ON VARIATIONS IN THE VALUE OF THE MONETARY STANDARD. 249 



sciences which have roots .stretching down into philosophy, it may be 

 best to treat first those parts which are palpable and above grround. In- 

 deed, it may be thought that the dialectical disquisitions to which we have 

 alluded are better forwarded by dialogue than debate, and are more 

 adapted to the study than the committee-room. 



II. The practical method is directed rather to what is immediately 

 attainable than what is ideally desirable. To those approaching the 

 subject in this spirit it appears useless to multiply distinct formulee, if in 

 the present state of statistics the numerical data wherewith to fill in these 

 formulae are deficient. We might compare the existing conditions to the 

 case of a ship whose compass, or whose antique method of steering by the 

 stars, was so imperfect that the pilot never could be certain of not being 

 out in his direction by one or two points. When intending to steer due 

 north, he would be as likely as not to be, in fact, steering for N.N.E. or 

 N.N.W. In such a case, to distinguish alternative routes differing in 

 direction by only two or three degrees would be an operation of mostly 

 theoretic interest. 



Again, in the practical construction of a standard or measure of the 

 changing value of money, regard must be had to the requirements of those 

 for whose use the apparatus is principally designed. There is reason to 

 think that a plurality of measures woald embarrass the plain practical 

 man ; just as a translation which perplexes the unlearned by a variety of 

 interpretations is not suited to become an authorised version. 



These considerations point to the expediency of positing some one 

 mode of utilising our data as far excellence the method, the best and prin- 

 cipal measure of the change in the value of money. This pre-eminence of 

 an unique method will not, however, be inconsistent with the use of cer- 

 tain confessedly auxiliary formulae ; bright inferior lights adapted to illu- 

 minate special portions of the industrial world, to subserve particular, 

 though it may be extensive, interests. 



Deferring the reasons for our preference, we express the opinion 

 that, if some one method is to be distinguished as the method, that one 

 must be of the sort which has been called the Standard of Desiderata,^ 

 and which may be thus described in general terms : ' summing up the 

 amounts of money paid for the things consumed by the community at 

 the old and the new prices respectively,' ^ and putting the ratio of the 

 latter sum to the former as the sought measure or standard. 



The question here arises, shall house-rent and the wages of domestic 

 service be included among the items of the average budget ? We opine 

 — declining for the present to assign the grounds of our opinion— that 

 both these items had better be excluded from the principal standard here 

 contemplated.''' 



We may next consider the difiBculty that the quantities of the articles 

 consumed are not the same at the two epochs compared. We recommend 

 that this difficulty should be met thus : Put, as the quantity which with 

 least inaccuracy may be regarded as the one which is consumed at both 

 periods, the mean between the two quantities consumed at the two epochs 

 respectively. Thus, if we designate the selected commodities as A, B, 

 C, &c., the expression which gives the measure of depreciation or the 



' Horton's Silver and Gold, chap. iv. 



- See Prof. Sidgwick's Princi2)les of Political Economy, Book I. chap. ii. sec. 3. 

 ^ The rent of sites for business purposes and the wages of industrial labour are 

 excluded by the definition of the Standard of Desiderata. 



