164 REPORT— 1889. 



6. The Production Standard is a designation which may be applied io 

 a method which is related to the Currency Standard very nearly as the 

 Income Standard is related to that based on Consumption. The Pro- 

 duction Standard takes as the measure of appreciation or depreciation 

 the change in the monetaiy value per head of the total amount of things 

 produced in the community yearly. This standard is proposed by Professor 

 Simon Newcomb in his ' Political Economy.' It is discussed in the first 

 section of this Memorandum. 



7. The Wages (and Interest ?) Standard takes as the measure of 

 appreciation or depreciation the change in the pecuniary remuneration 

 of a certain set of services, namely, all (or the principal) which are 

 rendered in the course of production, throughout the community, during 

 a year, either at the initial or the final epoch ; or some expression in- 

 termediate between, the two specified. The theoretical basis and 

 practical construction of such a standard are indicated in Ricardo's 

 ' Principles of Political Economy ' (ch. xx. and elsewhere), in Professor 

 Marshall's evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission (' Parlia- 

 mentary Papers' 1888, C. 5,512, Question 9,625), and in the papers con- 

 tributed by Mr. Giffen to the second volume of the bulletin of the 

 International Statistical Institute. The standard is discussed in the last 

 section of this Memorandum. 



Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. S. Bourne, Professor F. Y. 

 Edgeworth {Secretary), Professor H. S. Foxwell, Mr. Egbert 

 Giffen, Professor Alfred Maeshall, Mr. J. B. Martin, Professor 

 J. S. Nicholson, Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave, and Professor H. 

 SiDGWiCK, appointed for the purpose of inquirincj and reporting 

 as to the Statistical Data available for determining the amount 

 of the Precious Metals in use as Money in the principal 

 Countries, the chief forms in which the Money is employed^ 

 and the amount annually used in the Arts. 



The Committee hope to have shortly more materials to work on. The 

 withdrawal of the pre- Victorian gold coin, which is the object of the 

 Coinage Act of this year, will provide some data on which to base a more 

 definite estimate of the amount of the actual circulation than has yet been 

 possible. Pending the action of Government, and the result of certain 

 inquiries which are being conducted by two members of the Committee, 

 Messrs. Martin and Palgrave, the Committee recommend that they should 

 be reappointed. 



value of money ' [of which the measure is our Indefinite Standard] from variations 

 in the ' power of money ' [of which the measure is our Consumption Standard] 

 (Hevue Sommalre, p. 121). Referring to Jevons' proposal to construct a Tabular 

 Standard of Value, Gouruot expresses his approbation in words which may fittingly 

 conclude the present study : — ' Ce sont 14 des idces qu'il faut laisser murir. Quand 

 le moment sera venu de construire effectivement I'etalon monetaire, les geomfetres 

 pourront y trouver une application interessante de leur Tticorie des Morjennes, telles 

 qu'ils I'ont dejA construite pour les besoins de I'astronomie et de la physique.' 



1 



