September 19, 1SS4.] 



SCIENCE 



285 



Quebec city. Mr. Thomas D. Tims also sent a 

 paper on dominion savings banks. Vice-president 

 Martin remarked upon these papers, deprecating the 

 tendency of people to avoid making their own 

 investments by intrusting them too much to such 

 institutions. 



A paper on Irish emigration was read in behalf of 

 Mr. James A. Tuke, the founder of Tuke's emigra- 

 tion bureau. This paper graphically pictured the 

 abject condition in Connaught and many Irish conn- 

 ties. Some 200,('00 families, or 1,000,000 persons, 

 occupy small holdings never taxed as worth over 

 £20 to $50, and consisting of from one to ten acres 

 of bog-land. This at best yields not over nine 

 months' subsistence, leaving three months' depend- 

 ence on charity. The least evil for remedying this 

 state of affairs was found in emigration to America. 

 At an expenditure of $68,500 he has aided 9,482 to 

 seek a better home in the new world. Of this money, 

 220,000 was from the government, and the remain- 

 der private gifts. Over seventy-seven per cent were 

 the young and healthy, but too poor to obtain trans- 

 portation money for themselves. Once located, how- 

 ever, they have been industrious, and at once set to 

 work to send back savings to their relatives, thus 

 enabling them also to emigrate. Not less than 

 $25,000 was so returned to Ireland in 1S82 and 1883, 

 one shop-keeper having cashed $1,000 of such drafts. 

 Of the counties furnishing emigrants, seventeen per 

 cent of the population was removed. The people 

 were located in 165 different places, 148 in the United 

 States, and 17 in Canada. Less than five per cent 

 had ever uttered a complaint as to their new condi- 

 tion. The paper was discussed by Mr. John Lowe, 

 Department of agriculture at Ottawa, and by Major 

 P. G. Craigie of London, both of whom had observed 

 the good effects of Mr. Tuke's work. The latter said, 

 ' The Irishman will succeed best out of Ireland.' 



Mr. W. Westgarth, president of the Melbourne 

 chamber of commerce, read a paper on the British 

 Empire in North America and Australia. He made 

 elaborate comparisons between Canada and Australia, 

 and furnished valuable facts, especially concerning 

 the latter. He admitted that a drought had swept 

 away ten million sheep, but said they had sixty-six 

 million left. The dominion exports of 1882 were 

 valued at $97,671,000; the Australian, at $255,000,- 

 000, chiefly consisting of wool and gold. Victoria 

 has already exported £210,000,000 sterling in gold. 

 The dominion has 9,000 miles of railway; Australia, 

 7,000 miles. Dominion annual revenue, $36,000,000; 

 Australian, $110,000,000. Dominion debt, $153,661,- 

 000; Australian, 8496,250,000. He urged the need of 

 closer ties between Great Britain and her colonies. 



On Friday, Vice-president Martin read a paper 

 on media of exchange, or notes upon the precious 

 metals, speaking of 1° the metals, 2° coin, 3° bank- 

 notes, 4° instruments of credit. The discussion 

 was participated in by Mr. Chadwick ; Mr. Atkinson ; 

 Mr. Sidney Fisher, M.P. ; Mr. Stephen Bourne of 

 Wallington, Surrey; Hon. C. W. Fremantle, Master 

 of the royal mint, London; and Dr. James Ed- 

 munds of London. The latter spoke of small bank- 



notes as a most serious media of infection, the germs 

 of cholera, small-pox, scarlet-fever, etc., Iwing re- 

 tained therein. Coin may be disinfected by heat. 

 The paper and the discussion included such topics 

 as the advantages and disadvantages of coin,, the 

 supposed gold depreciation since the opening of 

 American and Australian mines, the dangers from 

 inconvertible notes, the improbability of changes in 

 the English sovereign, the proper method of meeting 

 the expense of converting bullion into coin, the bless- 

 ings of a good banking-system, with allusions to those 

 of the United States, Kussia, and other nations. 

 Dr. Edmunds regarded the value of gold as depend- 

 ent on so many variables, that its actual value cannot 

 be ascertained. Mr. Atkinson thought gold had lost 

 some of its purchasing power, and Mr. Martin thought 

 it had steadily increased. 



Mr. Michael G. Mulhall of London, author of the 

 Dictionary of statistics, read a paper upon the debts 

 of nations. The debts of the leading nations in 

 1884 he reported in millions of dollars, as follows: 

 France, 4,975; Great Britain, 3,780; Russia, 2,775; 

 Austria, 2,540; Italy, 2,190; Germany, 1,670; Spain, 

 1,650; United States, 1,525; Spanish America, 975; 

 India, 800; Turkey, 740; Australia, 580; Egypt, 565; 

 Portugal, 535; Holland, 420; Belgium, 390; Japan, 

 335; Canada, 190; Roumania, 135; South Africa, 

 115; Norway and Sweden, 100; Greece, 90; Denmark, 

 60; Servia, 20. Grand total, $27,155,000,000. From 

 1848 to 1870, the annual increase averaged $99,000,000; 

 from 1870 to 1884, $115,000,000. The increase, how- 

 ever, has not kept pace with the increase of wealth. 

 Of existing debts, sixty per cent stand for war ex- 

 penditure, and forty per cent for improvements ; but 

 of debts incurred since 1848, fifty-five per cent was 

 for peace, and forty-five per cent for war. The paper 

 was discussed by Mr. Walford, Dr. Edmunds, and 

 Mr. Atkinson. The contracting of war-debts was 

 severely denounced; and, although the essayist re- 

 garded debt as a convenient investment, as no injury 

 to the working-classes, and as not to be feared, the 

 tenor of criticism was decidedly adverse to these 

 ideas. Mr. Atkinson especially criticised the bond- 

 holder, if not also a producer, as a burden upon soci- 

 ety. To ascertain what burden a national debt is, 

 we should consider, not population, not accumulated 

 wealth even, but the annual national product. Bur- 

 den is in ratio to net savings. A people which cannot 

 save any thing from the current product is unbear- 

 ably burdened by a public debt. How many laboring 

 men in Europe, he asked, can save twelve pounds 

 per year? The U. S. debt, he said, had been reduced 

 from eighty-eight dollars per capita to twenty-five 

 dollars per capita. He claimed that it reached 

 $3,000,000,000 at the close of the war, although the 

 official debt statements never showed so much. There 

 were outstanding and unaudited liabilities which 

 made the difference. Before these had been adjusted, 

 the debt had been reduced by a similar amount. He 

 prophesied that the progress of this continent would 

 compel Europe to disband her armies, and pay off 

 her debts, in order to get upon a competing footing. 



A paper sent by Mr. J. McLennan, upon Canadian 



