THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



33 



union of "practice with science" takes place. 

 Practice states the fact, and science demonstrates 

 the reasons which constitute it a fact. Unite 



them and they are irresistible ; separate them, and 

 the course of each is wavering, uncertain, and 

 liable to error. — Irish Farmers' Gazette. 



THE HISTORY OF PRICE S—FU RTHER CONSIDERED, 



We resume our observations on Mr. Tooke's " His- 

 tory of Prices." Part 2nd, vol. v. contains 13 sec- 

 tions, " On the general course of trade in the manufac- 

 turing and other mariiets during the nine years 1848 

 to 1856." These refer to the influence of political events, 

 and railway expenditure, in 1848 j state of credit in 

 1849; prices of raw materials, and rise in price of silver 

 and produce, in 1850; fall of prices of produce, and 

 effects of Hyde Park Exhibition, in 1851 ; effects of 

 Australian trade in 1852; rise in rate of discount, 

 movement for higher wages, the Preston strike, and 

 general review of trade, in 1853; effects of the war, 

 and influence of the influx of gold, in 1854 ; review of 

 the influence of the war, 1854-55 ; return of peace, 

 1856, and comparative prices in 1854, '55 and '56. The 

 last section gives a summary of the conclusions arrived 

 at by the author, " with reference to the prices of com- 

 modities and state of trade, 1848-56," to this we must 

 confine our remarks. 



The course of prices on imported articles, during these 

 nine years, is summed up as follows : — That' during 

 1848 and 1849 the tendency was towards a decline in 

 prices; but in 1850 a real or apprehended failure of 

 supply caused a reaction, which in 1851 again yielded 

 before an excess of supply; that in 1852 symptoms of 

 a revxilsion appeared, fully realized in 1853 by a 

 gi-eat advance, which continued until towards the 

 close of the year ; from thence, to that of 1854, another 

 reaction took place, -whilst in 1855 and 1856 there was 

 a quiet fixity of pi-ice, disturbed only by such fluc- 

 tuations as commonly arise fi'om the influence of demand 

 and supply. 



The effects of the gold discoveries in California were 

 first felt in this country in 1850, and continued to ac- 

 cumulate the three following years, by an increasing 

 demand for British and foreign goods in the United 

 States. This had so greatly increased in 1853, that 

 it completely counteracted the effect of the large im- 

 portation of foreign corn, consequent on the partial 

 failure of the harvest in this country that season. This 

 demand continued through the three following years, 

 only slightly interrupted by the failures in the 

 United States and California, and the consequent dimi- 

 nution of confidence and credit. This great additional 

 consumption of our manufactured and colonial produce 

 has occasioned a constant and large transmission of the 

 precious metals from America to the United Kingdom. 



This effect of the Californian discoveries was greatly 

 heightened in 1851, by the (to us at least) more impor- 

 tant discovery of the gold deposits in Australia, which 

 both turned the stream of emigration in that direction, 

 and caused an enormous expansion of the commerce 

 with those colonies. This created a demand for ship- 



ping, unprecedented in the history of commercial ma- 

 rine, and an increased rate of freight, and of wages, both 

 for shipbuilders and for seamen. The demand for 

 Australia caused such a rush of trade to that quarter, 

 that the market became glutted in 1854 and 1855, and 

 prices, which had for the three previous years been 

 enormously high, fell even below par for a short time. 

 Still, such was the reactive energy of the commerce of that 

 colony, that a single season sufficed to restore the 

 balance, and in 1856 trade resumed its ordinary activity, 

 although prices were more moderate than before the 

 decline, 



Mr. Tooke repudiates the idea that the fluctuations 

 in prices, the course of trade, or the increased demand 

 for goods for export to America and Australia, had any 

 influence upon or connection with changes in the 

 amount of the aggregate outstanding circulation of 

 bank-notes, the fluctuations in which were determined 

 by the consequences of previous application of capital 

 and credit. That, in fact, the fluctuations in price of 

 the most important kind, and in the largest markets 

 of the country, took* place " either without such 

 changes in the bank-note circulation, or at the same 

 time with the occurrence of a change the opposite of 

 that which, on the grounds on which the currency 

 theory is built, would have been expected to precede or 

 accompany the particular alteration in the markets." 

 Equally does Mr. Tooke deny any connection or co- 

 incidence between the rate of interest and the variations 

 in the produce markets, in relation to cause and effect. 

 The accumulation of gold in the Bank of England 

 in 1852 and 1853 was occasioned by the excessively low 

 rate of interest and discount, the first effect of the gold 

 discoveries on our finances ; and the rise of the rate 

 of discount in January, 1853, and subsequently, was 

 caused by extended demands for capital, for the purpose 

 of new, distant, and costly enterprises, both public and 

 private, and this absorption of capital increases with 

 every year. 



The slight interruption to our trade by the Russiah 

 war is ascribed to four causes— namely, the remoteness 

 of the theatre of war ; the want of a navy on the part 

 of Russia ; the continued supply of Russian produce by 

 neutral ports, or their substitution by imports from 

 India, &;c. ; and, lastly, by the influence of the electric 

 telegraph and steam navigation, and the enormous re- 

 sources of our mercantile marine and postal services, 

 by which " operations are accomplished in a few weeks 

 which, fifty years ago, would have occupied a long 

 series of months." But the most powerful cause was 

 the continued influx of gold, and its effect in averting 

 — both from this country and from France — the ex- 

 treme financial pressure and peril, which, in the ab- 



