2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



have exhibited no tendency to decline in price, but rather the reverse. 

 A given amount of gold does not now buy more, but less, of domestic 

 service and of manual and professional labor generally than formerly ; 

 does not buy more of amusements ; not more of hand-woven lace, of 

 cigars, and of flax, which are mainly the products of hand-labor ; of 

 cut-glass, of gloves, of pictures, or of precious stones. It buys nota- 

 bly less of hides and leather, which are the sequences of cattle-grow- 

 ing, which in turn involves time, and for which, in point of economy, 

 large sections of the earth are not adapted ; of horses, and most other 

 animals ; of pepper ; of cocoa, the cheap production of which is lim- 

 ited to a few countries, and requires an interval of five years between 

 the inception and maturing of a crop ; of malt liquors, eggs, currants, 

 and potatoes ; and also of house-rents, which depend largely upon the 

 price of land, and which in turn is influenced by fashion, population, 

 trade, facilities for access, and the like. 



How little of change in price has come to the commodities of 

 countries of low or stagnant civilization, that have remained outside of 

 the current of recent progress, is strikingly illustrated in the case of a 

 not unimportant article of commerce, namely, the root sarsaparilkt ; 

 which, with a gradually-increasing demand, continues to be produced 

 (collected and prepared) in Central America, by the most primitive 

 methods, and, without any change in the conditions of supply, save, 

 possibly, some greater facilities for transportation from the localities of 

 production to the ports of exportation. Thus, in the case of Honduras 

 sarsaparilla, at New York, which is the principal distributing market 

 of the world, the average price for the best grade is reported as 

 identical for the years 1881 and 1886 ; while for the "Mexican," the 

 average reported for 1881 was eight cents per pound, and for 188G, 

 with much larger sales, from seven to eight and a quarter cents. 



All the evidence, furthermore, tends to show that there has been 

 very little decline in recent years in the i)rices of such of the commodi- 

 ties of India as constitute her staple exports, which can not, as will be 

 hereafter shown, be clearly referred to agencies entirely disconnected 

 with any influence assumed to have been occasioned by any increase in 

 the purchasing power of gold due to its absolute or relative scarcity.* 



Now, all of the commodities referred to, including labor and per- 

 sonal service, and many others which might be specified, whose con- 

 dition in recent years has not been materially influenced by changes 



* According to Mr. Robert GilBii, in his testimony before the British Commission, 

 "On the Changes in tlic Relative Valuesof the Precious Metals," 1886, the general result 

 of a comparison of India prices submitted to the Commission " On Trade Depression," 

 shows a fall of only two per cent in 1880-'84, as compared with 1870-'74, or with tlie 

 period immediately before the fall in silver : 



" The ixencral conclusion appears to me to be that the effect of the present relations 

 between gold and silver have not told appreciably on prices in India, or on the relative 

 progress of her import and export trade."— TVs^'wionv of Sir Louis Mallet, late Under- 

 Secretary of State for India, Trade Depression Commisnion, 1886. 



