TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



<oba ;Scotmn Institute of 



V^x >. <x 



SESSION" OF 1898-99. 



I. STATISTICS OF EXPENDITURE AND CONSUMPTION IN CANADA. 

 By PROFESSOR JOHN DAVIDSON, M. A., PHIL. D., 



Fredericton, N. B. 



(Read Nov. Uth, 189S.) 



The ultimate test of a nation's prosperity is the quantity and 

 quality of the goods it contains. Other tests are relative and 

 indicate business activity rather than national welfare. All 

 wealth is produced to be consumed, and the whole process of 

 production is carried on for the benefit of the consumer. For 

 him there is seedtime and harvest ; for him the factories and 

 the stores are run ; for him railroad and steamship lines operate, 

 and banks conduct their business. It is conceivable that the 

 volume of business may be large within a nation which yet is 

 poor and relatively unprosperous. Increased activity does not 

 always mean increased welfare ; and that community alone is 

 rich and prosperous at whose command this activity places a 

 large stock of consumable goods ; and the most satisfactory evi- 

 dence of this command is provided by the statistics of the 

 consumption of the community. That is direct evidence ; all 

 other evidence is indirect and presumptive. 



Unfortunately, direct evidence is not always available. We 

 depend for information almost entirely upon government bureaus 

 and departments ; and these are concerned chiefly with their own 



PROC. & TRANS. N. S. INST. Sci., VOL. X. TRANS. A. 



