Laughlin's Bimetallism.

The last number of the Nation has a long but entertaing review of Professor Laughlin's recent work in Bimetallism. A short abstract of this review may be interesting to many. The writer begins by giving a brief sketch of the silver controversy, which really started in 1876, when the relative values of silver and gold began to change from the old standard of sixteen to one. The knowing ones, even at that time, saw that the alteration would probably be permanent, and that sooner or later the subject of Bimetallism would be an issue in our politics. But it was not until the passage of the Bland-Allison bill, in the early part of 1878, that public attention was forcibly called to the matter. Since then the importance of the question has slowly grown, until now the people are paying as much heed to it as to the tariff and civil service reform.

The reviewer continues: "Professor Laughlin's work is an extremely pains taking collection and methodical arrangement of all the facts needed by the student, the statesman, or the editor to fit him for taking part in this battle. Along with the collection of material we have a clear and dispassionate argument, not of the controversial sort, maintaining the views held by nearly all economists of the present day on the subject of monetary standards."

Before the great decline in the worth of silver, in 1876, the topic had hardly been touched by the present generation. And the old discussions, and experiences in England and in this country had been forgotten. But to quote again, "Professor Laughlin has grouped together all the scattered material of our own history, and nearly all that is useful from the history of other nations, to equip those who desire to enlist in the fight on the side of correct principles of finance. The arrangement of statistics regarding the production and coinage of gold and silver is especially valuable, presenting in graphic form the yield of the mines in each of the periods in the world's history marked by any unusual increase of one or the other metal, and also of the whole period from the discovery of America to the present time . . . Incidentally, Professor Laughlin demolishes the most distinctive portion of the work of Mr. Dana Horton - that relating to the supposed disturbance of the equilibrium of the precious metals by the Bank of England's resumption in 1819 - and gives the reader a strong impression of the superficiality of Mr. Horton's studies."

The book will doubtless be of worth, not only to students of finance, but to all who are interested in the politics of our country. Here, indeed, the work will be especially read, because the subject treated is taken up in one or two of the courses in Political Economy.