adding to the National Gallery the best examples of the foremost masters, will not cease to regret that Mr. Gladstone's Government did not act upon the recommendation of the Trustees and Director, and upon the urgent representation of the Royal Academicians, and add to the two great pictures purchased from the Duke of Marlborough the matchless full-length portraits by Rubens of himself and his family, and of Helen Fourmont-a class of work which the National Gallery does not possess, and which is essential to its completeness. They have now passed, like so many art-treasures, into the possession of the Rothschild family at Paris, and the opportunity of obtaining such things will never occur again. We believe that Lord Beaconsfield, with that wise liberality which distinguished him, would not have hesitated to acquire these two pictures for the nation, nor have we the slightest doubt that he would have deserved the gratitude, and received the approval of the country in so doing. But we must bring our remarks to a close. We have sought to convey to our readers some idea of the growth of the National Gallery during the last twenty-five years, and of the manner in which this priceless collection of pictures, forming no inconsiderable portion of England's wealth, and adding not a little to her renown, is cared for and administered by those to whom the country has confided it. If such an institution is an indication, as we believe it to be, of the civilization and culture of a nation, we may be justly proud of it. We may envy the masterpieces of Rembrandt which adorn the Hermitage and the Museum of Cassel; we may be entranced by the magic effect of the blaze of colour from the canvases of Titian and Carpaccio on the walls of the Venice Academy; and we may be fascinated by the exquisite grace and matchless drawing of the altar-pieces of Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto in the Pitti and Uffizi. We cannot hope to obtain such works, which form part of the glories of the countries to which they belong. Nor is it desirable that we should seek to rival the Louvre in its endless display of pictures of all sorts and kinds. But our National Gallery excels all these renowned collections in the variety and genuineness of the works of painters of all countries it contains, in their judicious selection, and in the materials it furnishes for the illustration and history of the various epochs and schools of painting, and consequently for the instruction it affords. Nor is there any foreign Gallery so much frequented by students, or so generally visited and enjoyed by persons of all classes. Vol. 163.-No. 326. 2 F ART. ART. V.-1. Fifteenth and Sixteenth Annual Reports of the Deputy Master of the Mint. 1884, 1885. Presented to the Houses of Parliament. 2. Journal of the Institute of Bankers. (The probable results of an increase in the Purchasing Power of Gold. By the Rt. Hon. Geo. J. Goschen, M.P.) May, 1883. 3. Essays in Finance. London. 1886. By Robert Giffen. Second series. 4. Letter of the Secretary of the Treasury to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Washington. March, 1886. HE subject, which we propose to investigate, is the difficult has recently altered its position relatively to all things purchased through its means; and we may fitly commence our remarks with a reference to the work of that public department to whose charge is entrusted the production of our British coin. Ever since the office of Deputy-Master of the Mint has been committed to Mr. Fremantle, he has been at great pains to render his Reports attractive as well as instructive. Thus the Sixteenth Report, that for 1885, contains some very interesting remarks on the method by means of which the cast medals, of beautiful design, such as are among the most precious relics of medieval Italian Art, may be produced. Mr. Fremantle has called attention to this process, easy of application in capable hands, cheap in comparison with modern tasteless substitutes, in the hope that thus an art may be revived which at the present time has degenerated to a manufacture. This attention to the artistic work of the Mint has not diverted consideration from other and more important matters. The Report contains estimates of the production of gold and silver in Australia and New Zealand from the earliest. Colonial records obtainable; and also the documents relating to the monetary convention between France, Belgium, Italy and Greece, signed at Paris in November and December, 1885. These last papers refer to the side of the question with which we are immediately concerned. The reports from our Australian Colonies relate to the production of the precious metals, the documents signed at Paris refer to their employment. Both these points, production and employment, are of the highest importance, as determining price, and it is the price of the Standard of Value-that is to say, its command of the goods purchased through its means, which we propose to consider. The question is; Is it not well that this command of goods purchased purchased should be as large as possible; that is to say, that the price of everything reckoned in money should be as low as possible? Among the desirable objects which men have continually sought to attain, peace and plenty may be placed among the first. And with plenty, cheapness is in the mind of every one invariably associated. On the other hand, distress, famine prices, and anxiety, both public and private, are terms connected almost of necessity with scarcity. Why is it then that at the present time, when the reverse of scarcity is experienced by us, when prices generally are unusually low, when no threat of foreign war hangs over us, when no dread of want, no doubt that the raw materials for our manufactures will be forthcoming in abundant supply, no fear lest the food for our industrial population should fail, crosses the mind of any one, there is yet a general expression that business is hardly worth carrying on? Why is it that the existing general lowness of price which is found to extend almost to every article of consumption, is not hailed as a blessing instead of being the subject of anxious thought? The answer in the plainest terms is this: that hardly any one seems to be the better for it. Though the amount of goods exported, of materials manufactured, remains undiminished, if it has not even increased, yet the complaint is general that business has never been so bad, and profits have never been so low. Trade and industry have suffered so much, that a Royal Commission, of which a well-known statesman, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, now the Earl of Iddesleigh, is Chairman, has been appointed to enquire into the existing depression. Several large volumes of evidence, delivered both by word of mouth and in writing, attest the diligence with which the enquiry has been prosecuted. The replies to all the questions give back one answer, that in Europe and the northern portion of America alike, there is a great and general absence of that profit, by which alone trade can be maintained. Pressed for the cause of this, some of those who have been questioned reply, that the depression' arises from over-production. But over-production is of necessity accompanied by increasing stocks of unsold goods, accumulating in warehouses in England, or held by agents abroad. Such accumulations are, however, not to be found; and it is a canon of economic faith that general over-production is impossible. Sometimes the condition of the money market is the cause of depression; but at the present time the surface of the money market is unruffled by any storm, nor 2 F 2 are are its depths supposed to hide any extraordinary number of recent wrecks of commercial venture. One anxiety alone, it may be said, occupies the minds of that acute body of men who centre in Lombard-street; and that anxiety is, how to employ to any profit the sums entrusted to their care. The deposits in their hands scarcely show any perceptible sign of shrinkage. It is true, and it is also unusual, that these sums hardly appear to increase, even in a very slight degree. But though this is the case, and though the ordinary growth of business profits, which has been recorded in most years of our previous commercial history, appears absent from the recent returns, yet the amounts do not seem to diminish. Large as ever, the same blight appears to hang over the balances of London bankers as over the products of Lancashire manufacturers, or of Lincolnshire farmers. Absence of profit is the complaint here, as elsewhere. In one sense it is well for the country, that the rate which has to be paid for the use of money is not high at the present time. If money were dear, this, under existing circumstances, would mean additional difficulties to men who are already struggling with troubles enough and to spare. Thus it is well that the rate for money is low, and means of subsistence cheap, as both these circumstances prevent the edge of the existing pressure from being felt so keenly as otherwise would be the case. But there is a tradition among business men, founded on that lore which experience alone can provide, that trade is never good with a permanently low rate of money. The rate of interest on loans for short periods is low, not because loanable capital is over-plentiful, for, as has just been mentioned, the supply does not augment; but capital is cheap because it is plentiful relatively to the demand for its use; and the demand is slack because of the continued tendency of general prices to fall, and of the little hope of profit in business transactions. Here, again, we seem to move in a vicious circle, from which there appears to be no escape. The cursory glance which we have just taken of the subject shows the existence of a general lowness of price, coupled with an absence of general prosperity, which is usually associated with high, rather than low prices. The method by which a record is kept of the prices of commodities is simple enough. A list is made of certain productions, either of agricultural produce, such as wheat, meat or wool, or of typical manufactures as cotton yarn or cloth of a description which is not greatly dependent for its employment on the fashion of the day, and a record is kept of the prices quoted for these goods, year by year. This is the basis of the method. method. It has been followed by some of our earlier economists. Arthur Young has preserved some useful information; Mr. Poulett Scrope carried the idea somewhat further; Mr. Tooke and Mr. Porter were among the first to collect the facts in a systematic manner. Much information may be gleaned from a careful research into the old account-books of families and institutions. It is from sources like these that Mr. Thorold Rogers has compiled the History of Agricultural Prices in England, which is so useful an adjunct to the study of the ordinary history of the country. The method of the records of prices is simple enough in its idea. In its application, however, there is this important failure, that unless the results are arranged in a systematic manner, it is difficult even for a careful student to trace the course of circumstances, from a mere inspection of the figures shown. Unless a considerable number of prices of different articles is recorded, the statement is apt to be imperfect, and hence of little value; but on the other hand, when the number is considerable it becomes difficult to gather and combine the numerous threads of fact. The old adage is exemplified, that it is impossible to see the wood for the trees. Curiously enough it was reserved for an economic writer almost of the present day, the late Mr. William Newmarch, acting, we believe, on a suggestion contained in the works of the late Professor Jevons, to assist the investigation of these questions by the simple expedient of assigning a proportional number to each of the articles whose price was recorded, and to register, from year to year, the relative percentage of the prices of the day, whether more or less, to those of the first yearly record. By combining the figures thus obtained in a general total, it becomes easy for any one to follow the fluctuations of price from year to year; and the record has been annually continued in the Economist' newspaper. Objections have been made to this method on the ground, that unless every imaginable commodity dealt with, manufactured, or produced by human industry is recorded, the calculations may be deficient so far as giving a really general view is concerned. No doubt there is truth in this remark; and a calculation, based on figures which assigned an equal importance to wheat and to pepper, to beef and to mustard, would be liable to mislead the reader to some extent. rise took place in the price of the two table condiments, which in the statement of percentages exactly balanced a fall in the price of the two great articles of food, it might be held that prices generally had experienced no fluctuation; though the consumer would be of an entirely different opinion. Were the variation in the relative prices reversed, the proof of such If a erroneous |