io 4 ^ IV LIFE 



very favourable to many kinds of bulbous plants as well as 

 half-hardy shrubs, several of which grew there more freely 

 and flowered better than in any of my other gardens. 



In 18S4 Missis. Tears offered a prize of £100 for the best 

 essay on "The Depression of Trade," and Professor Leone 

 Levi had agreed to be one of the judges. As I had been 

 for some time disgusted with the utter nonsense of many of 

 the articles on the subject in the press, while what seemed to 

 me the essential and fundamental causes were never so much 

 as referred to, I determined to compete, though without any 

 expectation of success. The essay was sent in some time 

 during the summer of 1885, and in July I received a letter 

 from Professor Leone Levi, in which he writes : " My col- 

 league and myself were greatly pleased with the essay bearing 

 a motto from Goldsmith. We, however, did not see our way 

 to recommend it for the prize, especially on account of dis- 

 agreement as to the remedies suggested. But the essay having 

 great merit, we thought it proper to open the envelope in order 

 to correspond with the author." 



He then asked me if I would allow the first part of my 

 essay, upon " Conditions and Causes," to be printed with the 

 other essays. 



As my proposed remedies were the logical conclusion from 

 the " Conditions and Causes," which I had detailed, and of 

 which the validity seemed to be admitted, I, of course, declined 

 this offer, and Messrs. Macmillan agreed to publish it under 

 the title, " Bad Times : An Essay on the Present Depression 

 of Trade, tracing it to its Sources in enormous Foreign Loans, 

 excessive War Expenditures, the Increase of Speculation and 

 of Millionaires, and the Depopulation of the Rural Districts; 

 with Suggested Remedies." 



This little book was widely noticed, but most of the re- 

 viewers adverted to the fact that I was an advocate of land- 

 nationalization, and therefore that my proposed remedies were 

 unsound. But a few were more open-minded. The Newcastle 

 Chronicle declared it to be " the weightiest contribution to the 

 subject made in recent times." The Freeman's Journal thus 



