could be drawn on by holders of either kinds of notes, to the amount of 
 $278,400,000 gold and $79,000,000 silver, was also deducted, to ascertain the 
 uncovered note circulation. Cf. Finance Report, 1886, i., p. 
 
32 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 
 
 1873. Specie to the amount of $800,000,000 has gone 
 into circulation in the form of note issues, representing 
 an equivalent amount of specie ; but gold has not been 
 economized by the use of credit in the form of notes. 
 While the total circulation of these countries has in- 
 creased 35 per cent., the paper has been much better 
 protected ; for in 1870-74 the specie was but 36 per cent, 
 of the total issues, and in 1885 the specie was 55 per cent, 
 of the total issues. From this table, then, we see where 
 the gold referred to by Mr. Goschen has gone. About 
 1750,000,000 of specie, mostly gold, has gone into circu- 
 lation since 1873, in the form of covered paper issues, 
 in the United States and Italy alone. The paper cur- 
 rency of every country except Russia has gained in 
 security, together with a large increase in many of the 
 countries. The gold supplies have not merely permitted 
 an enlarged note circulation, but have furnished a much 
 better protection to that increased issue. 
 
 In regard to the use of checks and clearing-houses 
 in economizing the use of money, Mr. Giffen is probably 
 correct in saying that this system had attained its full 
 growth in the United States and Great Britain before 
 1873 ; but an important conclusion is to be drawn from 
 this. Just to the extent to which the system may have 
 been perfected is it one which expands with the expan- 
 sion of business. In the same proportion that transactions 
 increase, this means of economizing the use of money will 
 (approximately) increase. The clearing-system, in fact, is 
 one which grows with the work to be done.* Certainly, 
 
 * How well this is recognized may be seen by the accepted custom of meas- 
 uring the extent of business by the figures of the clearings. " The returns of 
 the London Clearing-house," says Mr. Palgrave, u may be regarded as indi- 
 cating approximately the value of the business of the country as indicated by 
 price." Report of Royal Commission, Appendix, p. 330. In the United States, 
 of all the receipts by the 1,966 national banks on one day in 1881, 95 per cent. 
 were made up of forms of credit, exclusive even of circulating notes ; while 
 in New York City this percentage was 98.7. At all the banks, only .65 of 1 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 33 
 
 this is true of wholesale transactions ; while in retail trade 
 the use of checks is steadily widening. An elastic sys- 
 tem, so far as it is ready to perform exchanges in propor- 
 tion to their increase, meets the need of more money the 
 moment it appears. If there has been no increase in 
 clearings under such conditions, it only shows that trans- 
 actions have not increased, not that there is any less 
 efficacy in the system. Where checks are in general use, 
 other forms of credit are of less importance.* 
 
 On the continent, the borrower at a bank will, as a rule, 
 prefer notes instead of the right to draw on a deposit by 
 checks. Yet, even at the Bank of France, 66 per cent, 
 of the transactions in 1877-78 were effected without the 
 use of notes and coin.f But, on the other hand, the 
 Chambre de Compensation, established in Paris in 1872- 
 73 (including twelve of the large banks), with the help of 
 the Bank of France, performed exchanges % the first year 
 to the value of 1320,000,000, which in 1883-84 had risen 
 only as high as $843,000,000. Clearing-houses were also 
 established in Austria and Italy in 1872, but they have 
 made little gain. The exchanges at the Saldirungs-verein 
 in Vienna (formed by the four old banks of the Saldosaal of 
 1864, together with ten other large banks) were no greater 
 in 1885 than in 1872, being at that time about $200,000,- 
 000 a year. The clearings of the Stanze di Compenzatione 
 
 per cent, of gold was used ; and, in New York City, only .27 of 1 per cent, of 
 gold was used. See Report of the Comptroller of the Currency, 1881, p. 14. Cf. 
 also Journal Statistical Society, June, 1865, " Country Clearings." 
 
 * The use of bills of exchange in Great Britain seems to be falling off, with 
 an increased use of checks. Cf. Sauerbeck, Prices of Commodities, p. 8. 
 
 t Cf. Journal of Statistical Society, 1884, p. 493. If MulhaU's Dictionary of 
 Statistics can be trusted, the banking of the world since 1840 has increased 
 elevenfold, — three times faster than commerce, and thirty times faster than 
 population. Leroy-Beaulieu reports that "checks have become everywhere 
 a more common instrument of payment" (Revue des Deux Mondes, May, 1886, 
 p. 403). 
 
 t The figures for the continent are taken from Rauchberg's Die Entwick- 
 elung des Ctearing-verkehres, in the Bulletin de I'Institut International de Statis- 
 tique, i., p. 140, etc. 
 
34 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 187S 
 
 in the several cities of Italy show a gain from $129,000,- 
 000 in 1883 to 1348,000,000 in 1885, with some promise 
 for the future. But, in Germany, a decisive advance was 
 made in 1883, under the leadership of the Reichsbank, in 
 the establishment of clearing-houses in Berlin, Hamburg, 
 Frankfort, Bremen, Cologne, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Breslau, 
 and Dresden. In the year 1884, the exchanges amounted 
 to the large sum of $3,032,000,000. Although not so 
 large as the $30,000,000,000 a year in New York or Lon- 
 don, it is a very promising increase in the means of econo- 
 mizing the use of specie on the continent. 
 
 In the international trade, also, as Leroy-Beaulieu * sug- 
 gests, it is not necessary that the precious metals should 
 increase as rapidly as commerce expands. The ocean 
 and land telegraph, the shortening of routes by canals, 
 and the extraordinary improvements in the ocean steam- 
 ships have resulted in economizing the shipments of gold 
 between different countries. A few years ago, twelve or 
 fifteen days were taken up in carrying gold from New 
 York to London ; but now six days are sufficient. For- 
 merly, gold was ninety days coming from Australia to 
 England; while only thirty-five days are now required. 
 In this way, gold being a less time in passing from person 
 to person in international transactions, greater rapidity of 
 circulation is insured, with all the effects of an increase 
 in quantity.! The use of foreign bills of exchange is as 
 great as ever between bankers in different countries ; 
 
 *Mevue des Deux Mondes, May, 1886, p. 402. This is more or less con- 
 firmed by Bourne's table (Journal of Statistical Society, 1879, p. 411). 
 
 t Fowler [Appreciation of Gold, pp. 12, 13) says of English trade: "The 
 total of our imports and exports from 1866 to 1875 was in round figures £6,000,- 
 000,000, and the total of bullion and specie imported and exported was, in the 
 same period, £530,000,000 ; but the total of our imports and exports from 1876 
 to 1885 was £6,700,000,000, and this vast amount was moved with the aid of 
 £493,000,000 of bullion and specie. If we take the gold alone, we used about 
 £327,000,000 in the former decade against £278,000,000 in the latter." If we 
 can trust Mulhall, in 1861-70 the amount of the precious metals transported 
 was 12 per cent, of the sea-borne commerce of the world, while in 1871-80 it 
 was only 8 per cent. 
 
GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1873 35 
 
 while there is far greater activity of late in the trans- 
 mission of securities which discharge international liabili- 
 ties as well as in the extended use of international money 
 orders.* 
 
 § IX. To get more light on the question whether gold 
 has risen relatively to all commodities from causes affect- 
 ing gold itself, it would be profitable to examine into the 
 movement of prices in India ; f but this will be deferred 
 until it can be discussed more fully. 
 
 It will be as well to close the present study by referring 
 briefly to the argument of the English writers, % that a 
 scarcity of gold has brought about a fall in rents, profits, 
 and wages. It will be recalled at once, in regard to rents, 
 that a marked characteristic of the period since 1873 has 
 been the opening up of new and fertile lands, whose prod- 
 ucts have been transported at a greatly diminished rate. 
 But this in itself is a reason why lands in the older 
 countries should be thrown out of cultivation, and why 
 rents should be lowered. This phenomenon, then, can be 
 accounted for on other grounds than the scarcity of gold. 
 
 In attributing the fall in the rate of profits to the 
 general fall of prices (due to a single cause, the scarcity 
 of gold), these writers fall into an error which has been 
 already thoroughly exposed by Mr. Mill,§ who pointed 
 
 * In the countries composing the Postal Union in 1885, the issue of inter- 
 national money orders had risen to $60,000,000, and the issue of domestic 
 money orders to the surprising amount of $1,821,000,000. See Statistique 
 Ginerale du Service Posted, Berne, 1886. In the United States alone domestic 
 money orders have increased $80,000,000 since 1873. I am much indebted for 
 information to Mr. C. F. Macdonald, of the Post-office Department. 
 
 t These prices, so far as published, can be found in Barbour's Theory of 
 Bimetallism ; in J. E. O'Conor's Report on Prices and Wages in India, 1886, 
 Government of India, Department of Finance and Commerce ; and in the 
 Report of the Royal Commission on Depression of Trade, Appendix, pp. 331-342, 
 378-382. 
 
 JFrewen, ibid., p. 399; Giffen, Journal of Statistical Society, 1879, p. 57, 
 and Contemporary Review, June, 1885, p. 816 ; the writer in the Edinburgh 
 Review, July, 1886, p. 39 ; and Sauerbeck, ibid., p. 42. 
 
 § Principles of Political Economy, B. IV., chap, iv., §1. 
 
36 GOLD AND PRICES SINCE 1S73 
 
 out that " the fall of price, which if confined to one 
 commodity really does lower the profits of the producer, 
 ceases to have that effect as soon as it extends to all com- 
 modities." In some industries, however, owing to changes 
 in relative demand and supply, intense competition has set 
 in since 1873, and producers have necessarily submitted to 
 lowered profits. But, in so far as prices have fallen in all 
 industries alike, that cannot have been the cause of a gen- 
 eral fall of profits. 
 
 If, however, labor has not fallen in price, while other 
 things have fallen, "what has really taken place," says 
 Mr. Mill, in the connection already quoted, " is a rise of 
 wages ; and it is that, and not the fall of prices, which 
 has lowered the profits of capital." It is quite certain 
 that there has been no fall of real wages since 1873, while 
 there is good reason to suppose that they have risen.* In 
 the United States, money wages may have fallen slightly 
 in some industries ; but an allowance must be made for 
 the depreciation of paper previous to 1879. American 
 producers have been enabled to sell at lower prices, and 
 yet pay relatively higher wages, only by a gain in effi- 
 ciency. As a typical case, the accompanying facts are 
 furnished me by a manufacturer from his own books : — 
 
 December, 1867. 
 " 1876. 
 
 " 1886. 
 
 Average wages per day. 
 
 $2.05 
 1.71 
 1.79 
 
 Amount paid for a given 
 piece of work. 
 
 $1.00 
 .78* 
 •37A 
 
 For Germany, Soetbeer gives a variety of evidence to 
 show the rise of wages f since 1873. Money wages in 
 Italy,$ which were indicated by the number 179 in 1873, 
 
 ! See Report of Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1884, and Report 
 on the Statistics of Wages, United States Census, 1880, vol. xx. 
 
 t Materialien, pp. 88, 90, 91. 
 
 I See Moainii'nlo dei Prezzi di Alcuni Generi Alimentari dal 1862 al 1S85 
 (INKIi), issued by the Italian Department of Agriculture, p. xxvii. 
 
GOLD JltSl^PBICES SWCE 1873 37 
 
 were in 1884 expressed by 222. But it is not necessary 
 to cite further evidence on this point. The fact that 
 wages have risen tends to confirm the belief that the 
 fall of prices is due chiefly to the introduction of im- 
 provements. 
 
 § X. In the study of this subject, we have been con- 
 fronted at the outset with a fall of prices since 1873 which 
 happened to coincide with the demonetization of silver by 
 Germany and the United States, and the beginning of a 
 new epoch in the production of many commodities. To 
 assume that because the fall of prices coincided with the 
 demonetization of silver it was due to an appreciation of 
 gold, without considering whether the coincident phenom- 
 ena were traceable to entirely distinct causes, is to fall 
 into the fallacy of post hoc propter hoe. The forces which 
 fix the level of prices at any time, moreover, are far too 
 complex to admit of the inference that, because prices 
 have fallen seriously, gold has become scarce. On the 
 other hand, all the phenomena presented to show the 
 scarcity of gold are explicable on other grounds. 
 
 But — what is of very grave importance — we must 
 admit that great changes in prices may take place irre- 
 spective of the scarcity or abundance of the precious 
 metals. From this, it follows that, as a standard of pay- 
 ment for contracts, neither gold nor silver, nor even gold 
 and silver (if they should ever be firmly 3 T oked together 
 by international bimetallism), will change so as to corre- 
 spond to the changes in prices brought about by a variety 
 of causes independent of the quantity of the precious 
 metals. Under such circumstances, the attention given 
 to the question of a proper standard of deferred pay- 
 ments can never be too careful. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Babbotjb (D.). The Theory of Bi- 
 metallism and the Effects of the 
 Partial Demonetization of Silver 
 on England and India. London: 
 Cassell & Co. 1885. 
 
 Botjknb (S.). On Some Phases of 
 the Silver Question. Journal of 
 the Stat. Soc, June, 1879. 
 
 Foksell (H.). The Appreciation 
 of Gold and the Fall in Prices of 
 Commodities. London : Effing- 
 ham Wilson. 1886. [Transl. from 
 the Swedish.] 
 
 Foxwbll (H. S.). Irregularity of 
 Employment and Fluctuations of 
 Prices. Edinburgh: Co-operative 
 Printing Co. 1886. 
 
 Fowler (W.). Appreciation of 
 Gold. An Essay. London: Cas- 
 sell & Co. 1886. 
 
 . The Present Low Prices 
 
 and their Causes. Contemp. Rev., 
 April, 1885. 
 
 Fkewes" (M.). Gold Scarcity and 
 the Depression of Trade. Nine- 
 teenth Century, Oct., 1885. 
 
 Gibbs (H. H.). The Bimetallic 
 Standard of Value. Fortn. Rev., 
 Oct., 1886. 
 
 Gipfen (P.). On the Fall of Prices 
 of Commodities in Recent Tears. 
 Journal of the Stat. Soc, March, 
 1879. 
 
 . Prices of Exports from 1861- 
 
 1877. Ibid., 1879, p. 305. 
 
 Trade Depression and Low 
 
 Prices. Contemp. Rev., June, 
 1885. 
 
 Goschen (G. J.). On the Probable 
 Results of an Increase in the Pur- 
 chasing Power of Gold. Journal 
 of the Institute of Bankers, April, 
 1883. 
 
 Hansard (L.). On the Prices of 
 Some Commodities during the 
 Decade 1874-1883. Ibid., Dec, 
 1884. 
 
 Hoare (H. ). The Appreciation of 
 
 Gold and its Connection with the 
 
 Depression of Trade. London: 
 
 Edward Stanford. 1886. 
 Hoeton (S. D.). Rise in the Value 
 
 of Gold. Report on the Inter- 
 national Monetary Conference of 
 
 1S78, pp. 385-408. 
 Jevons (W. S.). The Variation of 
 
 Prices. Journal of the Stat. Soc., 
 
 June, 1865. 
 Laveleye (E. de). The Economic 
 
 Crisis and its Causes. Contemp. 
 
 Rev., May, 1886. 
 LEEOT-BBAULrEir (P.). La Baisse 
 
 des Prix et la Crise Commerciale. 
 
 Revue des Deux Mondes, May 15, 
 
 1886. 
 . The Fall in the Price of 
 
 Commodities : Its Cause and Effect. 
 
 Journal of the Stat. Soc. [Transl. 
 
 from Economiste Francais, April 
 
 12 and 19, 1884.] 
 
 Les Variations des Prix 
 
 depuis Soixante Ans. Ficon. Fran- 
 cais, Feb. 19, 26. 
 
 Mulhali, (M. G.). Balance Sheet 
 of the World for the Tears 1870- 
 1880. London: Edward Stanford. 
 2d ed. 1881. 
 
 . History of Prices since the 
 
 Tear 1850. London: Longmans. 
 1885. 
 
 . Prices and the Gold Supply. 
 
 Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1885. 
 
 Nasse (E.). Die Wahrimgsfrage in 
 Deutschland. Preussische Jahr- 
 biicher, March, 1885. 
 
 O'Couoe (J. E.). Prices and Wages 
 in India, Government of India, 
 Department of Finance and Com- 
 merce. Calcutta. 1886. 
 
 Patterson (R. H). Is the Value 
 of Money rising in England, and 
 throughout the World? Journal 
 of the Stat. Soc., March, 1880. 
 
 Piemez (E.). La Crise: Examen 
 de la Situation ficonomique de la 
 Belgique. Brussels. 1884. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 39 
 
 Ratjchbebg (H.). Die Entwickel- 
 ung des Clearing-verkehres, eine 
 vergleichende Statistische Studie. 
 Bulletin de I'Institut International 
 de Statistique, I., 1886. 
 
 Sauerbeck (A.). Prices of Com- 
 modities and the Precious Metals. 
 Journal of the Stat. Soc, Sept., 
 1886. 
 
 Schmidt (H.). The Silver Question 
 in its Social Aspect. London: 
 Effingham Wilson. 1886. 
 
 Soetbeeb (A. ). Materialien zur Er- 
 lauterung und Beurtheilung der 
 wirtschaftlichen Edel-metallver- 
 haltnisse und der Wahrungsfrage. 
 Berlin : Puttkammer & Muhl- 
 brecht. 2d ed. 1886. 
 
 . Graphische Darstellungen 
 
 in Bezug auf die Silberfrage. 
 
 Berlin : Puttkammer & Miihl- 
 brecht. 1886. 
 
 Zur Statistik der Edel- 
 
 metalle, 1876 bis 1880. Jahrbiicher 
 fur National-Oek. N. E, III., B. 
 1881. 
 
 Unsigned. Dearness of Gold. 
 Quart. Rev., Oct., 1886. 
 
 . The Scarcity of Gold. Edin- 
 burgh Rev., Jan., 1886. 
 
 Modern Trade and the 
 
 Means of Exchange. Ibid., July, 
 
 1886. 
 . The Silver Question plainly 
 
 and practically considered by a 
 
 Eree Trader. Liverpool: Walms- 
 
 ley. 1886. 
 . Third Report of the Boyal 
 
 Commission on the Depression of 
 
 Trade and Industry. Pari. Doc, 
 
 1886. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 TRICES IX GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 A. 
 
 PRICES PUBLISHED BY THE LONDON "ECONOMIST," S. BOURNE, 
 AND R. H. I. PALGRAVE. 
 
 The first use of index numbers to represent the changes of prices 
 was made by the late Mr. Newmarch in a table published in the 
 " Annual Commercial History and Review " of the London Economist. 
 The table is intended to show the movement of prices, during a series 
 of years, for twenty-two articles in the English wholesale markets. 
 Taking the average price for 1845-50, in every case, as the standard, 
 represented by one hundred, the ratio of the price on January 1 and 
 July 1 of every year is compared with this, the result being, in fact, 
 a percentage. The sum of these percentages for twenty-two articles 
 is the index number for the year, as twenty-two hundred is the index 
 number for 1845-50. Division by twenty-two reduces the series of 
 index numbers to average percentages. The articles selected are as 
 follows : — 
 
 Coffee, sugar, tea, tobacco, wheat, butcher's meat, Surat cotton, raw silk, 
 flax and hemp, wool, indigo, oils, timber, tallow, leather, copper, iron, lead, 
 tin, Pernambuco cotton, cotton yarn, cotton cloth. 
 
 While probably the best known of all tables, the figures of the 
 Economist are open to serious objections: (1) As the editors an- 
 nounce, the table "does not, of course, present a full and accurate 
 representation of the variations of prices, inasmuch as it cannot allow 
 for the relative importance of the different articles." Wheat, for 
 example, counts for no more than indigo. (2) The quotations on a 
 given day do not show the state of prices for the year. (3) The 
 articles selected are too few in number to insure a proper view of 
 prices in general. (4) The commodities are injudiciously chosen. 
 There are four articles of cotton, causing serious distortion in the 
 years 1862-67, and a disproportionate number of so-called raw ma- 
 terials. The continuity of the Economist table since 1850 (inter- 
 
ii APPENDIX 
 
 rupted only for the years 1852, 1854-56) explains the importance 
 ascribed to it. 
 
 In the Journal of the Statistical Society (June, 1879, pp. 413-417), 
 Mr. Bourne corrected the figures of the Economist by using only one 
 quotation of cotton goods instead of four (the average of the four) 
 and by adding coal. His table contains the prices of only twenty 
 articles, and ends with 1879, but, in other respects, is like that of the 
 Economist. 
 
 Mr. Bourne also constructed a table from the prices of articles in 
 the country of their production, using the average prices of the years 
 1872-77 as the basis for comparison. His figures are taken from 
 " the average of the years' transactions shown in the Statistical Ab- 
 stracts for Foreign Countries and for Colonial Possessions, issued from 
 the Board of Trade," and run from 1860 to 1879, but for only seven 
 articles, — wheat, cotton, wine, silk, rice, opium, and tea. 
 
 In order to get a comparison with some Indian prices, which date 
 back only to 1865, Mr. K. H. Inglis Palgrave, in the Appendix to the 
 Third Report of the Royal Commission on Depression of Trade and 
 Industry, 1886, p. 330, rearranged the figures of the Economist by 
 taking the prices of the years 1865-69, instead of the years 1845-50, 
 as the basis for comparison. 
 
 Realizing the insufficiency of the method adopted in constructing 
 the Economist table, Mr. Palgrave prepared another table, based on 
 the prices of 1865-69, " in which allowance is made for the ' relative 
 importance ' of each of the articles selected, which are the same as 
 those taken in the Economist." The relative importance of an article 
 is reached by finding the relative proportions of the home trade in it 
 (taking into account both quantities and values) to the total home 
 trade in the twenty-two commodities. For example, in the year 1873, 
 the home trade in cotton (raw) was £48,000,000, and in indigo 
 £800,000, out of £306,450,000 for all the twenty-two articles. So cot- 
 ton is assigned an importance of three hundred and forty-six, and 
 indigo of only six, out of twenty-two hundred, the standard index 
 number. Of course, both his tables are open to the same objections 
 as that of the Economist, except in the matter of "relative impor- 
 tance." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 
 Economist Table. 
 
 Bourne' 
 
 s Table. 
 
 Palgrave's Tables. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Economist 
 
 Preceding 
 corrected for 
 
 
 
 
 
 Basis of 18V ,-,. 
 
 on basis 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of 1865-69. 
 
 relative im- 
 portance. 
 
 
 GO 
 
 a ■£ 
 o _ a> 
 
 •at, 
 
 •a 
 
 at © 
 
 o « 
 
 u - 
 O CO 
 
 05 
 
 a? 
 
 oPn 
 
 m 
 
 _- ° 
 
 a o 
 
 Ojll 
 
 to 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 Z 
 
 to 
 
 gl 
 
 n 
 
 a 
 o 
 o 
 u 
 
 © 
 
 
 K 
 
 M P* 
 
 W 
 
 a 
 
 Pj 
 
 z, 
 
 CM 
 
 1845-60 
 
 2200 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1851 Jan. 1 
 
 2293 
 
 104 
 
 103 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1853 Julyl 
 
 2451 
 
 111 
 
 114 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1857 
 
 2996 
 
 136 
 
 140 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1858 Jan. 1 
 
 2612 
 
 118 
 
 123 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1859 " 
 
 2543 
 
 115 
 
 118 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1860 " 
 
 2692 
 
 122 
 
 123 
 
 94 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1861 " 
 
 2727 
 
 123 
 
 124 
 
 94 
 
 113 
 
 
 
 
 
 1862 " 
 
 2878 
 
 130 
 
 125 
 
 95 
 
 116 
 
 
 
 
 
 1863 " 
 
 3492 
 
 168 
 
 144 
 
 109 
 
 143 
 
 
 
 
 
 1864 " 
 
 3787 
 
 172 
 
 151 
 
 115 
 
 170 
 
 
 
 
 
 1865 
 
 3575 
 
 162 
 
 138 
 
 105 
 
 1761 
 
 
 
 f23C6 
 
 108 
 
 1866 " 
 
 3564 
 
 161 
 
 141 
 
 107 
 
 132 | 
 
 
 
 2434 
 
 111 
 
 1867 " 
 
 3024 
 
 137 
 
 128 
 
 98 
 
 120 J- 
 
 2200 
 
 100 
 
 \ 2179 
 
 99 
 
 1868 " 
 
 2682 
 
 122 
 
 122 
 
 93 
 
 116 1 
 111 J 
 
 
 
 | 2058 
 
 93 
 
 1869 " 
 
 2666 
 
 121 
 
 118 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 1.1963 
 
 89 
 
 1870 " 
 
 2689 
 
 122 
 
 119 
 
 91 
 
 111 
 
 1995 
 
 91 
 
 1975 
 
 90 
 
 1871 " 
 
 2590 
 
 118 
 
 118 
 
 90 
 
 105 
 
 1981 
 
 90 
 
 2016 
 
 93 
 
 1872 " 
 
 2835 
 
 129 
 
 133 125 
 
 101 
 
 108 
 
 2132 
 
 97 
 
 2197 
 
 100 
 
 1873 " 
 
 2947 
 
 134 
 
 142 132 
 
 108 
 
 107 
 
 2237 
 
 102 
 
 2298 
 
 104 
 
 1874 " 
 
 2891 
 
 131 
 
 136 127 
 
 103 
 
 99 
 
 2207 
 
 100 
 
 2378 
 
 108 
 
 1875 " 
 
 2778 
 
 126 
 
 130 124 
 
 99 
 
 94 
 
 2098 
 
 95 
 
 2125 
 
 97 
 
 1876 " 
 
 2711 
 
 123 
 
 123 
 
 94 
 
 95 
 
 2044 
 
 93 
 
 2186 
 
 99 
 
 1877 " 
 
 2723 
 
 124 
 
 120 
 
 96 
 
 97 
 
 2064 
 
 94 
 
 2205 
 
 100 
 
 1878 " 
 
 2529 
 
 115 
 
 118 
 
 90 
 
 
 1910 
 
 87 
 
 2081 
 
 95 
 
 1879 " 
 
 2202 
 
 100 
 
 106 
 
 80 
 
 
 1676 
 
 76 
 
 1806 
 
 82 
 
 1880 " 
 
 2538 
 
 115 
 
 
 
 
 1918 
 
 87 
 
 1967 
 
 89 
 
 1881 " 
 
 2376 
 
 108 
 
 
 
 
 1782 
 
 81 
 
 2054 
 
 93 
 
 1882 " 
 
 2435 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 
 1830 
 
 83 
 
 1908 
 
 87 
 
 1883 " 
 
 2342 
 
 107 
 
 
 
 
 1755 
 
 80 
 
 1924 
 
 88 
 
 " July 1 
 
 2220 
 
 101 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1884 Jan. 1 
 
 2221 
 
 101 
 
 
 
 
 1C60 
 
 75 
 
 1750 
 
 80 
 
 " Julyl 
 
 2170 
 
 98 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1885 Jan. 1 
 
 2098 
 
 95 
 
 
 
 
 1562 
 
 70 
 
 1669 
 
 76 
 
 " Julyl 
 
 2048 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1886 Jan. 1 
 
 2023 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 
 1509 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 TABLE B. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY W. S. JEVONS. 
 
 In 1863, Professor W. Stanley Jevons published a pamphlet 
 entitled A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold ascertained, and its Social 
 Effects set forth. This was followed in 1865 by a paper in the 
 Journal of the Statistical Society, vol. xxviii., pp. 294-320, on " The 
 Variation of Prices and the Value of the Currency since 1782 " ; and, 
 in 1869, by a letter to the Economist, vol. xxvii., pp. 530-532, on " The 
 Depreciation of Gold." The three papers are reprinted in his col- 
 lected Investigations in Currency and Finance (London, 1884). 
 
iv APPENDIX 
 
 In his first pamphlet, Jevons collated from various sources, chiefly 
 from the Economist, the prices of thirty-nine articles, namely : — 
 
 I., silver, tin, copper, lead, bar iron, pig iron, tin plates: II., palm oil, 
 linseed oil, tallow, hides, leather, timber, logwood, indigo; III., cotton (three 
 grades), wool, silk, flax, hemp ; IV., wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, peas ; 
 V., hay, clover, straw, beef, mutton, pork, butter; VI., sugar, spirits, tea, 
 pepper. 
 
 These prices were reduced in the following manner. The average 
 of the monthly prices during each year was calculated, — apparently, 
 the arithmetical mean was taken, though this is not stated. From 
 the yearly prices thus obtained, the simple arithmetical average price 
 of each commodity for the six years, 1845-50, was first drawn ; and, 
 with this six years' average as a base, the average price of every com- 
 modity for every year from 1845 to 1862 was compared. The results 
 were expressed in percentages, the average of every commodity for 
 1845-50 being expressed by one hundred. When, however, the percent- 
 ages of the thirty-nine commodities were averaged for any one year, 
 in order to secure the final indicator of the state of general prices for 
 that year, Jevons calculated the geometrical mean of the percentages. 
 Substantially the same method was followed in the paper of 1865 in 
 the Statistical Journal; but, in this case, the final result was indicated 
 only by a diagram, no tables being given of general prices. The 
 method was again used in the Economist letter of 1869 ; and this time 
 a table was given, indicating for selected years before 1847, and for 
 all years between 1847 and 1869, the course of average prices of 
 " about fifty of the chief articles of commerce," which, however, are 
 not further specified. As to the uses of the arithmetical or geomet- 
 rical mean, see a note in this Journal, ante, pp. 83-86. 
 
 Column one gives Jevons's figures of general prices as calculated 
 in the Serious Fall. Column two gives the figures of the Economist 
 letter, in which the average for 1849 is taken as one hundred. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Average of 1845- 
 60 taken as 100. 
 
 Average of 1849 
 
 Years. 
 
 Average of 1845- 
 
 Average of 1849 
 
 
 taken as 100. 
 
 
 50 taken as 100. 
 
 taken as 100. 
 
 1789 
 
 
 133 
 
 1855 
 
 117.6 
 
 125 
 
 1799 
 
 
 202 
 
 1856 
 
 122.5 
 
 129 
 
 1809 
 
 
 245 
 
 1857 
 
 128.8 
 
 132 
 
 1819 
 
 
 175 
 
 1858 
 
 114.2 
 
 118 
 
 1829 
 
 
 124 
 
 1859 
 
 116.0 
 
 120 
 
 1839 
 
 
 144 
 
 1860 
 
 117.9 
 
 124 
 
 1845 
 
 104.41 
 
 
 
 1861 
 
 115.1 
 
 123 
 
 1846 
 
 105.4 
 
 
 
 1862 
 
 113.4 
 
 124 
 
 1847 
 
 110.8 
 
 >100 
 
 122 
 
 1863 
 
 
 123 
 
 1848 
 
 94.1 
 
 106 
 
 1864 
 
 
 122 
 
 1849 
 
 89.6 
 
 
 100 
 
 1865 
 
 
 121 
 
 1850 
 
 92.1 
 
 
 101" 
 
 1866 
 
 
 128 
 
 1861 
 
 92 4 
 
 103 
 
 1867 
 
 
 118 
 
 1852 
 
 93.8 
 
 101 
 
 1868 
 
 
 120 
 
 1853 
 
 111.3 
 
 116 
 
 1869 
 
 
 119 
 
 185-1 
 
 120.7 
 
 130 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TABLE C. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY A. ELLIS. 
 
 In the London Statist of June 8, 1878, Mr. Arthur Ellis published 
 a table of the prices of twenty-five articles, taking his quotations and 
 quantities from the Board of Trade returns for imports. The prices 
 of the year 1869 were taken as a standard for comparison ; but the 
 years compared are only 1859, 1873, 1876, and the first quarter of 
 1878. Mr. Ellis used certain index numbers to indicate the relative 
 importance of commodities, — e.g., cotton is rated at nineteen and 
 indigo at one. The number 1000 multiplied by the index yields the 
 standard for 1869, with which other years are compared. By this 
 means, "the purchasing power of money can be arrived at in the 
 various periods." 
 
 
 
 
 RELATIVE COST IN 
 
 
 Articles imported 
 
 Index 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 or produced. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 
 1869 
 
 
 
 First 
 
 
 
 1859. 
 
 Stan'd. 
 
 1873. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Quarter 
 1878. 
 
 Animals, oxen . . 
 
 8 
 
 6,300 
 
 8,000 
 
 7,700 
 
 9,670 
 
 9,115 
 
 Animals, sheep .... 
 
 6 
 
 6,200 
 
 6,000 
 
 7,470 
 
 7,460 
 
 8,020 
 
 Butter 
 
 2 
 
 1,850 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,050 
 
 2,200 
 
 2,170 
 
 Cheese 
 
 
 1 
 
 810 
 
 1,000 
 
 950 
 
 880 
 
 1,110 
 
 Coffee 
 
 
 1 
 
 1,110 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,430 
 
 1,540 
 
 1,500 
 
 "Wheat 
 
 
 15 
 
 13,270 
 
 15,000 
 
 18,750 
 
 15,030 
 
 17,655 
 
 Barley 
 
 
 3 
 
 2,630 
 
 3,000 
 
 3,100 
 
 2,200 
 
 3,230 
 
 Maize 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1,990 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,050 
 
 1,900 
 
 2,000 
 
 Flour 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4,110 
 
 4,000 
 
 5,370 
 
 4,570 
 
 5,200 
 
 Spirits 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1,020 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,230 
 
 1,020 
 
 1,005 
 
 Sugar 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4,230 
 
 4,000 
 
 3,900 
 
 3,410 
 
 3,640 
 
 Tea . 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3,120 
 
 3,000 
 
 2,840 
 
 2,840 
 
 2,635 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 910 
 
 1,000 
 
 910 
 
 1,000 
 
 945 
 
 Wine . 
 
 
 2 
 
 2,230 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,480 
 
 2,290 
 
 2,325 
 
 Cotton 
 
 19 
 
 11,520 
 
 19,000 
 
 14,660 
 
 11,010 
 
 10,540 
 
 Indigo 
 
 1 
 
 820 
 
 1,000 
 
 760 
 
 650 
 
 655 
 
 Max .... 
 
 3 
 
 2,930 
 
 3,000 
 
 2,660 
 
 2,660 
 
 3,130 
 
 Hides . ... 
 
 1 
 
 1,070 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,190 
 
 1,240 
 
 910 
 
 Coal . . ... 
 
 8 
 
 7,720 
 
 8,000 
 
 17,430 
 
 9,060 
 
 8,065 
 
 Copper . . . 
 
 1 
 
 1,530 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,250 
 
 1,140 
 
 1,010 
 
 Iron, raw 
 
 2 
 
 1,980 
 
 2,000 
 
 4,300 
 
 2,160 
 
 1,855 
 
 Silk 
 
 2 
 
 1,670 
 
 2,000 
 
 1,720 
 
 1,570 
 
 1,475 
 
 Tallow 
 
 1 
 
 1,220 
 
 1,000 
 
 900 
 
 940 
 
 880 
 
 Wood. ... 
 
 2 
 
 2,240 
 
 2,000 
 
 2,480 
 
 2,190 
 
 2,160 
 
 Wool 
 
 7 
 
 9,090 
 
 7,000 
 
 7,490 
 
 7,980 
 
 7,245 
 
 
 100 
 
 91,570 
 
 100,000 
 
 115,060 
 
 96,610 
 
 98,475 
 
VI 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TABLE D. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY MR. GIFFEN. 
 
 In a Report to the English Board of Trade in 1885 on the Prices of 
 Imports and Exports from 1861 to 1877, Mr. Robert Giffen presented 
 a table of prices for exports in the period from 1840 to 1883, and for 
 imports from 1854 to 1883. The table includes thirty-five articles, 
 with index numbers in which the relative importance of the articles 
 is expressed. " To get the ' index number,' my plan has been to 
 ascertain the percentage proportions of the value of the exports of 
 each enumerated article to the value of the whole export trade, 
 in alternate years since 1861." (Journal of Statistical Society, 1879, 
 pp. 66-68, 305-321.) Having ascertained the proportion of the value 
 of the exports of each article to the whole export trade, he adds 
 together the numbers thus obtained for the thirty-five articles. In 
 this way, he obtains an initial index number, which he fixes upon as 
 65.8 for exports. In a similar way, he settles upon 81.16 for imports. 
 " An index number being thus formed, an average rise or fall may be 
 shown by calculating the percentage of the rise or fall of each article 
 on the portion of the index number assigned to it, the differences 
 between the percentages of increase or decrease constituting an addi- 
 tion to or a reduction from the index number, which immediately 
 shows whether there has been an average rise or fall and how much." 
 See also Contemporary Review, June, 1885, p. 812, for later figures. 
 In the appendix to the Third Report of the Royal Commission on the 
 Depression of Trade and Industry, p. 329, Mr. Palgrave gives Mr. 
 Giffen's figures, rearranging them on a basis of one hundred, starting 
 with 1840 for exports and with 1854 for imports, as follows : — 
 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Per 
 Cent. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Base line of 
 1840. 
 
 Base line of 
 1854. 
 
 Base line of 
 1854. 
 
 1840 
 
 79.14 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 1841 
 
 76.75 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 
 
 1845 
 
 71.85 
 
 91 
 
 
 
 
 
 1848 
 
 63.37 
 
 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 1849 
 
 60.51 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 
 
 1852 
 
 59.33 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 
 
 1853 
 
 64.66 
 
 82 
 
 
 
 
 
 1854 
 
 64.85 
 
 82 
 
 64.85 
 
 100 
 
 80.36 
 
 100 
 
 1855 
 
 63.05 
 
 80 
 
 63.05 
 
 97 
 
 84.67 
 
 105 
 
 1857 
 
 66.57 
 
 84 
 
 66.57 
 
 103 
 
 88.24 
 
 110 
 
 1859 
 
 66.20 
 
 83 
 
 66.20 
 
 102 
 
 79.77 
 
 99 
 
 1865 
 
 89.26 
 
 112 
 
 89.26 
 
 137 
 
 94.75 
 
 118 
 
 1868 
 
 77.22 
 
 97 
 
 77.22 
 
 119 
 
 86.89 
 
 108 
 
 1873 
 
 85.73 
 
 108 
 
 85.73 
 
 132 
 
 85.59 
 
 107 
 
 1875 
 
 74.47 
 
 94 
 
 74.47 
 
 114 
 
 81.41 
 
 101 
 
 1876 
 
 68.05 
 
 86 
 
 68.05 
 
 105 
 
 77.55 
 
 96 
 
 1877 
 
 65.40 
 
 82 
 
 65.40 
 
 101 
 
 79.68 
 
 99 
 
 1878 
 
 
 
 
 
 74.12 
 
 92 
 
 1879 
 
 69.70 
 
 '75 
 
 59.70 
 
 '92 
 
 70.86 
 
 88 
 
 1880 
 
 
 
 
 
 74.77 
 
 93 
 
 1881 
 
 59.54 
 
 '75 
 
 59.54 
 
 92 
 
 74.17 
 
 92 
 
 1883 
 
 59.85 
 
 76 
 
 59.85 
 
 92 
 
 71.73 
 
 89 
 
APPENDIX 
 TABLE E. 
 
 Vll 
 
 PkiCes of Leading Wholesale Commodities in January. Prepared by Mr. 
 Giffen, "Journal of Statistical Society," 1879, p. 61, a>-d Con- 
 temporary Review," June, 1885. 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 
 
 1879 
 
 1883 
 
 1885 
 
 Iron, Scotch pig, 
 
 ton 
 
 127s 
 
 107S ed 
 
 80s 
 
 64s 3d 
 
 57S 6d 
 
 51s ed 
 
 43s 
 
 47s 8dl 41s Sd 
 
 Coal, Hetton, i 
 " Wallsend, J 
 
 <! 
 
 30s 
 
 27s 6d 
 
 30s 
 
 25s 
 
 19s 
 
 18s ed 
 
 19s 
 
 17s edi 18s 
 
 Copper, Chili bars, " 
 Tin, Straits, " 
 Wheat, Gazette av. qr. 
 
 *' Red Spring, at 
 
 New York, bu. 
 Flour, town made, sack 
 
 " New York, bbl. 
 
 £91 
 
 £142 
 
 55S lid 
 
 $1.70 
 47s 6rf 
 
 $7.50 
 
 £84 
 
 £120 
 
 62s Id 
 
 $1.69 
 
 53s ed 
 
 $7.10 
 
 £83 10s 
 
 £94 
 
 44s Sd 
 
 81.22 
 
 38s ed 
 
 $5.15 
 
 £82 
 
 £82 
 
 45s9d 
 
 $1.33 
 
 42s 6d 
 
 $5.50 
 
 £75 10s 
 £75 10s 
 51s ed 
 
 $1.45 
 
 40s 
 
 $6.00 
 
 £66 
 
 £66 
 
 51s 9d 
 
 $1.45 
 
 46s 
 
 $5.50 
 
 £57 
 
 £61 
 
 39s Id 
 
 $1.10 
 
 37s 
 
 $3.70 
 
 £65 £48} 
 
 £93| £774 
 
 40s 4-/ '34s lid 
 
 $1.18 $0.91 
 
 38s; 32s 
 
 ■?4.30| $3.25 
 
 Beef, inferior, J . 
 
 " prime small, 
 Cotton, Mid Upland, 
 Wool, 
 Sugar, Manilla, ) 
 
 " Muscov., ) 
 Coffee, Ceylon, good 
 ordinary 
 Fepper, blk. Malabai 
 Saltpetre, foreign, 
 
 
 3s ldd 
 
 3s9d 
 
 3s Sd 
 
 is 3d 
 
 3s 3d 
 
 2s lOrt 
 
 2s 10(2 
 
 4s id\ 4s 
 
 lb. 
 pck. 
 
 cwt. 
 
 5s 3d 
 lOel 
 £23 
 
 21s 6d 
 
 5s bd 
 
 Sid 
 
 £19 15s 
 
 18s 
 
 5s 5d 
 
 lid 
 
 £18 5s 
 
 17s 
 
 5$ 3d 
 
 Id 
 
 £17 10s 
 
 15s 
 
 5s 2d 
 
 6Jd 
 
 £16 10s 
 
 22s 
 
 5s 
 
 e\d 
 
 £15 10s 
 14s ed 
 
 4s 9d 
 5£d 
 £13 
 16s 
 
 6.s 
 5)}jI. 
 €12 
 
 16s 6d 
 
 5s id 
 
 ed 
 
 £11 
 
 10s 
 
 } - 
 
 , lb. 
 cwt. 
 
 80s 
 
 112s ed 
 
 84s 
 
 90s ed 
 
 87s &d 
 
 84.9 9d 
 
 65s 
 
 issed 
 
 71s 
 
 Id 
 
 29s 
 
 S\d 
 23s 9d 
 
 Id 
 22s 6rf 
 
 5|rf 
 18s M 
 
 20a 
 
 A%d 
 
 22s 
 
 4Jrf. 
 19s 
 
 Bid 
 19s 
 
 Sd 
 15s 3d 
 
 TABLE F. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY A. SAUERBECK. 
 
 In the Journal of the Statistical Society for September, 1886, Mr. 
 Augustus Sauerbeck has presented a table of prices of thirty-eight 
 articles for the period from 1846 to 1885, representing the average 
 prices of the eleven years, 1867 to 1877, by one hundred. His index 
 numbers are computed by taking the arithmetical mean of the quota- 
 tions. " With but few exceptions," he says, " the prices given are the 
 average prices in each year, either those officially returned or the 
 averages of the twelve quotations at the end of each month, partly 
 received from private firms, partly collected from the Economist and 
 other publications. Where a range of prices is given, the mean has 
 been taken between the highest and lowest quotations." The articles 
 selected are as follows : — 
 
 I., wheat (two grades), flour, barley, oats, maize, potatoes, rice ; II., beef 
 (two grades), mutton (two grades), pork, bacon, butter ; III., sugar (two grades), 
 coffee, tea; IV., pig iron, bar iron, copper, tin, lead, coals (two grades) ; V., 
 cotton (two grades), flax, hemp, jute, wool (two grades), silk; VI., bides, 
 leather, tallow, palm oil, olive oil, linseed oil, petroleum (since 1S72), soda 
 crystals, nitrate of soda, indigo, timber. 
 
viii APPENDIX 
 
 (1) It is to be regretted that all the prices are not averages. 
 (2) The relative importance of articles, also, is insufficiently repre- 
 sented ; e.g., olive oil has as great an influence on the index number 
 as iron. (3) No satisfactory statement is made as to the sources 
 from which he gets his quotations. (4) He admits that "it was 
 impossible to retain exactly the same standard for this long period 
 [1846 to 1885], owing to the frequent alterations of descriptions ; and 
 the old quotations for a few articles, such as sugar, coffee, and flax, 
 must be considered as only approximately showing the course of 
 prices." (5) The commodities are almost entirely raw produce. So 
 that in sources of information, reliability, numbers of articles, and 
 continuity of quotations on the same system, the most considerable 
 collection of English prices falls behind the Hamburg table. 
 
 
 Vege- 
 
 Animal 
 
 Sugar, 
 
 Coffee, 
 
 and 
 
 Tea. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 table 
 Food 
 
 (Corn, 
 &c.) 
 
 Food 
 
 (Meat, 
 &c.) 
 
 Total 
 Food. 
 
 Miner- 
 als. 
 
 Tex- 
 tiles. 
 
 Sundry 
 Mate- 
 rials. 
 
 Mate- 
 rials. 
 
 G-rand 
 Total. 
 
 1846 
 
 106 
 
 81 
 
 98 
 
 95 
 
 92 
 
 77 
 
 86 
 
 85 
 
 89 
 
 1847 
 
 129 
 
 88 
 
 87 
 
 105 
 
 94 
 
 78 
 
 86 
 
 86 
 
 95 
 
 1848 
 
 92 
 
 83 
 
 69 
 
 84 
 
 78 
 
 64 
 
 77 
 
 73 
 
 78 
 
 1849 
 
 79 
 
 71 
 
 77 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 
 67 
 
 75 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 1850 
 
 74 
 
 67 
 
 87 
 
 75 
 
 77 
 
 78 
 
 80 
 
 78 
 
 77 
 
 1851 
 
 73 
 
 68 
 
 84 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 79 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 1852 
 
 80 
 
 69 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 78 
 
 84 
 
 81 
 
 78 
 
 1853 
 
 100 
 
 82 
 
 87 
 
 91 
 
 105 
 
 87 
 
 101 
 
 97 
 
 95 
 
 1854 
 
 120 
 
 87 
 
 85 
 
 101 
 
 115 
 
 88 
 
 109 
 
 104 
 
 103 
 
 1855 
 
 120 
 
 87 
 
 89 
 
 101 
 
 109 
 
 84 
 
 109 
 
 101 
 
 101 
 
 1856 
 
 109 
 
 88 
 
 97 
 
 99 
 
 110 
 
 89 
 
 109 
 
 102 
 
 101 
 
 1857 
 
 105 
 
 89 
 
 119 
 
 102 
 
 108 
 
 92 
 
 119 
 
 107 
 
 105 
 
 1858 
 
 87 
 
 83 
 
 97 
 
 88 
 
 96 
 
 84 
 
 102 
 
 94 
 
 91 
 
 1859 
 
 85 
 
 85 
 
 102 
 
 89 
 
 98 
 
 88 
 
 107 
 
 98 
 
 94 
 
 1860 
 
 99 
 
 91 
 
 107 
 
 98 
 
 97 
 
 90 
 
 111 
 
 100 
 
 99 
 
 1861 
 
 102 
 
 91 
 
 96 
 
 97 
 
 91 
 
 92 
 
 109 
 
 99 
 
 98 
 
 1862 
 
 98 
 
 86 
 
 98 
 
 94 
 
 91 
 
 123 
 
 106 
 
 107 
 
 lOl 
 
 1863 
 
 87 
 
 85 
 
 99 
 
 89 
 
 93 
 
 149 
 
 101 
 
 115 
 
 103 
 
 1864 
 
 79 
 
 89 
 
 106 
 
 88 
 
 96 
 
 162 
 
 98 
 
 119 
 
 105 
 
 1865 
 
 84 
 
 97 
 
 97 
 
 91 
 
 91 
 
 134 
 
 97 
 
 108 
 
 lot 
 
 1866 
 
 95 
 
 96 
 
 94 
 
 95 
 
 91 
 
 130 
 
 99 
 
 107 
 
 103 
 
 1867 
 
 115 
 
 89 
 
 94 
 
 101 
 
 87 
 
 110 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 1868 
 
 113 
 
 88 
 
 96 
 
 100 
 
 85 
 
 106 
 
 102 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 1869 
 
 91 
 
 96 
 
 98 
 
 94 
 
 89 
 
 109 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 98 
 
 1870 
 
 88 
 
 98 
 
 95 
 
 93 
 
 89 
 
 106 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 96 
 
 1871 
 
 94 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 98 
 
 93 
 
 103 
 
 105 
 
 101 
 
 lOO 
 
 1872 
 
 101 
 
 101 
 
 104 
 
 102 
 
 127 
 
 114 
 
 108 
 
 115 
 
 109 
 
 1873 
 
 106 
 
 109 
 
 106 
 
 107 
 
 141 
 
 103 
 
 106 
 
 114 
 
 111 
 
 1874 
 
 105 
 
 103 
 
 105 
 
 104 
 
 116 
 
 92 
 
 96 
 
 100 
 
 103 
 
 1875 
 
 93 
 
 108 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 101 
 
 88 
 
 92 
 
 93 
 
 90 
 
 1876 
 
 92 
 
 108 
 
 98 
 
 99 
 
 90 
 
 85 
 
 95 
 
 91 
 
 95 
 
 1877 
 
 100 
 
 101 
 
 103 
 
 101 
 
 84 
 
 85 
 
 94 
 
 89 
 
 94 
 
 1878 
 
 95 
 
 101 
 
 90 
 
 96 
 
 74 
 
 78 
 
 88 
 
 81 
 
 87 
 
 1879 
 
 87 
 
 94 
 
 87 
 
 90 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 85 
 
 78 
 
 S3 
 
 1880 
 
 89 
 
 101 
 
 88 
 
 94 
 
 79 
 
 81 
 
 89 
 
 84 
 
 88 
 
 1881 
 
 84 
 
 101 
 
 84 
 
 91 
 
 77 
 
 77 
 
 86 
 
 80 
 
 85 
 
 1882 
 
 84 
 
 104 
 
 76 
 
 89 
 
 79 
 
 73 
 
 85 
 
 80 
 
 84 
 
 1883 
 
 82 
 
 103 
 
 77 
 
 89 
 
 76 
 
 70 
 
 84 
 
 77 
 
 83 
 
 1884 
 
 71 
 
 97 
 
 63 
 
 79 
 
 68 
 
 68 
 
 81 
 
 73 
 
 76 
 
 1885 
 
 68 
 
 88 
 
 63 
 
 74 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 76 
 
 70 
 
 78 
 
APPENDIX ix 
 
 TABLE G. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY M. G. MTJLHALL. 
 
 In his History of Prices since the Year 1850, Mr. Mulhall boldly sets 
 his face against the use of index numbers for prices, and favors a 
 " trade-level " method, which compares " the actual total of trade with 
 the sums which the same volume of merchandise would have amounted 
 to at previous periods, according to the prices then ruling " (p. 1, cf . 
 also pp. 7, 79, 153-154). Giving little or no information as to his 
 sources, his results must necessarily be distrusted. He uses, for 
 instance, the unsatisfactory tables of Mr. Burchard for American 
 prices as if they were unimpeachable. Taking the price level of 
 1841-50 as 100, his results to 1884 are as follows (based on the Board 
 of Trade returns for imports and exports) : — 
 
 185-1 . . . 
 
 . . 103 
 
 1871 . . . 
 
 110 
 
 1855 . . . 
 
 . . 104 
 
 1872 
 
 116 
 
 1856 . 
 
 105 
 
 1873 ... 
 
 121 
 
 1857 
 
 . Ill 
 
 1874 . . 
 
 115 
 
 1858 
 
 103 
 
 1875 . 
 
 109 
 
 1859 . . 
 
 . 104 
 
 Average 
 
 114 
 
 1860 . . . 
 
 . 107 
 
 1870 ... 
 
 102 
 
 Average 
 
 105 
 
 1877 
 
 103 
 
 1861 . . . 
 
 107 
 
 1878 ... 
 
 96 
 
 1862 
 
 .114 
 
 1879 . . 
 
 92 
 
 1863 . . 
 
 ... .133 
 
 1880 . 
 
 S6 
 
 1864 . 
 
 . . 152 
 
 Average 
 
 97 
 
 1865 . 
 
 . . 138 
 
 1881 . 
 
 94 
 
 Average 
 
 . 129 
 
 1882 . 
 
 94 
 
 1866 . . . 
 
 . 139 
 
 1883 . 
 
 91 
 
 1867 . 
 
 126 
 
 1884 . 
 
 87 
 
 1868 . 
 
 121 
 
 Average 
 
 91$ 
 
 1869 . . . 
 
 . . 121 
 
 1861-70 
 
 126 
 
 1870 . 
 
 110 
 
 1871-80 .... 
 
 106 
 
 Average 
 
 123 
 
 1854-84 
 
 110 
 
 II. 
 
 PKICES IX GEEMANY. 
 TABLE H. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY E. LASPEYKES. 
 
 In 1864, Professor E. Laspeyres made an investigation of Ham- 
 burg prices from 1831 to 1863, the results of which were published in 
 the Jahrbiicher filr National-OeTconomie, vol iii. (old series), pp. 81- 
 118, 209-236. His tables include forty-eight articles, of which the 
 prices were ascertained for the first Friday of each month from the 
 Hamburg Allgemeiner Preiscourant. The arithmetical mean of these 
 monthly prices yielded the average for the year. The general average 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 for the decade 1831 to 1840 was taken to be one hundred, 
 figures were : — 
 
 His final 
 
 
 Average 
 
 
 Average 
 
 
 Prices. 
 
 
 Prices. 
 
 Decade 1831-40 
 
 100 
 
 Year 1857 
 
 137.8 
 
 " 1841-50 
 
 95.4 
 
 
 ' 1858 
 
 118.6 
 
 Year 1851 
 
 93.1 
 
 
 ' 1859 
 
 119.2 
 
 
 ' 1852 
 
 94.3 
 
 
 ' 1860 
 
 125.4 
 
 
 ' 1853 
 
 112.9 
 
 
 ' 1861 
 
 125.7 
 
 
 ' 1854 
 
 125.8 
 
 
 ' 1862 
 
 125.4 
 
 
 ' 1855 
 
 132.2 
 
 
 ' 1863 
 
 122.2 
 
 " 1856 
 
 134.2 
 
 Decade 1854-63 
 
 126.4 
 
 
 
 TABLE J 
 
 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY H. PAASCHE AND R. VON DER BORGHT. 
 
 In 1874 and in 1882, two notes on prices were printed in the 
 Jdhrbiicher filr National- Oekonomie, vol. xxiii., pp. 171-173, and vol. 
 xxxix. (vol. v. of new series), pp. 177-185. The first was signed by 
 H. P. (H. Paasche) and the second by R. v. d. B. (R. v. d. Borght). 
 The second was a continuation of the first, considering the same 
 articles and using the same method. The method was an attempt 
 to apply a coefficient to the price of different articles, according 
 to their relative importance. Twenty-two articles were selected, 
 and the quantity consumed of each in Germany in 1868 was ascer- 
 tained as closely as possible. The price of each article was multiplied 
 for each year by the consumption of 1868 ; and the sum of money 
 which would buy the quantity consumed in 1868 of the whole twenty- 
 two, or of any limited group, was then arrived at by addition. The 
 totals were then arranged on a scale in which one hundred repre- 
 sented the average of the twenty years, 1847 to 1867. The twenty- 
 year average or base was presumably ascertained by the same 
 method, though it is not expressly so stated. 
 
 The twenty- two articles were arranged in six groups, as follows : 
 
 I., coffee, cocoa, tea, pepper, rice, sugar ; II., cotton, silk ; III indigo, 
 saltpetre, fish-oil, palm oil ; IV., pig iron, zinc, tin, copper, lead ; v., coal ■ 
 VI., wheat, rye, barley, oats. 
 
 To the final figures are appended, for comparison, those averages 
 which would have resulted from a simple arithmetical mean taken 
 irrespective of quantity. 
 
 Year. 
 
 General 
 Average. 
 
 Average ir- 
 respective 
 of quantity 
 
 Years. 
 
 General 
 Average. 
 
 Average ir- 
 respective 
 of quantity 
 
 1847-67 
 
 1868 
 
 1869 
 
 1870 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 
 100 
 118.5 
 107.7 
 98 
 108 
 116.6 
 120.1 
 114.1 
 
 100 
 104 
 106 
 103 
 109 
 121 
 124 
 113 
 
 1875 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 1879 
 1880 
 
 103.2 
 102.9 
 104.1 
 92.1 
 90.3 
 96.9 
 
 106 
 106 
 105 
 96 
 98 
 87 
 
 1874 
 
 1 sus-so 
 
 105.N 
 
 106 
 
APPENDIX xi 
 
 TABLE K. 
 
 PRICES PUBLISHED BY A. SOETBEBR. 
 
 In Dr. Soetbeer's Materialien (2d ed., 1886), pp. 99-114, are pub- 
 lished the annual average prices, from 1847 to 1885, of each one of 
 one hundred and fourteen articles, one hundred of which were com- 
 puted by the officials of the Handelsstatisclies Bureau at Hamburg, 
 the prices of the fourteen remaining articles being taken from the 
 British Board of Trade returns for exports. The Hamburg figures, 
 with averages for five year periods, to 1880, were published by Dr. 
 Soetbeer in 1881 in the Jdhrbiicher filr National- Oekonomie (N. F., 
 III., B). The index number of one hundred represents the mean of 
 the average prices for the years 1847 to 1850. The average prices for 
 each year and the number indicating the percentage which the price 
 bears to the index number (1847 to 1850) are given for each article, 
 for each of the eight groups, and for the total of the one hundred and 
 fourteen articles. The method used is evidently the simple arithmet- 
 ical mean : the relative importance of commodities is not considered. 
 
 Dr. Soetbeer points out that systematic official records are kept at 
 Hamburg according to actual declarations of values and quantities, 
 under many checks to insure accuracy. Since 1881, the Hamburg 
 officials have carefully revised the whole table, so that it gives the 
 most trustworthy wholesale prices of the largest number of articles 
 since 1850 at present known to us. 
 
 The articles used in the Hamburg: tables are : I., wheat, flour, rye, rye- 
 meal, oats, barley, malt, buckwheat, peas, white beans, potatoes, hops, clover- 
 seed, rape-seed, rape-seed oil, linseed oil, oil-cake, raw sugar, refined sugar, 
 spirits; II., beef, veal, mutton, pork, milk, butter, cheese, tallow, lard, bides, 
 calf-skins, leather, horse-hair, bristles, bed-feathers, bones, buffalo-horns, 
 glue, eggs, herring, dried fish, train-oil ; III., raisins, currants, almonds, 
 dried prunes, olive oil, wine (French), champagne ; IV., coffee, cocoa, tea, 
 pepper, allspice, cassia-bark, rice, sago, arrack, rum, tobacco, indigo, cochi- 
 neal, logwood, rosewood, mahogany, rattan, palm oil, ivory; V., coal, iron 
 ore, bar iron, steel, lead, zinc, tin, copper, quicksilver, sulphur, saltpetre 
 (Chili), salt, lime, cement ; VI., cotton, wool, flax, hemp, silk, cordage, rags ; 
 VII., guano, gum elastic, gutta-percha, resin, pearl ash, pitch, potash, soda, 
 stearine candles, tar, wax ; VIII., cotton yarn, plain piece-goods, printed 
 cotton piece-goods, cotton stockings and socks, sewing thread, common glass 
 bottles, linen yarn, plain linen, sail-cloth, woollen and worsted yarn, woollen 
 cloth, flannels, worsteds, carpets. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 (I-VIII.) 
 
 Year. 
 
 Agri- 
 cultu- 
 ral. 
 
 Animal 
 
 Ti opi- 
 cal, &o. 
 
 East 
 India 
 Goods, 
 
 &o. 
 
 Miner- 
 al. 
 
 Textile 
 Mate- 
 rials. 
 
 Divers. 
 
 British 
 
 Ex- 
 ports. 
 
 Total of 
 
 114 
 articles. 
 
 1847-1850 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 1851 
 1852 
 1853 
 1854 
 1855 
 
 99.02 
 110.71 
 128.18 
 150.49 
 158.82 
 
 110.38 
 106.68 
 114.94 
 121.12 
 123.54 
 
 90.00 
 95.33 
 124.78 
 112.91 
 142.03 
 
 99.94 
 99.95 
 115.28 
 118.17 
 121.02 
 
 95.70 
 95.76 
 109.24 
 115.95 
 119.10 
 
 104.39 
 105.01 
 101.43 
 111.64 
 103.58 
 
 103.98 
 95.09 
 105.17 
 119.44 
 109.63 
 
 97.98 
 95.98 
 100.61 
 99.53 
 98.27 
 
 100.21 
 101.69 
 113.69 
 121.25 
 124.23 
 
 1851-1855 
 
 129.99 
 
 114.79 
 
 110.43 
 
 110.97 
 
 107.03 
 
 105.20 
 
 106.65 
 
 98.47 
 
 112.22 
 
 1856 
 1857 
 1858 
 1859 
 1860 
 
 149.03 
 138.11 
 119.92 
 119.48 
 133.75 
 
 127.61 
 140.18 
 127.02 
 130.69 
 133.75 
 
 155.95 
 169.32 
 120.69 
 113.40 
 120.36 
 
 123.95 
 140.32 
 112.76 
 115.74 
 120.28 
 
 116.65 
 124.58 
 109.04 
 108.57 
 108.66 
 
 100.02 
 112.18 
 103.59 
 104.69 
 108.74 
 
 100.50 
 108.01 
 99.70 
 115.57 
 116.83 
 
 98.50 
 101.25 
 100.91 
 105.77 
 105.60 
 
 123.27 
 130.11 
 ■ 13.52 
 116.34 
 120.98 
 
 1856-1860 
 
 131.84 
 
 132.31 
 
 131.72 
 
 122.61 
 
 113.59 
 
 107.12 
 
 108.21 
 
 102.41 
 
 120.91 
 
 1861 
 1862 
 1863 
 1864 
 1865 
 
 131.46 
 126.80 
 120.12 
 117.89 
 126.48 
 
 124.79 
 127.19 
 124.12 
 129.21 
 135.23 
 
 122.08 
 113.93 
 114.97 
 109.41 
 114.01 
 
 117.19 
 117.28 
 116.87 
 125.74 
 116.11 
 
 102.40 
 101.88 
 102.92 
 104.53 
 98.93 
 
 110.85 
 124.31 
 151.84 
 154.26 
 117.80 
 
 119.65 
 156.99 
 161.36 
 162.58 
 121.06 
 
 105.84 
 114.22 
 133.45 
 146.53 
 137.80 
 
 118.10 
 122.65 
 125.49 
 129.28 
 122.63 
 
 1861-1865 
 
 124.46 
 
 128 24 
 
 114.13 
 
 118.64 
 
 102.11 
 
 131.83 
 
 144.33 
 
 127.56 
 
 123.59 
 
 1866 
 1867 
 1868 
 1869 
 1870 
 
 137.64 
 146.38 
 141.59 
 132.40 
 131.23 
 
 135.64 
 132.68 
 133.48 
 143.25 
 139.32 
 
 126.30 
 126.44 
 120.75 
 115.58 
 118.57 
 
 117.90 
 114.35 
 116.75 
 122.10 
 120.56 
 
 96.54 
 93.28 
 91.76 
 96.33 
 99.68 
 
 134.94 
 130.31 
 127.18 
 130.52 
 122.87 
 
 111.30 
 108.13 
 101.25 
 98.17 
 111.21 
 
 140.36 
 133.91 
 127.56 
 128.15 
 122.68 
 
 125.85 
 124.44 
 121.99 
 123.38 
 
 122.87 
 
 1866-1870 
 
 137.74 
 
 136.35 
 
 121.54 
 
 118.32 
 
 95.47 
 
 129.17 
 
 105.90 
 
 130.55 
 
 123.57 
 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 144.76 
 144.17 
 146.21 
 150.99 
 138.16 
 
 144.14 
 155.82 
 156.72 
 157.76 
 158.69 
 
 122.99 
 125.36 
 132.15 
 145.02 
 131.35 
 
 120.22 
 130.25 
 134.32 
 136.74 
 132.11 
 
 101.85 
 121.63 
 140.60 
 116.70 
 107.49 
 
 119.23 
 122.79 
 119.58 
 112.80 
 111.47 
 
 117.48 
 128.54 
 119.14 
 112.21 
 98.74 
 
 122.64 
 130.07 
 128.52 
 126.06 
 124.96 
 
 127.03 
 
 1:«5.62 
 138. 2S 
 136.20 
 129.85 
 
 1871-1875 
 
 144.90 
 
 154.57 
 
 131.50 
 
 130.72 
 
 116.90 
 
 117.17 
 
 114.98 
 
 126.44 
 
 133.29 
 
 1876 
 1877 
 1878 
 1879 
 1880 
 
 141.06 
 145.34 
 132.50 
 132.92 
 138.11 
 
 155.79 
 152.51 
 141.53 
 137.60 
 147.30 
 
 128.69 
 140.55 
 134.34 
 139.10 
 154.65 
 
 129.74 
 130.29 
 125.61 
 123.34 
 122.92 
 
 106.27 
 98.87 
 94.14 
 84.28 
 88.33 
 
 105.54 
 108.33 
 102.33 
 98.76 
 96.72 
 
 101.78 
 99.80 
 97.24 
 90.21 
 95.23 
 
 119.23 
 114.04 
 111.03 
 105.93 
 108.15 
 
 128.33 
 127.70 
 120.60 
 117. lO 
 121.89 
 
 1876-1880 
 
 138.12 
 
 146.76 
 
 138.91 
 
 126.38 
 
 94.35 
 
 102.33 
 
 96.79 
 
 111.70 
 
 123.07 
 
 1881 
 
 1882 
 1883 
 1884 
 1885 
 
 137.50 
 138.45 
 143.33 
 123.85 
 110.75 
 
 151.21 
 155.17 
 156.40 
 150.26 
 140.45 
 
 146.57 
 139.23 
 142.38 
 120.16 
 123.78 
 
 122.60 
 122.47 
 120.17 
 117.90 
 116.39 
 
 84.87 
 86.99 
 82.93 
 78.69 
 74.23 
 
 99.29 
 95.10 
 95.93 
 97.02 
 95.89 
 
 94.89 
 99.10 
 95.38 
 84.82 
 81.35 
 
 103.08 
 104.72 
 104.72 
 103.36 
 100.48 
 
 121.07 
 122-14 
 122.24 
 114 25 
 108.72 
 
 1881-1885 
 
 130.77 
 
 150.65 
 
 134.41 
 
 119.91 
 
 81.55 
 
 96.65 
 
 91.11 
 
 103.28 
 
 117.68 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 III. 
 
 PEICES IN FKANCE. 
 
 TABLE L. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY R. H. I. PALGRAVE. 
 
 In the Third Report of the Royal Commission on the Depression of 
 Trade and Industry, Appendix, pp. 354-361, Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave 
 has collected, from information given him by M. Le"on Say and M. 
 de Foville, and from the figures of the Commission Permanente des 
 Valeurs de Douane, two tables of French prices for the period from 
 
 
 
 Table 28 
 
 
 Table 29 
 
 Year. 
 
 Table 28. 
 
 reduced tn 
 scale of 100. 
 
 Table 29. 
 
 reduced to 
 scale of 100. 
 
 1805 
 
 2,267 
 
 103 
 
 2,331 
 
 106 
 
 1866 
 
 2,314 
 
 105 
 
 2,380 
 
 108 
 
 1867 
 
 2,207 
 
 100 
 
 2,144 
 
 97 
 
 1868 
 
 2,126 
 
 97 
 
 2,110 
 
 96 
 
 1869 
 
 2,087 
 
 95 
 
 2,045 
 
 93 
 
 
 «,«oo 
 
 ioo 
 
 2,200 
 
 IOO 
 
 1870 
 
 2,137 
 
 97 
 
 2,000 
 
 91 
 
 1871 
 
 2,283 
 
 104 
 
 2,250 
 
 102 
 
 1872 
 
 2,434 
 
 111 
 
 2,310 
 
 105 
 
 1873 
 
 2,423 
 
 110 
 
 2,300 
 
 105 
 
 1874 
 
 2,223 
 
 101 
 
 2,125 
 
 97 
 
 1876 
 
 2,243 
 
 102 
 
 2,085 
 
 95 
 
 1876 
 
 2,196 
 
 100 
 
 2,090 
 
 95 
 
 1877 
 
 2,241 
 
 102 
 
 2,107 
 
 96 
 
 1878 
 
 1,950 
 
 89 
 
 2,010 
 
 91 
 
 1879 
 
 1,898 
 
 80 
 
 1,915 
 
 87 
 
 1880 
 
 1,941 
 
 88 
 
 1,937 
 
 88 
 
 1881 
 
 1,880 
 
 85 
 
 1,900 
 
 86 
 
 1882 
 
 1,845 
 
 84 
 
 1,855 
 
 84 
 
 1883 
 
 1,807 
 
 82 
 
 1,756 
 
 80 
 
 1884 
 
 1,679 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 1865 to 1884 for twenty-two articles. The index number of twenty- 
 two hundred (or one hundred) is taken to represent the average prices 
 of the years 1865-69. The articles chosen and the method of com- 
 puting the index numbers in Table 28 are as nearly as possible like 
 those of the Economist. Table 29, however, introduces a method of 
 ascertaining the relative importance of articles by finding the value 
 of the actual imports into France of each commodity, as compared 
 with the total value of the imports of all the twenty-two articles ; e.g., 
 in 1871, the importance of wheat was expressed by 330, and of butter 
 by 6, out of the total 2200 ; but, in 1877, wheat was expressed by 166, 
 and butter, 11. The final results of both methods are here given in 
 parallel columns. In Table 28, the articles are : coffee, sugar, wheat, 
 beef, butter, rice, tobacco, oil-seed, olive oil, tallow, raw silk, silk 
 stuffs, gloves, raw cotton, raw wool, woollens, hides, coal, iron ore, 
 copper ore, lead ore, and zinc. 
 
xiv APPENDIX 
 
 IV. 
 
 PKICES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 TABLE M. 
 
 PRICKS COMPILED BY H. C. BURCHARD. 
 
 Mr. H. C. Burchard, in his report as Director of the Mint for 
 1881, gave the results of calculations of average prices in New York 
 for the fifty-six years from 1825 to 1880. The figures are printed in 
 the Report on the Finances, 1881, pp. 312-321. They are continued 
 for the year 1881 in the Report on the Finances, 1882, pp. 252-254 ; 
 for the year 1882 in ibid., 1883, pp. 316-318 ; and for the years 1883 
 and 1884 in the Report of the Director of the Mint on the Production 
 of the Precious Metals, 1884, pp. 499, 500. Mr. Burchard's first table, 
 for the years 1825-80, is reprinted without change in the Quarterly 
 Reports of the Bureau of Statistics, 1883-84, No. 3, pp. 328-387, and is 
 again reprinted, still without change, in the Quarterly Reports, etc., 
 1885-86, No. 3, pp. 556-565. Mr. Burchard wrote in 1881: "The 
 prices quoted were obtained for the years 1825 to 1874, inclusive, 
 from the tables of their average prices in New York, found in the 
 Finance Reports of 1863, 1873, and 1874. [See Finance Report, 1863, 
 pp. 284-361 ; ibid., 1873, pp. 502-541 ; ibid., 1874, pp. 557-561.] For 
 the succeeding six years, they were compiled in this office from the 
 published semi-weekly quotations in the New York Shipping and 
 Commercial List, from which paper, it is understood, the quotations 
 were taken in compiling the tables found in the Finance Reports.'' 
 An examination of the Finance Report tables indicates that they were 
 not compiled with great care. The price of an article will run along 
 without change from month to month ; then, suddenly, it will rise or 
 fall sharply. The prices of articles that normally would fluctuate 
 together (pig and bar iron, butter and cheese) show a very loose 
 correspondence. Moreover, the same articles do not appear from 
 year to year. An article will be quoted for a number of years, will 
 then disappear, and later, perhaps, will reappear. Thus, flax does not 
 appear till 1864, is quoted till 1878, and drops out thereafter. Again, 
 Mr. Burchard's tables do not use all the Finance Report prices, but 
 choose from among them. His averages, as finally given, are ob- 
 tained from the prices of eighty-two articles in 1825, eighty-one in 
 1862, sixty-eight in 1864, sixty-five in 1880, and ninety in 1884. Pork 
 is quoted in ten forms for 1884, in only three forms in 1880 ; and it 
 does not appear whether each form of pork was used as an inde- 
 pendent factor in calculating the final result, or whether all were 
 averaged in order to give one figure for pork. For the years 1862-78, 
 
APPENDIX xv 
 
 the prices are reduced to a gold basis ; but it is not indicated in what 
 manner this reduction was effected. 
 
 Notwithstanding these serious imperfections, we reprint Mr. Bur- 
 chard's figures for the years 1850-84, since they are the only con- 
 tinuous figures of average prices in the United States. They are the 
 arithmetical means for each year of the prices of the varying number 
 of commodities taken for that year. The index number 100 in the 
 first column indicates the mean of all the prices for the fifty-six years, 
 1825-80: — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Basis of 
 1825-1850. 
 
 Reduced to 
 basis of 
 1845-1850. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Basis of 
 1825-1850. 
 
 Reduced to 
 basis of 
 1845-1850. 
 
 1850 
 
 88.9 
 
 102.6 
 
 1868 
 
 107.6 
 
 124.2 
 
 1851 
 
 89.3 
 
 103.1 
 
 1869 
 
 108.2 
 
 124.9 
 
 1852 
 
 91.9 
 
 106.1 
 
 1870 
 
 118.1 
 
 136.5 
 
 1853 
 
 99.4 
 
 114.8 
 
 1871 
 
 108.1 
 
 124.8 
 
 1854 
 
 107.0 
 
 123.5 
 
 1872 
 
 112.6 
 
 130.0 
 
 1855 
 
 111.1 
 
 128.3 
 
 1873 
 
 107.6 
 
 124.1 
 
 1856 
 
 112.2 
 
 129.6 
 
 1874 
 
 106.8 
 
 123.3 
 
 1857 
 
 119.8 
 
 138.3 
 
 1875 
 
 98.3 
 
 113.5 
 
 1858 
 
 99.7 
 
 115.1 
 
 1876 
 
 94.2 
 
 108.9 
 
 1859 
 
 100.6 
 
 116.1 
 
 1877 
 
 98.0 
 
 113.2 
 
 1860 
 
 100.3 
 
 115.8 
 
 1878 
 
 88.0 
 
 101.6 
 
 1861 
 
 98.0 
 
 113.1 
 
 1879 
 
 94.7 
 
 109.1 
 
 1863 
 
 111.6 
 
 128.8 
 
 1880 
 
 90.3 
 
 104.3 
 
 1863 
 
 119.4 
 
 137.8 
 
 1881 
 
 102.7 
 
 118.4 
 
 1864 
 
 110.1 
 
 127.0 
 
 1882 
 
 103.3 
 
 119.1 
 
 1865 
 
 123.0 
 
 142.0 
 
 1883 
 
 100.2 
 
 115.6 
 
 1866 
 
 119.1 
 
 137.5 
 
 1884 
 
 91.2 
 
 105.3 
 
 1867 
 
 113.0 
 
 130.5 
 
 
 
 
 TABLE N. 
 
 PRICES COMPILED BY W. M. GROSVENOR. 
 
 Mr. W. M. Grosvenor published in the New York Public for Jan- 
 uary 19, 1882 (the journal not appearing since 1883), lists of prices 
 of about fifty articles, covering the years from 1878 to 1882 as com- 
 pared with 1860. His method is perhaps more valuable than his 
 results. He estimates the quantity of each article consumed in the 
 country per capita (see also Public, June 27, 1878), and multiplies that 
 quantity by the price. The sum total of the results gives the amount 
 of money necessary to buy the total consumption of the fifty articles 
 in 1880. 
 
 The articles quoted are : — 
 
 I., wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, beans, peas ; II., pork, lard, beef, tallow, 
 sheep ; III., butter, cheese, milk, hay, eggs, rice, vegetables, fruit ; IV., sugar, 
 molasses, coffee, tea, tobacco, whiskey, beer, ale, fish, salt, spices ; V., cotton, 
 
xvi APPENDIX 
 
 manufactures of cotton, wool, manufactures of wool, leather, manufactures of 
 leather, silk, manufactures of silk, rubber, manufactures of rubber ; VI., iron, 
 manufactures of iron, coal, oil, tin, manufactures of tin, lead, manufactures of 
 lead, copper, manufactures of copper, hemp, manufactures of hemp ; VII., 
 lumber, brick, lime, glass, paint, oil, turpentine, soap. 
 
 He does not, however, work out the per capita consumption for 
 each year, but uses that of 1880 for all years. The discrepancies 
 between the results given in different issues of the Public suggest 
 a doubt as to the care with which the method was worked out in 
 detail. We give the last and most complete table printed : — 
 
 
 1860. 
 
 1878. 
 
 1879. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 May. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 Dec. 
 
 Jan. 1. 
 
 Breadstuffs, . . . 
 
 Dairy and garden, . 
 Sugar, tea, etc., . . 
 
 Clothing, .... 
 
 Lumber, glass, etc., 
 
 $26.79 
 11.50 
 13.92 
 8.69 
 60 90 
 31.12 
 27.70 
 15.12 
 
 $26.71 
 12.12 
 13.01 
 8.70 
 60.54 
 31.72 
 27.40 
 15.60 
 
 $24.12 
 11.37 
 11.91 
 9.19 
 56.59 
 32.11 
 27.56 
 15.43 
 
 $18.02 
 9.67 
 9.94 
 11.91 
 49.54 
 27.70 
 18.20 
 13.33 
 
 $23.87 
 10.19 
 12.28 
 12.73 
 59.07 
 X1.96 
 23.67 
 14.01 
 
 $21.86 
 11.50 
 12.74 
 12.26 
 58.36 
 31.01 
 23.10 
 16.18 
 
 $26.96 
 12.94 
 16.94 
 12.94 
 69.83 
 31.43 
 23.95 
 15.79 
 
 $26.57 
 12.63 
 18.26 
 12.72 
 70.18 
 31.74 
 23.93 
 15.86 
 
 $26.92 
 13.34 
 16.68 
 12.10 
 69.04 
 31.63 
 24.16 
 15.92 
 
 Total, .... 
 
 $134.84 
 
 $135.26 
 
 $131.69 
 
 $108.77 
 
 $128.71 
 
 $128.65 
 
 $141.00 
 
 $141.71 
 
 $140.75 
 
 Equivalents, . . 
 
 $99.69 
 
 $100.00 
 
 $97.38 
 
 $80.41 
 
 $95.16 
 
 $95.11 
 
 $104.24 
 
 $104.77 
 
 $104.06 
 
 He also applied the quantitative method to some earlier years in 
 comparison with 1860, the results of which are given herewith : — 
 
 Years. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Percentages. 
 
 1825 
 
 $1,942 
 
 108.5 
 
 1837 
 
 1,952 
 
 109. 
 
 1843 
 
 1,206 
 
 67.4 
 
 1860 
 
 1,790 
 
 100. 
 
 1877 
 
 2,067 
 
 115. 
 
 1878 
 
 1,624 
 
 90.7