The fourth proposes an addition to Article 87 of the statutes of the Austrian-Hungarian Bank to the following effect: "The bank is under obligation to pay bank notes at any and every time at its chief offices in Vienna and Buda-Pesth for legal gold coins at the nominal value and for bar gold, according to the legal mint rate of the crown standard. The bank is entitled at the same time to get the bars tested and assayed by its own experts at cost of the person offering them, as well as to deduct the coinage dues fixed and notified by the Governments."

The fifth Bill gives powers to the Austrian Minister of Finance to take up a loan bearing 4 per cent. interest in gold, to procure gold for the new coins, on account of the State. The amount to be so procured is to be equal to 183,456,000 Austrian gold guldens; it is to be melted down and re-coined as soon as received, and then kept in the State treasury or in the coffers of the national (Austrian-Hungarian) bank. The control of this treasure is to be in the hands of the Debt Commissioners of the Imperial Parliament, who are to make an annual report on the subject.

The sixth Bill relates to the conversion of the 5 per cent. untaxed State Debt warrants (payable in notes), the 5 per cent. debentures of the Vorarlberg State Railway (payable in silver), and the 4 per cent. of the Crown Prince Rudolf Railway (payable in silver). These are to be converted into a uniform untaxed debt paying 4 per cent. in gold.

Appended to the Bills is a Statement of Reasons (Motive) given clearly and briefly. After referring to the work of the Commission, this document calls attention to the opportunity now given for the funding of the floating debt, and the warrants of short-dated mortgages on public revenues (Partial-hypothekar -anweisungen11), and for the conversion of the funded debt.

The need of the reformed currency, and the probable benefits of it to home and foreign trade, are described, with due mention of the special difficulty of carrying out such reforms in an empire like Austria-Hungary. The chief currency hitherto has been State paper (representing an unfunded debt) and bank notes, with a forced circulation not really demanded by the bank itself, both of them a result of political exigencies now no longer existing. The fate of silver since 1879 is recalled to memory in order to establish the conclusion that a return to cash payments must not be a return to payments in silver. To be in a line with other nations, Austria must have the same basis for her currency as the others; and this is not silver but gold. To introduce the double standard would involve her in the difficulties of determining the ratio of the value of gold and silver. But silver will remain as token money, and even for the present there will be no violent dethronement of it as legal tender. The name of the new coins is defended on the ground that as new it must have a distinctive character; and yet the name must have a familiar sound in all the parts of the polyglot empire. The "Krone" has long been a

17 Especially Salinenscheine. Cf. Tables, pp. 442--44; Denkschrift über das Papiergeldwesen, p. 32.

popular name for the half gulden. There was a gold "Krone" in use thirty years ago, though not coined in any considerable quantity since 1859 (see Tables, p. 86).

The two serious difficulties anticipated by the Commission in their discussions were, how to get rid of the old silver, and how to procure the new gold. Both seem fairly met by the Bills before the Parliament, and, if these become law, and if peace continues, the effect may be to give to Austria-Hungary a currency as sound as any in Europe. Even if peace should not last, the empire will find it easier to encounter her enemies with a good currency than with a bad. If peace were broken when the operation was only in its first stages, no doubt the Government might be strongly tempted to use the mint treasure as a war treasure; but they have already (June, 1892) given a pledge to the Reichsrath to use it for none but its declared purpose; and in all probability events will allow them to carry out their great measure in its integrity.

VIII.-Notes on Economical and Statistical Works.

Pauperism and the Endowment of Old Age. By Charles Booth. London: Macmillan and Co., 1892.

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It is now many years since Mr. Booth has been engaged in his endeavours to throw light upon the social condition of the inhabitants of London, and more especially of the East End. After a long period of patient labour, spent in extracting the materials from the records of the poor law officials in Stepney and St. Pancras and various country unions, he has been enabled to lay before us an estimate of the amount of pauperism in England, and to formulate a scheme of universal pensions, not in the vague fashion in which it is constantly spoken of, but basing his arguments on the facts and figures which he has collected. These estimates and proposals are contained in the volume before us, together with numerous illustrations of the poverty and crime existing in the metropolis. The book is divided into two parts: Pauperism, a picture" (as he well describes it), and the "Endowment of Old Age, an argument." The greater part is an enlargement of the paper read before this Society last December, and it is therefore unnecessary to refer in detail to the portions dealing with Stepney and St. Pancras. Several pages are devoted to some selected stories of Stepney pauperism," which present a vivid picture of the distress and vice existing in this part of London, and exhibit to a striking extent the influence of "association." The author also considers the means at present adopted, apart from parish relief, for assisting the poor by charity, and in this connection it is impossible to overrate the work done by the Charity Organisation Society. By way of comparison with these London unions, we have a chapter on pauperism at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The chief difference consists in the number of out-door paupers as compared with in-door, the percentage of the whole population being 154 and 0.31 respectively at Ashby on the 1st of January, 1891, while the percentages at Stepney on the same date were

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0°24 and 1'52. It must however be remembered that in the latter union out relief has been almost abolished.

18

Since Mr. Booth read his paper in December last, he has been able to take into account the results arrived at in Mr. Hollond's Parliamentary Return (1881), and partly in consequence of this he has been led to modify somewhat his estimate of the percentage to be added to the pauperism of a single day in order to arrive at the total for the whole year. A discussion of this, as well as of the amount of old age pauperism, appears on another page, and it is sufficient to note here that the percentage of persons over 65 relieved has been reduced from nearly 40 to 30 per cent. of the whole population above that age. The author gives two examples of "good administration of the present poor law," namely, the unions of Bradfield and Brixworth, in which out relief has been as far as possible denied, with the happiest results both to paupers and ratepayers. In fact in the latter portion of the book, when he comes to consider the amount to be saved from the rates by the adoption of a State pension, he is evidently influenced by the results achieved in these two unions.

The chapter that will perhaps be most eagerly read is that on the "endowment of old age," although without the preceding portions of the book this portion could scarcely have been written, and although these earlier portions have cost far more labour, and are really the more valuable, inasmuch as they lay before us real facts and not proposals only. In considering the best method of supporting the aged poor, Mr. Booth deals first with the suggestions of Canon Blackley, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Fatkin, and Mr. Vallance; and after pointing out the objections to these, comes to his own scheme of providing universal pensions as being the only one by which none are forced to set apart a portion of their earnings, and by which the taint of pauperism is abolished. He next considers the various objections that have been brought against this plan, and after meeting them, gives an outline of the method he would suggest for the payment of the pensions. In the first place, the age of any person claiming the pension is to be established by the registrar of the district in which he resides. To this effect the claimant must produce evidence by means of witnesses from the places where he has lived during the last ten years; thus, as "identification for sixty-five years is impracticable," Mr. Booth would "treat all evidence as to age as a matter of hearsay only, and suggest no attempt at proof." This somewhat loose identification seems to afford ample opportunity for anyone to overstate his age. To pay the registrar (or registrars if he has resided in more than one district during the last ten years) "the amount of the fees (which need not exceed 108. to 20s. in all) could be deducted from the first payments of pension at the rate of 28. 6d. a week till paid." This to a pauper with only 5s. a week seems a very serious deduction which does not appear altogether necessary.

Appendices include (a) statistical tables of Stepney pauperism; (b) a summary of Stepney stories, showing the cause of each 18 p. 287, &c.

person's dependence on the parish, arranged under the author's system of denoting the cause by an initial letter, with a summary of the work done by the Charity Organisation Society at Stepney; (c) forms suggested for periodic returns; and (d) particulars of the proposals for providing pensions, as formulated by the National Providence League and the Poor Law Reform Association. A new feature is the publication of the book simultaneously in two forms, one at 58. and a people's edition at 6d. This attempt to make the poorer people acquainted at the earliest possible moment with their actual condition and the projects for their relief, deserves to meet with all success.

Elements of Economics of Industry. By Alfred Marshall. London: Macmillan and Co., 1892.

Thirteen years ago Professor Marshall 'published, together with his wife, a manual, which bore the title of the Economics of Industry. That volume contained in brief the theory which has since been developed at length in the first volume of the recently issued Principles of Economics, but it also contained some account of industrial movements, such as trades unions, co-operation, and conciliation, to which there is no counterpart in the larger work. The present volume consists in the main of an abridgment of the Principles, and it follows the arrangement of this book rather than that of the old Economics of Industry, which it now supersedes. But it so far resembles the older book that a chapter of great importance is appended on trades unions. In that chapter the author preserves a just balance between the views of the advocates and the opponents of these institutions; and he is especially happy in pointing out the ulterior effects of certain lines of action which might be, and indeed often are, overlooked by employers or workmen concerning themselves with the immediate issues of the moment, but are disclosed by economic analysis. The other part of the volume can be best described in Professor Marshall's own language. He says that it is an "attempt to adapt " the first volume of the Principles "to the needs of junior students." "The necessary abridgment," he adds, "has been effected not so much by systematic compression, as by the omission of many discussions on points of minor importance, and of some difficult theoretical investigations. For it seemed that the difficulty of an argument would be increased rather than diminished by curtailing it and leaving out some of its steps. The argumentative parts of the Principles are therefore as a rule either reproduced in full or omitted altogether; reference in the latter case being made in footnotes to the corresponding places in the larger treatise. Notes and discussions of a literary character have generally been omitted." The old Economics of Industry has long occupied a very high place, and the new is likely to take, if it be possible, a higher. But a regret may perhaps be expressed that, like the Principles and the old Economics of Industry, it is as yet only a first volume of an unfinished work; and therefore the student, whether junior or advanced, has to look forward to the future for the treatment of some of the topics usually handled in an economic treatise.

An Introduction to the Theory of Value. By William Smart. London: Macmillan and Co., 1891.

In this little book Mr. Smart has given a clear and concise account of the theory of value expounded by the chief representatives of the school of writers commonly known as the Austrian School. The theory, he states, is "that enunciated by Menger and Jevons, and worked out by Wieser and Böhm-Bawerk." It regards utility as the all important element in determining value, and lays stress on the final or marginal utility. To the element of cost of production emphasised by the older English economists it will only allow a subordinate place, and it maintains that the true process is from product to cost rather than from cost to product. That is to say, these Austrian writers, who have lately attracted a considerable amount of attention both in this and other countries, hold that the value of commodities, &c., is determined from the side of demand rather than that of supply. Unlike Jevons they make but a sparing use of mathematics proper, though they affect arithmetical illustrations; but they push the main ideas to be found in his book further and develop them more systematically. In this outline of their theory there are examples of the greater fulness and more thorough method which they have brought to the exposition of the idea of marginal utility. A distinction is established between "subjective" and "objective value," which they regard as independent, though closely connected, conceptions. The useful is treated as a larger class including the smaller class of the valuable; as value must emerge at some particular limiting point of utility." This leads directly to the conception of marginal utility, and Mr. Smart shows how the conception may be applied to the difficult and complicated cases of goods which may be put to different uses, and of what he calls "complementary goods," which are several in number, but contribute to one satisfaction, and are, in short, a group of goods. It may perhaps be questioned whether the Austrian economists have solved the problem of value-and this Mr. Smart allowswhether they have fully appreciated the work of writers like Ricardo and Mill, and whether they have not exaggerated one very important side to the undue neglect of the other; but there can be no doubt of the ability with which they have put forward their views, of the immense importance of the discussion, which touches the very centre of economics, and of the lucidity which characterises Mr. Smart's summary of their theory. In a brief compass he has given an adequate account of opinions which it is not easy to state at once clearly and shortly; and, in doing so, he has rendered no small service to English economic students, who are enabled to read in their own language the chief results of the inquiries of a distinguished body of foreign economists.

The Commerce of Nations. By C. F. Bastable. Methuen and Co., 1892.

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London:

This book forms one of a series entitled "Social Questions of To-day." There are indeed few questions which are now more eagerly discussed than that of Free Trade and Protection, to which