September i6, 1920] 



NATURE 



97 



been at fault. But on the economic ground alone the 

 analysis of the existing system had not revealed any 

 advantages arising from social ownership and control 

 which could not be achieved under capitalism. From 

 the psychological point of view the case was different. 

 While granting that the best organising ability might 

 not be forthcoming in a socialised mining industry, 

 he contended that in coal-mining the absence of the 

 best trained direction was of less importance than in 

 other industries. On the other hand, the technical 

 stalls were willing to work under a socialised indus- 

 try, and the miners would co-operate in no other. 

 Without the technical staffs and the manual workers 

 the industry could not function at all, and therefore, 

 on the balance, the introduction of socialised owner- 

 ship and control was, from the psychological asp>ect, 

 inevitable. 



TRe third sitting of the Section was devoted to 

 financial problems. The address of Mr. A. H. Gibson 

 covert-d a wide field, and was mainly historical in its 

 tre.itment of its subject, "Credit: Inflation and 

 Prices." .After a survey of the develcMjment of credit 

 institutions, Mr. Gibson pointed out that banks having 

 by common consent collectively become custodians of 

 the available purchasing power, this imposed on them 

 the duty of not expanding credit at a rale propor- 

 tionately greater than the increasing supplies of com- 

 modities, otherwise inflation would necessarily follow. 

 In theory there was no limit to the expansion of 

 bank credit, subject to the banks being able to obtain 

 surtiiient legal tender to meet current demands. He 

 explained that "ways and means advances" by the 

 B;ink of England ha<l had the effect of increasing the 

 cash reserves of the banks during the w-ar, and there- 

 fore banks w-ere comp«'lled to stop expansion of credit. 

 He expressed the opinion that the banks would meet 

 all the demands made on them for legitimate trade 

 requirements. Traders would find that after a time 

 ihi- restriction of credit would enable them (by causing 

 .1 fall in prices) to conduct their businesses on a lesser 

 .iniount of floating capital than at present. He 

 revifWfd thi- necessary step-i to Ik- taken for deflation, 

 llv chief of which, he maintained, was the increase of 

 production without a further increase in wages or 

 irofits. Other remedies were the reduction in tlw 



iirchasing oower of th<- community, the funding of 

 \\\f pr«'s*'nt floating debt by direct subscriptions from 

 I he public and not from the banks, and further re- 

 •ri'nrhment in public expenditure. The purchasing 

 M)wer of the community was now i,8oo,ooo,oool. 



reafer than before the war, and 85 per cent, of this 



• pr<'sente(l bank credit expansion. 



Om- of the worst evils of inflation was that it con- 

 idcr.ibly re<Uire<l the. exiwrt trade of the country 



• i.iii-,' nf hisjhiT I n«.f« nf jin ilni tinn. I'nder these 



conditions high prices would remain, for this country 

 would have little to offer in exchange for imports of 

 foodstuffs and raw materials from foreign countries. 

 Thus the inflation, which appeared of little con- 

 sequence to the Government during the war, had all 

 the seeds of disruptive forces within it in the case of 

 a country situated like the L'nited Kingdom, dependent 

 for its existence on foreign trade. It had been a 

 suicidal policy, and the harvest was yet to be reaped. 

 High prices, discontent, labour troubles, and the 

 probable loss in tfie future of a considerable part of 

 our former volume of export trade were some of the 

 fruits of this monetary inflation policy. The Govern- 

 ment and the banks would make every effort to make 

 the deflation as gradual as possible, but the process 

 was bound to be accompanied by severe labour troubles 

 and social discontent. He held, however, that how- 

 ever bitter the pill might be, it would Ix" to the ulti- 

 mate benefit of Labour to accept the inevitable reduc- 

 tion of wages and e.xert the maximum combined effort 

 with Capital to increase production. .\ considerable 

 increase in production might even allow the present 

 level of wages to remain. Labour consumed probably 

 90 per cent, of the fruits of production, and had every, 

 thing to gain by intensified output and everything to 

 lose by wilfully diminished production. 



.•\t the last sitting of the Section the chief contribu- 

 tion was a paper by Mrs. Wooton on " The Future 

 of Earning." Mrs. Wooton 's thesis was that there is 

 nothing inherently sacred in the notion of earning; 

 that in recent times the payment of subsidies which 

 had no relation to the value of work done had taken 

 an increasing part in the remuneration of the worker; 

 and that the tiine had come to recognise the new 

 ground of remuneration and to pay subsidies avowedly 

 as such and not disguised as wages. .\s evidence of 

 the tendency she pointed to the increased acceptance 

 of the idea of a minimum wage and the growing 

 favour of time- as distinguished from piece-wages. 

 When the minimum wage paid exceeded the value of 

 the work done for which it was paid, then it was no 

 longer earned, but it was really a subsidy to the 

 worker, and it was incompatible with the continuance 

 of pavm«-nt of a wage. 



In the cours*^ of the last two or three years research 

 has been carried on bv sub-committees of the 5>ection 

 into problems of credit and currencv and into the 

 place taken by women in industry during tlie war. 

 .Mreadv several printed reports have been issued by 

 these committees. The Committee on Women in 

 Industrv will probably issue ft final report, and the 

 ('ommittee on Credit and Currency has Ix>en continued 

 for another year and will issue its report in the 

 summer of 1921. 



The International Congress of Physiologists. 



\ MONGST the results of the outbreak of war in 



• » i.,i( vvas the making of it impossible for 



ts to assemble together as was their wont 



years. But now that Fiurope is recovering 



')m the conflict, phvsiologists from different coun- 



ies hove l>een able lo iisscniblc, and they did so in 



I 'iris on July 15-20 



The congress w.i ■ the presidency of Prof. 



Isiihet, of the chair of phy>iologv nt the .Sorbonne, 



ho was assisted by the vice-president. Prof. Glev, 



' the chair of general biolog-v at the Colli-ge di' 



i ranrc. If w-as informally o[wned on the evening 



■ lay, July 14, by a tfunion amicate in the 



- of physiology nt the Sorbonne. This 



tn<T4.vione gave opportunities for old friends to 



NO. 2655, VOL. 106] 



forgather and to make arrangements for the congress- 

 week. 



.At ten o'clock on the following morning the con- 

 gress was formally opened by a convocation in the 

 great lecture-hall of chemistry at the Sorbonne. The 

 amphitheatre had been transformed by means of 

 crimson curtains and gilded chairs into n salle 

 d'hontuur for the occasion. Prof. Richet occupied 

 the chair, and was supported bv the Minister of Public 

 Instruction. Prof. Olcv, Prof. Fano, Prof. Firderirq 

 of Li<?ge, Profs. Sir E. Sharpey .Schafer, Lnngk-y, 

 Sherrington, Waller, and others. 



The presidential nd<lr.'ss was simple, dignified, and 

 impressive. The president In-gan by recalling the 

 names of those physiologists who had passed away 



