Charles Francis Bastable

“ Again, it seems to be quite forgotten that an elaborate and carefully thought-out plan of emigration has once been tried. The most hopeful and reasonable system of colonisation I have ever heard of was that of Wakefield and Torrens, and when it broke down, there seems to be no further place for state action. Thirdly, wide-reaching plans of migration ignore the fact, that every movement of population is made up of the separate movements of so many units—e.g. the same cause which leads a man to move to America in 1870, may bring him to Australia in 1880, and back to Ireland in 1887. ”

“ When any commodity becomes an object of desire, not merely from its use to the persons desiring it, but from their wanting it as being readily exchangeable for other things, then that article may be regarded as rudimentary money. Thus the greenstone and ochre are on their way to being promoted to the position of currency, and the idea of a “unit of value” is all that is needed to complete the invention. ”

“ Running through the different national systems there are some common elements the result not of inheritance merely but still more of necessity, or at the lowest of similarity in environment. Over and above the details of financial development there is a thread of connexion which requires treatment under Finance taken as a whole. As the great aim of this side of public activity is to secure funds for the maintenance of the state’s life and working, the administration which operates for this end is the true nucleus of all national finance. ”

“ Emigration is a safety-valve for any political system, more particularly as by a process of natural selection it takes off the more discontented members of a community. Germany can hardly have any reason to regret the action of an agency which relieved it of the Chicago anarchists. But the same fact naturally influences those countries which are the centres of immigration. In a rude and widely-scattered community the character of the population is of little moment. ”

“ Frequently recurring deficits are, in themselves, a condemnation of the methods under which they are found. Again, the rule of “economy” in raising revenue, or, in other words, taking as little as possible from the contributors over and above what the state receives, holds good for the whole and for each part of public revenue. In like manner the principle of formal justice has the same claim in respect to revenue as to expenditure. No class of person should bear more than his or its proper share. ”

“ With the growth of industry and commerce and the expansion of the system of contracts, covering a distant future, the evil effects of a shifting standard of value attract attention, and lead to the suggestion of ingenious devices to correct fluctuations. These belong to the later history of money and currency movements. It is enough for the ordinary purposes of money that it shall not alter within short periods, which is a characteristic of the more valuable metals, and particularly of silver and gold, while in contrast such an article as corn changes considerably in value from year to year. ”

“ If, therefore, you are sincere in your advocacy or protection to American labour, you are bound to support an agitation which seeks to check immigration."
It cannot be denied that the limitation of the number of labourers is a much more efficient mode of raising wages, than the taxation of imports. Trades unionism in the United States can never hope for much success, until it is able to dispose of a large proportion of the total body of labourers, a power of which it is necessarily deprived by the continuous influx of foreigners. ”

“ The threat of some bimetallists, that all nations will be driven to adopt a gold standard, and thus produce a crisis in the English money market by the resulting gold drain, is of no weight; any drain of English gold will have to be paid for at a high price, and the simple expedient of raising the bank-rate will restore as much bullion as is needed in England. The interests of other countries cannot be so clearly determined. A state like Germany, holding a large store of depreciated silver, may desire other states to become bimetallic, but will hardly desire to do so herself. ”

“ Unproductiveness is, according to modern standard, the cardinal fault of any particular tax. How great has been the progress in these aspects is best illustrated in the case of English finance, but both French and German fiscal history can supply many instructive examples.
In a third direction the co-ordination of finance has been just as remarkable. Financial adjustment implies the conception of a balance, and this should be found in the relation of outlay and income. Under the pressure of war and other emergencies it has been found impossible to maintain this desirable equilibrium. ”

“ In earlier times it has been a common proceeding on the part of governments to restrict or stimulate both mining for the precious metals and the business of coining. At all times the working of gold and silver mines has been rather a hazardous speculation than a legitimate business. “When any person undertakes to work a new mine in Peru,” says Adam Smith, “he is universally looked upon as a man destined to bankruptcy and ruin, and is upon that account shunned and avoided by everybody. ”

“ No legislative or social changes can greatly alter the relation of subsistence to population. Peasant-proprietary, whatever be its social and economic advantages, cannot meet this fundamental difficulty, as the case of France, and, to take a nearer instance, the Channel Islands show. Nor can any extension of non-agricultural employments give more than a temporary relief. Nothing is to be gained by shutting our eyes to the facts that emigration is a vital need, and that the conditions on which it can be carried on are rapidly changing. ”

“ The examination of the forms of currency, both metallic and non-metallic, in which we have been engaged leads to certain definite conclusions as to the course which the evolution of currency is pursuing. It appears (1) that the metals tend to supersede all other forms of money among progressive peoples, and (2) that certain metals tend to supersede the others. From this we are led to consider the qualities which are desirable in the material of money, and to conclude that the presence or absence of those qualities is the reason of the adoption or rejection of any given substance. ”

“ The slightest consideration of industrial organization shows that it is based on the division of employments; but the earliest economic writers saw plainly that division of employments was only possible through the agency of a medium of exchange. They recognized that the result of increasing specialization of labour was to establish a state of things in which each individual produced little or nothing for the direct satisfaction of his own wants, and had therefore to live by exchanging his product for the products of others. ”

“ The replacement of the four direct taxes by the income tax in France, as proposed in 1909, is a very recent example. Equally important is the growth of “direct” taxation. As tax contributions have taken the places of the revenue from land and fees, so, it would seem, are the taxes on commodities likely to be replaced or at least exceeded by the imposts levied on income as such, in the shape either of income taxes proper or of charges on accumulated wealth. ”

“ We cannot, therefore, wonder that he should try to apply the doctrine of protection to labour in a more logical manner. If the exclusion of the products of pauper labour be so beneficial as is asserted, it is only natural to believe that the shutting out of pauper labour itself will prove a still greater good. The workingman may fairly say to the protectionist politician:—
"So long as I am exposed to the competition of labourers just landed from Europe I can never hope for increased wages through strikes or any other means. ”

“ The wide area of the Latin Union, and the perfect decimal division of its coinage, are arguments in favour of the franc; the greater value of the pound, and the immense extent of the English colonies and English trade, are in favour of the British unit of value; while the dollar, from its convenient size and the prospect of the future growth of the United States, has claims to be considered in the discussion. The most probable conclusion, however, seems to be that the future unit will not be any of these coins, but the result of a compromise, which will lead to a new system being established. ”

“ By prescribing the standard and amount of penalties, by their power of selecting the substances to be used as money, and by their frequent interferences with existing currencies, the governments of the world have guided—as well as very often disturbed—the normal course of development. What Aristotle regarded as the “unnatural” character of money is mainly attributable to state intervention. But it is important to remember that the sphere of governmental action in respect to money is limited. A currency system is never an arbitrary creation ”

“ Men do not easily change their favourite doctrines, even under the most pressing circumstances. It is more likely that some particular kind of immigration, presenting peculiarly objectionable features, will first be assailed; but there can be little doubt that the habit of criticising immigration, once formed, will act with increasing force. The attainment of this stage marks a turning point in national history, and the fact that the United States and the English colonies appear to be now approaching it, makes the study of the subject at present more interesting. ”

“ A more pressing case than the foregoing, and one where more justification exists, is that of a severe social crisis, when large numbers of the community are burdened with debt, and a depreciation of the monetary standard seems the simplest mode of escaping from so critical a situation. ”

“ The mere quantity of money is not the only element on the supply side. The varying circulation of the monetary units must be taken into account. Some coins do not make a single purchase in a year, while others change hands in transactions hundreds of times. By averaging, we may estimate the effect of the rapidity with which money does its work, or, to employ a technical term, the “efficiency of money.” Similarly, the amount of sales rather than the quantity of commodities is the determining element on the demand side. ”