Knowledge that Transforms

I have been asked to say something about the effects on New England of the reciprocity arrangement with Canada. But I shall avail myself of the opportunity to consider also some of the larger aspects of the matter. It is the privilege and the duty of the economist to disregard sectional interests. A political representative usually finds it difficult to do otherwise than promote what is to the advantage, or is thought to be to the advantage, of his section and his constituents. The economist represents no constituency and holds no brief. His unqualified duty is to examine in what way the prosperity of the community as a whole may be advanced. The reciprocity arrangement now pending relates almost exclusively to agricultural products and the simpler materials. So far as these articles are concerned, the trade between the two countries is in the main a border trade of convenience. It is essentially an occasional trade, of the kind that springs up between any two adjoining regions, like New Hampshire and Vermont, or Ohio and Indiana. It is not based on a large geographical division of labor, like the trade between New England and the Mississippi Valley, or that between Great Britain and the United States as a whole. It involves no far-reaching political and social questions, no problems as to the way in which the industrial development of two differing regions shall be shaped. It is like the trade between adjoining farms, not like the trade between city and farm. Its restriction, though a possible source of annoyance and inconvenience, will cause no serious changes. Its freedom will promote good feeling and mutual accommodation, but will not seriously affect the course of economic development in either country. There are places where it is convenient for us to get some wheat and some meat from Canada and places where it is convenient for Canada to get them from us. There are seasons

The history of iimmigration to the United States since official statistics began to be kept may be divided into two periods. Though it is impossible-and, indeed, unnecessaryto draw the line between them in any particular year, yet the decade I870 to i88o saw the end of one and the beginning of the other. The two periods differ from each other in the volume of immigration, in the races mainly contributing to it, in the attitude of the American government and public opinion toward it, in the conditions of transportation, and in the causes that promoted it. It would be impossible to enumerate all the causes that induce men to leave old homes for new. Sometimes it is a mere spirit of adventure, a love of change. Very often the reasons are personal; sometimes they are involved and complicated, and however strongly felt, are but vaguely understood even by those that move under their influence. Whatever weakens the ties of home-bereavement, altered surroundings, domestic infelicity, social or political disappointment, economic difficulties, in short, any one of many things that may darken the current of lifeurges men to a change of habitation. At the present day when the means of transportation have become cheap, quick, and secure the motives for emigration need not be so strong as was necessary to induce men to leave Europe for America in the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century. The general causes for immigration during the period from

MENT SECURITIES: I890-I909 The following tables of,the prices of bonds and of the interest yielded by investment securities, commercial paper, and call loans have been made in connection with an investigation into business cycles since I890. They are companion pieces to the tables of relative prices of common and preferred stocks, published in the issues of this Journal for May and July, I9I0. The text of the present paper is limited to a description of the tables, a brief analysis of the results, and a comparison between the course of interest rates and bond prices in America and Europe. While certain special problems suggested by the statistics are discussed, no systematic effort is made to account for the fluctuations in the rates of interest; for that general problem canlnot be treated adequately without thorough analysis of the whole business situation.

That the far more general acceptance of the income tax in the United States is practically assured few, if any, persons now seem inclined to doubt. There can be very little question that the constitutional anmendment submitted to state legislatures by vote of Congress will within a reasonable time secure enough favorable ballots to insure its adoption. As Professor Seligman in his recent comprehensive work on income taxation has expressed it:

At the i909 conference on the teaching of elementary economics, a committee of three was appointed "to undertake a comprehensive statistical investigation of the present status of the teaching of economics in the United States." The discussion at the time the committee was appointed showed that the conference hoped this committee not only would secure a comprehensive view of the methods now in use in the teaching of the elementary course, but also would throw some light upon the extent to which the entire subject of economics is taught in this country; upon the extent to which economics has become a required subject in the modern college curriculum; and particularly upon the extent to which the presentation of this subject secures financial support, student registrations, etc. The committee has made an attempt to carry out the wishes of the conference and it now submits a report-although it recognizes it to be tentative and subject to corrections. The difficulties under which the committee has been forced to labor have been neither few nor insignificant. To begin with, it was impossible to frame a comprehensive questionnaire which would meet the varying conditions of the many colleges which teach economics. The committee sought to get a questionnaire which would cover as many cases as possible by sending out proof sheets and securing the advice of over a score of instructors before a final form was adopted. Nevertheless, in filling out the questionnaire finally adopted, several instructors were forced to report that it fitted conditions at their institutions so poorly that it was difficult o give replies of much value. The attempt to secure data which would make possible comparisons with other departments in the matter of student registrations, number of instructors, financial support, etc., was a particularly difficult undertaking. As stated above, it was impos-