cent. From information we have obtained, there is reason to believe that the number of societies has really fallen off, and that subsequent returns will show a considerable diminution.

Referring to the critical analysis on a previous page, the later records show a gross profit upon the return of a little over 12 per cent. compared with 16 per cent. in former times, being a deduction of gross profits in the proportion of nearly 25 per cent. ; and though trade charges have been considerably reduced, the net profits are less than 5 per cent. It is impossible to resist the deduction, derived from all the circumstances, that the average profits of retail shopkeepers, after all their inevitably larger expenses are allowed for, cannot exceed that portion of 5 per cent., and that is the inordinate gain which some noisy, thoughtless, and inexperienced people are making such a ridiculous fuss about.

FAILURE IN MANUFACTURING.

These later returns exhibit, in a remarkable degree, the continuing failure of co-operation in attempts at manufacturing. All the manufacturing societies, now remaining on the official list, appear in the following order :Eccles Industrial Manufacturing.

Co-operative Printing (Manchester).

Rochdale Manufacturing.

Leicester 2nd Co-operative Hosiery.

Leicester Elastic Web Manufacturing.

Arnold Manufacturing.

Leek Hand-made Silk Twist Manufacturing.

Walsall General Lock and Hardware Manufacturing.

Coventry Watch Manufacturing.

Dudley Nail Manufacturing.

Airedale Worsted Manufacturing.

Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing.

Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturing.

Sheffield Haft and Scale-cutting.

Cambria Iron and Tin-plate Manufacturing.

Stavely Bobbin Manufacturing.

POOR RESULTS.

The Printing Society made a return of £23,928 and a profit of £1,935, or a fraction over 8 per cent. The Rochdale Society did a business of £189,551 at a profit of only £1,151, or about 12s. per £100. The Leicester Hosiery did £3,364, at a profit of £14. The Cambria did £36,315, without any profit. Sinking the Printing Society, all the other manufacturing societies enumerated did £280,435, at a profit of £2,649, or less than 1 per cent. These results are calculated to qualify the extravagant notions that some people entertain about the inordinate profits made by master manufacturers.

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES.

Most of the manufacturing concerns professing to go upon co-operative principles are incorporated under the Companies Acts, and hence do not appear in this return. Most of them, though sometimes called co-operative, are carried on in disregard of the meaning of the name.

THE NATIONAL DEBT, MUNICIPAL LOANS, AND LIFE INSURANCE,

WITH REFERENCE TO THRIFT.

WHAT THE DEBT CONSISTS OF.

THE National Debt is the name given to the amount of money that has been borrowed by the Government from individuals.

For many years it has fluctuated in amount between 700 and 800 millions of pounds, costing annually for interest from twenty-eight to twenty-nine millions!

That annual amount is chargeable upon the taxation of the country, and is consequently a national burden of the most serious character.

ORIGIN AND CONTINUANCE.

For many years past it has not been materially reduced, though the increase it causes to the amount of taxation has led to many proposals and attempts to reduce it, or to extinguish it entirely. But most of the proposals have been disregarded, and attempts have been relinquished, because so many influential persons desire to retain it as a perpetual medium for safe investments, and it was that consideration that really originated the debt, not because the Government wanted money so badly, but because so many persons had large sums for which they could find no investments, and which, consequently, they did not know what to do with.

"As an instance of the state of things prior to the commencement of the National Debt, it is related that the father of Pope, the poet, who retired from business in the City of London about 1680, carried to a retreat in the country a strong box, containing nearly £20,000, and took out from time to time what he required for household expenses; and it is highly probable that this was not a solitary case. All the great writers on currency were of opinion that a very considerable mass of gold and silver was hidden in secret drawers and behind wainscots."*

There being so many persons, like the father of Pope, who had large sums * Ward and Lock's "Guide to the Stock Exchange."

of money, and there being no railways, or limited companies, or any other of the thousands and one kinds of investments now current, there was a very widespread desire to create some kinds of means for the investments of the wealthy and the idle. Therefore it was not the Government that applied to the capitalists to lend, but the capitalists who clamoured for the Government to borrow.

As a consequence of the influences thus brought to bear, the Government obtained the authority of Parliament to borrow a million, the Act for the purpose being passed on the 20th of January, 1693. Further sums were easily obtainable in like manner any time afterwards, but the debt remained comparatively moderate until the enormous expenses of the wars with Napoleon turned the scale against the Government. In 1787 the amount was £249,210,896; in 1793 it had fallen to £229,614,446; in 1816 it had increased to £816,311,939, showing an increase in twenty-three years of £586,697,493.

EXCESSIVE OBLIGATIONS.

During the said twenty-three years, in consequence of the constantlyincreasing needs of the Government, the most extravagant concessions had to be made in order to induce capitalists to lend their money, and the result of that state of things was that upwards of £173 of debt was created for every £100 of money actually obtained by the Government, and it is entirely owing to that pernicious system that we are now burdened with something like a third of the amount, estimated at £247,565,993 of money never received, upon which we are paying interest every year.

PERPETUAL ANNUITIES.

The original idea of the Government was to repay the amounts borrowed, and for a long time that was done; but as new money was invariably borrowed wherewith to pay off the old debts, the system was a farce, and is now abandoned. Consequently, the present National Debt is for the most part based upon perpetual annuities, payable to the holders of what is called "stock," that is, certificates to the amounts owing to the lenders.

There is what is called the "Sinking Fund," and there are "Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt,” and a quantity of complicated machinery for managing the mysterious operations that somehow never make any material difference to the amount.

CONSOLS.

The first loan in 1693 was charged with interest at the rate of 10 per cent. That scale was gradually reduced to 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, and 31. In 1844 the interest of 3 per cent. then current was reduced to 3, and in 1854 to 3 per cent., which interest has prevailed ever since, most of the miscellaneous debts previously current having been absorbed into what are called Consolidated Annuities at 3 per cent., hence called "Consols."

STOCK AND FUNDS.

Stock, as distinguished from shares and bonds, is part of a consolidated fund. Thus, a share or a bond represents a fixed nominal amount, as £1, £10, £100, or any intermediate sum at which shares or bonds may be fixed. Dealings in bonds and shares must be for so many shares or bonds, at their respective market prices: transactions for intermediate amounts cannot be effected, as the securities cannot be divided. Persons who have a stated amount to invest (no more and no less) often find the indivisibility of bonds or shares a fatal bar to investments therein. It is for this reason that Government securities are "funded," or converted into a consolidated fund, hence known as the "Funds;" and most of the companies whose shares are fully paid up are funded or consolidated in like manner, and hence become "Stock."

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Sales and purchases of "Stock" can be made to any amount convenient to the parties, the market price being calculated at so much per hundred pounds, and intermediate amounts in proportion.

In addition to the convenience of stock with reference to its divisibility, it has always the advantage of being fully paid up. In limited companies it is impossible for stock to be liable to calls at any time, and in unlimited companies not unless the company becomes insolvent, and is wound up.

PAR, DISCOUNT, AND PREMIUM.

Par is the nominal value of stocks or shares.

In stocks it is always £100

for one hundred pounds' nominal worth; in fully paid-up shares it is when the nominal value and the price are the same; in shares partly paid it is when the price is the same as the amount paid.

Discount is a stated proportion or amount below par.
Premium is a stated proportion or amount above par.

ADVANTAGE OF THE RICH.

As we have seen, in the case of Pope's father, when a man retired from business with a considerable sum of money, before the creation of the National Debt, he had generally no other resource but to live upon his capital, and so it was with every man who came into the possession of any considerable amount of money by inheritance. Besides, it is stated that thousands of busy men found every Christmas that, after the expenses of the year's housekeeping had been defrayed out of the year's income, a surplus remained, and we are informed that in those days a lawyer, a physician, a merchant, whether retired or still busy, who had saved some thousands, and who wished to place them safely and profitably, was often greatly embarrassed! They were embarrassed with so much money that they did not know what to do with it.

The only alternative to living upon capital was to invest in land, which was hard to find, and paid very badly, or to invest in some business involving considerable risk.

Now, with reference to such cases, every rich man is provided with a national resort, where he can invest any surplus money, however large the amount, on the best security in the world. To do so is only the work of a few minutes, without trouble or risk, on an assured rate of interest, and in such a form that he can recover possession of his money at a day's notice, and sometimes in a few minutes.

When we consider that all this is mainly for the advantage of rich men, who wield most of the influence in such matters, it is not surprising that all the professions of a desire to materially reduce the National Debt have come to nought.

DISADVANTAGE OF THE POOR.

Such a state of things is very agreeable to the rich, who are thus provided with interest and security at the public expense, but when we find that the thirty millions or so, wherewith to pay that interest, has to be paid out of the taxes levied upon the industry of the country, mainly paid by persons who are the reverse of rich, the equity of the arrangement seems to be open to considerable question.

ATTEMPTED REMEDIES.

Hitherto, investment in the National Debt has been solely under the control and for the sole benefit of rich men, because the amounts almost invariably dealt in have been beyond the reach of the needy, and because the modes of doing business in the Funds have been serious bars to the investment of small sums.

An effort has recently been made to extend to the needy, and the possessors of any small savings, the benefits resulting from the interest and security assured by the National Debt. The subject is one that is newly imported into considerations upon thrift, and as such we deal with it. Before doing so, however, we think it will better elucidate the present position of affairs relating to this subject if we give a sketch of the state of public securities, beginning at the smallest and ending with the National Debt, which is the climax of the whole. Therefore, to commence with, we take the Municipal Loans.

MUNICIPAL LOANS.

The justification for borrowing by towns is the necessity for making improvements of unusual magnitude, for which the ordinary income of the town is inadequate.

Such loans are authorised by special Parliamentary powers, the initiation being generally under the control and subject to the veto of the Local Government Board.

The usual course in most towns, when a loan is required, is to apply to a selection of banks, insurance offices, and other capitalists, for the amount required, and to take the money from the quarter that offers it at the lowest rate of interest.