States, which set in during the latter part of 1886, there being no increase in our exports to other countries.—London Economist, April, 1887.
The octroi receipts of the city of Paris from taxes levied at the gates on articles of food, coal, and building materials, which are the barometer of trade in the metropolis, contrast unfavorably with last year.—Ibid.
It is of interest to note how few, relatively, of the staples, raw materials or finished products, have left the year 1886 with any special gain in price as compared with one year or with two years ago, and it is even mere striking to enumerate the list of those which show actually no gain at all, or a loss in price.—Bradstreet's Journal, January, 1887.
Wheat, oats, sugar, butter, tobacco, and petroleum were lower in price at the close of 1886 than at the close of 1885. Corn, oats, pork, lard, and cotton were lower at the close of 1886 than at the begining of 1885.—Ibid.
The tables of the London "Economist" also represent but a very slight gain in the index number representing the combined prices of twenty-two leading commodities on the English market for the quarter ending March 31, 1887, as compared with the corresponding quarter from the three preceding years, "the gains being mostly articles not of first-class importance."It is almost unnecessary to say that a subject of such transcendent importance, and affecting so intimately the material interests alike of nations and individuals, has naturally attracted a great and continually increasing attention throughout the whole civilized world, entailing at least one notable result, namely, that of a large and varied contribution to existing economic literature. Thus, State commissions for inquiring into the phenomena under consideration have been instituted by Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, and the Dominion of Canada, all of which have taken evidence and reported more or less voluminously; the report of the Royal British Commission (1885-'86), comprising five folio volumes of an aggregate of about 1,800 pages; and that of Italy (1886), fifteen volumes with appendices; while the books, pamphlets, magazine articles, and reviews on the same subject, including investigations and discussions on collateral matters regarded as elements or results of the economic problem (such as the wide-spread ferment and discontent of labor, and the changes in the monetary functions of gold and silver), which have emanated from individuals or commissions, have been sufficiently numerous to constitute, if collected, a not inconsiderable library.
In all these investigations and discussions, the chief objective has been the recognition or determination of causes; and most naturally and legitimately, inasmuch as it is clear that only through such recognitions and determinations can the atmosphere of mystery which to a certain extent envelops the phenomena under consideration be dispelled, and the way prepared for an intelligent discussion of remedies. And on this point the opinions or conclusions expressed have been widely and most curiously different. Nearly all investigators are agreed that the wide-spread and long-continued "depression of business" is referable not to one but a variety of causes, which
