2. A Proposal for a System of International Money. By W. A. SHAW. 3. The Gold Standard. By HON. GEORGE PEEL. 4 The Menace to English Industry from the Competition of Silver-using Countries. By R. S. GUNDRY. Although England has had a single gold standard since 1816, all other countries continued to use either silver alone or both metals linked together, as full legal tender money, till 1873. Down to that year, therefore, gold and silver served equally as international money. The demonetisation of silver, which began with Germany's adoption of a gold standard, has entailed a gradually increasing divergence in the relative value of the two metals. The value of gold necessarily rose in response to increased demand, and the price of all commodities (as measured in gold) fell. The price of silver fell with the rest, and is now 30d. an ounce, instead of 60d., at which it stood so long as the French mints were open to coin it at the ratio of 15 to 1. But though silver may appear in Europe to have shared the general fall, the position is different if we turn to the East. The standard there is silver, and its purchasing power over commodities has remained approximately stable. To an Indian, or a Chinaman, or a Japanese, his silver money represents the same value that it did twenty years ago. The English farmer who wants a sovereign has to give two sacks of wheat where one used to suffice; but the Indian ryot who wants a rupee has to give no more of his produce than before, and his rupee will buy in turn as many of the necessaries of life as it would a generation ago. The effect has been to encourage the importation of foreign produce into England, and to render increasingly difficult the exportation of English industrial products to the East. It is an error to suppose that the great fall in wheat, for instance, has been caused by competition in the United States. The American farmer, on the contrary, is suffering nearly as we do ourselves. The root of the evil lies in differences of currency. As a sovereign, which used to be worth only ten rupees, will now buy eighteen, and each rupee retains its purchasing power, it follows that a sovereign will buy nearly twice as much Indian wheat, and the price of English corn had to fall accordingly. The close of the Indian mints disadvantaged India in turn by lifting her currency above the silver level, and she is being undersold by Russia. The Lancashire manufacturer who wishes to sell his goods in Asia is confronted by the converse difficulty. As the Chinaman's dollar represents, to him, unchanged value, he is not disposed to give more silver for his yarn or cloth than before. But whereas the dollar used to be worth 4s., it is now worth only 28. ld.; so that the English manufacturer who used to get, say, (2) 10s., now gets 58. 3d. The effect has naturally been to check trade. The proportion of total exports of British and Irish produce taken by silver-using countries since 1876-when the currency changes had had time to take effecthas been stationary. It was 20-67 per cent. in 1877 and 20-85 per cent. in 1894, having never been above 21.90 in the interval. The export of cotton yarn from England to China and Japan is less now than it was in 1876, while the export from India has enormously increased; though there has been a falling off in her case also since the close of her mints (in 1893) disturbed-by imparting a fictitious value to the rupee-the silver level on which the trade had grown up. The additional blows dealt to silver and the increasing strain thrown on gold by that measure and the repeal of the Sherman Act disabled the English manufacturer still further. The gold price of silver fell another 10d. He was obliged to raise the price of his goods in order to ensure an adequate gold return, and the Chinaman restricted his demand. The import of cotton goods into China in 1894 was less by 4,000,000 pieces than in 1892. Nor does the harm end here. The conditions which handicap English labour advantage the Asiatic and encourage him to manufacture for himself. As the local value of the Japanese yen, for instance, has not changed, whereas it has come to represent 28. only, instead of 4s., to the English manufacturer, the latter is obviously at an enormous disadvantage in the competition. The result is that not only is Japan now manufacturing many things which it used to buy from us but, having satisfied its own requirements, is beginning to export. It is beginning to export cotton goods to China and the Straits at prices with which we cannot compete. It already supplies Singapore with half the coal used at its wharves, to the detriment of Wales and Australia. It supplies, not only to China, but to the Straits, and even to India, numerous minor articles which we used to send when the dollar represented 48.. but which we cannot supply for 2s. And what has been going on in Japan is beginning in China, where cotton mills are being erected in turn. This competition is only in its infancy; and we have here the obverse of the picture of cheap prices upon which advocates of the gold standard love to dwell. They may be pleasant for the consumer, but how about the producer? They may be good for the creditor, but how about the debtor who has to produce two hundred sacks of wheat to repay the 1007. which he borrowed when it represented one hundred sacks? The advantage, to the hypothetical labourer, of being able to buy a loaf for 2d. instead of 4d. is obvious, if he retains his former wage; but how about the man whose wages have been reduced, or whose occupation has been lost through the change of arable land to pasture or by the close of a Lancashire mill or a Cornish mine? If low prices be a supreme good, to be pursued at the cost of transferring English industries to the East, we have only to persevere in the boycott of silver which is ruining agriculture and saddling Lancashire with a handicap too heavy to be borne. But it is well to realise that all this means loss of work; and to the workman who has less wages or no work cheap prices may seem a questionable boon. The close of the mints against silver has practically divided the world into two halves one of which is prospering on a stable and abundant silver currency, while the West is suffering from financial stress and from hindrance to its commerce with the East. An agreement to join other nations in resuming the free coinage of both metals at a fixed ratio would relieve us from these disabilities by re-establishing parity of exchange, and replace our farmers and manufacturers on even terms with the rest of the world. 5. On the Preservation of the National Parochial Registers. The early parochial registers of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales and in Ireland are still located in the several parishes to which they relate. This exposes them to the many risks contingent to the numerous and varied forms and places in which they are kept; often to the mercy of caress or incompetent custodians; and, on account of their being so widely scattered," enders them practically inaccessible for either statistical or general or special histrical purposes. The valuable information they contain is accordingly almost entirely to the country. This could easily be remedied by the adoption of the method which has been followed in Scotland. There, by an Act of Parliament, in 1854, the custodians of such parish registers were required to send them to the General Register House at Edinburgh, where, under the care of the Registrar-General, they have been carefully gone over, strongly bound, and are now preserved in uniform order in fire-proof and damp-proof chambers. They are open daily for inspection to those interested on the payment of certain fees, and when for purely literary work, gratis. The passing of a similar Act of Parliament for England and Wales and for Ireland, by which the present custodians of parish registers in these countries shall be required to send all such registers (in the case of England and Wales) to the Record Office or to Somerset House in London, and (in the case of Ireland) to Dublin Castle, or other safe repository in Dublin, would secure the same benefits to the rest of the British Isles as Scotland now enjoys. Besides, the registers themselves would enjoy the greatest possible security from the further inroads of fire, of damp, and of other destructive agents, which have already made havoc with so many of our early national records; and a most valuable source of historical and statistical information would be available for the student at readily accessible centres. When desired by any parish, as has been done in Scotland, a certified copy of the registers of such parish could be made at the public expense, and this copy left in lieu of the original. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. The Section did not meet. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. The following Papers were read : 1. Agriculture in Suffolk. By CAPTAIN E. G. PRETYMAN, M.P. 2. Agriculture of Suffolk from a Tenant's Point of View. Soils of the County.-Short description. Cultivation as hitherto adopted.-Corn growing; sheep rearing. Dairying.-Milk trade; butter making; butter factories; cheese making. Proposed substitutes for corn growing. Sugar beet; flax; vegetables; market gardening; fruit culture. Suggestions for relief of present distress by adjustment of railway rates and of local taxation. Imperial attention to sale of foreign for home-grown meat. Increased price of produce, &c. 3. Co-operative Rural Banks. By HAROLD E. MOORE, F.S.I. At the present time much attention is rightly given to the extension of allotments and small holdings, either as a useful auxiliary, or as a sole means of livelihood. It is too often forgotten, however, that both skill and the assistance of adequate capital are necessary if such areas of land are to be made as useful as possible. Thus, a man may want additional funds before he can purchase a cow, or other live stock, or plant fruit trees. Even if an individual possesses half the amount necessary for these purposes, without co-operation he has no means of obtaining the other half. This difficulty can now be overcome by adopting the principle of co-operation in any parish in which this additional capital for productive purposes is wanted. This co-operation should be applied by the foundation of a society or co-operative bank which would lend to the individual members, under proper conditions, the sums they require. These conditions would provide that no loan should be lent except to members of the society, and that in each case it must be for some specified productive purpose approved by the committee, and for which securities or sureties approved by them are obtainable. The funds required by the co-operative bank would be provided from an ordinary bank, the latter holding the charges given by the individual borrowers, and having an additional security in the unlimited liability of the members of the society. Such banks had been most successful on the Continent, as would be shown in the succeeding paper by Mr. Wolff, but in consequence of legislative difficulties, had only lately been introduced into England. These, however, had been removed by the action of the Agricultural Banks Association, founded in 1893. Any interested in starting a co-operative bank in the district with which they are concerned should apply to the Secretary of that Association, Palace Chambers, Westminster, S.W., for a copy of the rules as approved by the Registrar appointed under the Friendly Societies Act, 1875. 4. Co-operation in the Service of Agriculture. By H. W. WOLFF. Co-operation seems marked out as one of the methods by which help may be brought to agriculture. The method proposed is not what is usually understood as 'Co-operative Agriculture,' that is, the joint tenure and exploitation of a holding by a number of men, which does not generally seem to answer, and which promises no relief to farmers in the ordinary sense of the term; but co-operation in the purchase of farmers' requisites; in turning farm produce to better account-for instance, milk by means of co-operative dairies; in practising combined selling, insurance, the disposal of meat in co-operative butcheries, in common work of certain kinds, and in the securing of credit by means of co-operative banks. Instances quoted from home and foreign experience. It was really we who began co-operative agricultural supply. It did not spread as it should have done, apparently from want of money. Now the foreigners have outstripped us. The French agricultural syndicates, started in 1883, have now increased to about 1,500. They have democratised' the use of feeding stuffs and artificial manures. They have achieved success on other ground. The Italian syndicates and co-operation in Germany and Switzerland were then described. The most effective cooperative method thus far applied has been co-operative credit, which is now placing millions at the command of cultivators, large and small, in Germany, Austria, and in Italy, which is spreading and generally answering very well. The problem to be solved stated. Credit must be granted for long terms and on security, which is not now recognised. It must also be made available alike for large farmers and for small cultivators. The credit must be personal. Examples quoted from abroad. Different systems. That of Schulze Delitzsch, of Luzzatti, of Raiffeisen, and their further adaptations. Applicability of the same principle to England. Village banks for small cultivators, allotment holders, &c. Agricul tural banks of a different type for larger farmers. Our difficulties and our advantages. On the whole there seems room for this form of co-operation, as there certainly is for the other forms touched upon. There is a want of money among farmers. The new allotment holders certainly will want such help if they are to prosper. The legal difficulties have practically been overcome. Our beginnings seem to warrant expectations of further success. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. The following Papers were read :-- The Probability of a Cessation of the land and Wales before 1951. Growth of Population in Eng- Everyone knows that the population of a country increases when births and immigrants exceed deaths and emigrants, and decreases when deaths and emigrants exceed births and immigrants, and most people know that though emigration and immigration fluctuate greatly, the effects of migration on the population of England, as a whole, are small compared with the effects of births and deaths. But the ordinary citizen does not usually realise the extent to which the deaths of each decade are dependent on the variations of the number of births in the preceding half-century. Yet this dependence is so well understood that in the Census Report of 1861 it was predicted that the population over twenty years of age in 1881 would be 14,167,745, and the Census of 1881 enumerated 13,958,616, so that the error was only 15 per thousand. Again, in the Census Report of 1871 it was predicted that the population over ten years of age in 1881 would be 19,365,188, and when the time came 19,306,179 were enumerated. If the same method had been used in 1881, the population over ten in 1891 would have been estimated at 22,129,736, and the number enumerated was 22,053,857. In both these last cases the error is between 3 and 3 per thousand. The diagram exhibited shows the basis of these estimates and continues the series to 1951. The population at each age living at every moment between 1851 and 1891 is indicated by lines sloping downwards, and the gradual progress of each generation from the birth of its first member on the Census morning to its final extinction by the death of its last survivor more than a hundred years afterwards, is shown by lines sloping upwards from left to right. From the form of the figure it will be seen at once that while an immediate cessation of the growth of population is, in the absence of some great convulsion, altogether out of the question, a gradual diminution and eventual cessation before the middle of next century is quite compatible with all reasonable continuity. 2. On the Correlation of the Rate of General Pauperism with the Proportion of Out-Relief given. By G. Ú. YULE. The author had formed two correlation tables for the years 1871-1891, showing the number of unions in each year, combining given rates of pauperism with given proportions of out-relief. The result showed that the rate of pauperism was indubitably correlated with the proportion of out-relief given, high values in the former corresponding to high values in the latter (on the average). As this was in flat contradiction to a conclusion of Mr. Charles Booth's,' an investigation and critique of his methods were also given. 3. The State and Workers on the Land. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON. 4. The National Value of Organised Labour and Co-operation among By Mrs. BEDFORD FENWICK. Women. 1 Aged Poor, p. 423. |