Knowledge that Transforms

in support of the thesis that nationalization of railways, under any of its forms, "is unnecessary, undesirable and impracticable as regards any application thereof to the United Kingdom," whatever defense of the principle may be urged in other countries with other economic and political conditions.This said, enough said.The topics treated are inevitable: state railway finance; state vs. private management; effects upon politics and upon labor; probable terms of acquisition; comparison of English and continental rates, services, and conditions of traffic; what English railways have done; their present situation; how other countries have been led to adopt state ownership-all treated from the point of view that out of the nationalization Nazareth nothing good can come; at least, not for England

Durinlg the recent presidential campaign the people of this country, especially those in the W'est, heard a great deal about the guaranteeing of blank deposits. The idea is not a new one. It has frequently been advocated in the past, and a few of our states long ago tried the experiment: New York in I829, Vermont in I83I, and Michigan in 1836. In all these cases the experiments ended disastrously. In fact, it would be difficult to find a single example of the successful operation of such a scheme in this or any other country. Yet the advocates of the proposed plan, with varying degrees of inaccuracy, cite Germany's siystem of municipal savings banks, Canada's 5 per cent. guaranty of bank notes, Georgia's "chain-of-banks" system, and other unwarranted analogies, as ample evidence of their wisdom. Now comes the new state of Oklahoma, and under the inspiration of Mr. Bryan and Governor Haskell, the world is given another guaranty law-a sure preventive of any future financial disasters. Fortunately this is the only recent measure of the kind thus far enacted, but it is greatly to be feared that it will not long retain its solitary position, unless the spread of the false doctrine throughout the West is speedily checked.

The influence of the large production of gold upon the level of prices in the last decade presents one of the most interesting problems in theoretical as well as in practical economics. Since Ricardo, and even before him, the familiar theory has been held that an increase of the circulating medium necessarily produces an increase in the prices of goods. Yet, in the United States, we have had falling prices with an increasing circulation. Indeed, the old theory of Ricardo and Hume no longer holds undisputed sway. There seems to be general agreement hat the price of an article, like wheat, is the quantity of the given standard for which it will exchange. Obviously, price is an expression of the exchange-ratio between a commmodity, likewheat, and a standard, like gold. Hence, in these later days, it has been seen that this ratio can be changed by forces affe;cting either term of the ratio. While the causes influencing the supply and demand of gold are supposed constant, we know that causes touching the demand and supply of wheat can modify its gold price. A scanty harvest and a reduced supply of wheat, or a new demand, will raise its price; while reduced freights, improved processes, an increase of supply, or a diminished emand, will lower its price. These facts, touching wheat alone, are self-evident; and they show that changes in price are not to be attributed solely to forces affecting

The Journal seeks to cover, in its monthly bibliography, all current literature of economic interest in the following fields:I. Books published in the English, French, German, and Italian languages.II.The government publications of the United States and of Great Britain.III.

The Journal seeks to cover, in its monthly bibliography, all current literature of economic interest in the following fields: I. Books published in the English, French, German, and Italian languages. II. The government publications of the United States and of Great Britain. III. Periodical references of four or more pages appearing in the periodicals listed below. Periodicals devoting an entire number to a single discussion are listed under books.