i6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



To those who are the possessors of large properties, a gradu- 

 ally diminishing rate of return for the use of capital makes but 

 little difference so far as personal comforts are concerned ; but 

 to the small capitalists the steady reduction in income which has 

 been experienced in recent years means always discomfort, and 

 often misery. A striking illustration of this, derived from actual 

 experience, and contingent on a reduction by the Prussian Gov- 

 ernment of the interest on its debt to 3i and 3 per cent, is thus 

 given by a recent correspondent (1887) of the London " Econo- 

 mist " : 



"This reduction," he says, "struck a heavy blow at the existence of what 

 may be called the ' middle classes ' in Germany — that is, the great number of 

 people who own a small capital invested in funds, besides carrying on some 

 business or having some other profession. The combined income from both en- 

 abled them to live in fair style, making both ends meet by way of carefully 

 regulated expenditure. These classes have formed for over half a century the 

 ' backbone ' of Germany. They are now gradually disappearing, making room 

 for great wealth on one side and great poverty on the other." 



Decline in Land- Values. — Another interesting and curious 

 feature of the existing economic condition — the direct outcome of 

 the recent radical changes in the methods of production and dis- 

 tribution — has been the decline in the value of land over large 

 areas of the earth's surface. Thus, in the case of Great Britain, 

 while every other item of national wealth has shown an increase 

 — often most extraordinary — since 1840, the estimated value of 

 land in the United Kingdom since that date has heavily de- 

 creased.* A similar experience is also reported as respects France, 



the four years from 1883 to 1886 inclusive, declined 0*96 per cent, and the average of 

 the private banks of Germany during the same period, 1"60 per cent; all of which clearly 

 indicates that the banking business of Germany is becoming less and less profitable. 



* According to Mr. Mulhall, the English statistician, the following table exhibits the 

 changes in the leading items of wealth in Great Britain since 1840: 



[Omitting 6 ciphers.] 



In 1837 the population of the United Kingdom was 26,000,000 ; in 1887, it was 

 37,000,000, an increase during the period of 42 per cent. 



