THE ECONOMIC DISTURBANCES SINCE 1873. 303 



market-stalls, funerals, clubs, canals, the keeping of shops, and other 

 commodities and occupations. Testimony of J. A. Croice, British 

 Commission. 



In Italy, according to the British consul-general at Florence (Brit- 

 ish Commission), the income-tax in 1884 was above thirteen per cent, and 

 the land-tax in some instances as high as twenty-five per cent upon the 

 gross rental. These are independent of local taxation, included in which 

 is the octroi, which is also described as " very onerous, and, not being 

 confined to articles of food only, have raised a quantity of small inter- 

 nal barriers, which, in a minor degree, replace the customs barriers of 

 the several small states into which the country was formerly divided." 



In respect to Great Britain, the British Commission, as the result 

 of their investigations into this matter, says : " Of the fact of the in- 

 crease, especially of local taxation, there is no doubt. At the same 

 time it will probably be found that, relatively to the population and 

 wealth of the country, the burden of taxation is now far lighter than 

 in any previous periods." 



The published opinions of certain persons of note on the subject 

 are also worthy of attention. Mr. Alfred Russel "Wallace, in his book 

 entitled " Bad Times," London, 1885, expresses the opinion that among 

 the most efficient causes for the current depression of trade are " wars 

 and excessive armaments, loans to despots or for war purposes, and the 

 accumulation of vast wealth by individuals." 



Dr. Wirth, of Vienna, finds a like explanation in the excessive con- 

 version, or rather perversion, of private wealth for public purposes. 

 Dr. Engel, of Berlin, regards the millions wasted in war by France 

 and Germany, from 1870 to 1871, and continued and prospective ex- 

 penditures for like purposes, as culminating causes of almost uni- 

 versal business calamities ; while, in the opinion of Professor Thorold 

 Rogers, the scarcity and consequent dearness of gold have been the 

 factors of chief importance. 



But side by side with all the theories that the " depression " has 

 been occasioned by the destruction or non-production of vast amounts 

 of property by wars, bad harvests, strikes, loss of capital by employ- 

 ment in worthless enterprises, the conversion of an undue amount of 

 circulating capital into fixed capital, and extravagant consumption, 

 should be placed the facts, that statistics not only fail to reveal the 

 existence of any great degree of scarcity anywhere, but, on the con- 

 trary, prove that those countries in which depression has been and is 

 most severely felt are the very ones in which desirable commodities 

 of every description railroads, ships, houses, live-stock, food, cloth- 

 ing, fuel, and luxuries have year by year been accumulating with the 

 greatest rapidity, and offered for use or consumption at rates unpre- 

 cedented for cheapness. If lack of capital, furthermore, by destruc- 

 tion or perversion had been the cause, the rate of profit on the use 

 of capital would have been higher ; but the fact is, that the rate of 



