estate only; so that "in practice the nearest possible approximation to local rating according to ability, and the nearest possible approximation to local rating according to benefit, are one and the same thing, namely, the rating of persons in respect of fixed property in the district." Yet he concludes that the present system is more in accord with the principle of benefit than with that of ability, and properly so, because those local expenditures to which the principle of benefit is applicable have rapidly increased, while those which should be apportioned according to ability have been largely centralized.

La Mesure de la Valeur et la Monnaie, by Maurice Bourguin (Paris, L. Larose & Forcel, 1896), contains a theoretical study of value and money. The author denies that value is a quantity, and affirms that it consists entirely in reciprocal relations. Money is a commodity; it may figure in such relations, and may thus become a concrete expression for purely relative values. Of interest at present is his study of bimetallism. Professor Bourguin does not formally take the position of an advocate of the free coinage of silver; but he does inquire, as a dispassionate student, what results would follow from such a policy, and concludes that, if it were adopted by international agreement, prices in Europe would rise slowly, exchanges with the East would be rendered normal, and production in the West would be stimulated. It is the list of arguments that has many supporters in America. The avowed aim of the book may justify the author in contenting himself with reaching these conclusions; but the issues depending on the monetary policy of the world make it necessary for practical men to inquire even more carefully whether good or evil follows the stimulating of business by a cheapening of the currency, and whether, under such a policy, creditors are fairly treated. They make it further necessary to inquire whether such an international agreement would be faithfully executed by the contracting parties. Here lie the weaknesses of the policy of international bimetallism. For the free coinage of silver by a single nation like the United States, the book, to its credit, has no arguments to offer.

Mr. J. Schoenhof's Money and Prices, from the Thirteenth Century to the Present Time (Putnams, 1896), is not wholly successful. It lacks clearness and coherence; while it attempts to cover too much ground in a hurried if not superficial manner. At the same time, it contains a great deal that is interesting concerning the various influences bearing on prices. The first part of the book is a preliminary criticism of price theories and an arraignment, not always clear in itself, of the

quantity theory in particular. Part II continues the attack on the quantity theory by an appeal to history, and attempts to prove that the great price changes in the past have not been due to changes in the supply of the precious metals. Much of this is interesting, although it is too cursory and incomplete to be conclusive; while the author's substitution of single groups in his investigation for the aggregate of the index number, which he considers altogether untrustworthy, strikes the reader as less rather than more scientific than the common method. Part III is the most valuable portion of the book, and furnishes some definite information concerning the cheapening of the cost of production in recent years, which is very acceptable to all who do not believe in the scarcity of gold. The general effect of the book is weakened by the haziness of the author's own theory of the relation of the gold supply to prices. To hold that any particular fall in prices is not due to a scarcity of gold is one thing to hold that in general and always the gold supply has little influence in determining gold prices is another thing, and a very absurd thing. Unfortunately, Mr. Schoenhof conveys the impression that this is his position in the matter of theory. pensation he contributes some facts of real interest.

In com

The Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, prepared by the chief of the bureau of statistics (Washington, Treasury Department, 1896), surpasses in completeness anything which the bureau has heretofore issued. This compilation is of special value on account of the very full tables and diagrams, showing the imports and exports of gold from 1845 to 1895. It gives both the quantities and the values of all articles imported and exported, and the countries of origin or destination. In addition, it gives comparative prices of leading articles in the markets of the United States. The Review of the World's Commerce, issued by the State Department (Washington, 1896), is largely compiled from the volume just mentioned. It is in more convenient form; and is arranged by countries, so that the character of our trade with any particular nation can be easily studied. The two together give a very valuable collection of commercial statistics.

POLITICAL

SCIENCE

QUARTERLY.

THE

A PERMANENT CENSUS BUREAU.

HE census of the United States is a stupendous example of the fatuity of paying generously for the attainment of a certain object, and then neglecting the practical means by which alone it can be attained. We appropriate enormous sums of money, we employ thousands of clerks, we issue tons. of printed matter, our officials fume and sweat under their burdens, Congress passes supplementary acts, one after anotheronly to have the whole undertaking break down through the defects in the administrative machinery which simple common sense ought to have remedied. The census of 1870 was conducted under the antiquated and entirely insufficient law of 1860. In 1880 the law was changed; but so much was then undertaken that the office broke down, great delay ensued in publishing the results, and part of the data collected was not even tabulated. In 1890 great promises were made that the scope of the work should be reasonably restricted, that the material should be elaborated with scientific care, and that the results should be quickly made accessible. These promises have not been fulfilled. Notwithstanding improved methods of tabulation and an expenditure of money unparalleled in the census work of any country, we are going through the same old experience volumes filled with non-census matter, and insufferable delay in printing the really important facts. A single miscalculation of this sort might be excusable; but to repeat it, decade after decade, argues not only gross extravagance but lack of administrative ability.

The reason for the failure of our decennial censuses has been pointed out again and again. It is impossible at a moment's notice to improvise a great scientific bureau, able to carry the burden which the census imposes upon it. When this impossibility is attempted, the work is ill done, and the experience gained is thrown away by disbanding the office just as it has learned something. Both theorists and practical statisticians, such as Walker, Wright and Porter, have repeatedly emphasized this fatal weakness in our system. Congress, at last aroused, has recently instructed the Commissioner of Labor to report for its consideration, as soon as practicable, a plan for a permanent census service. The American Economic Association and the American Statistical Association have, moreover, appointed committees to urge upon Congress the necessity of improved census methods. With such unanimity of opinion in regard to the desirability of reform, it is to be hoped that something will be accomplished, and that we shall approach the census of 1900 with adequate technical equipment and scientific organization.

The attainment of more accurate and quicker results is not, however, the only problem connected with the establishment of a permanent census bureau. Discussion of the proposed reform brings up at once the whole question of the statistical activity of the federal government; and that involves the consideration of the abundance and trustworthiness of the material, at the most important source of supply, for the study of social and economic conditions in this country. This question is of importance not only to economists and sociologists, but also to publicists and statesmen, to social reformers and philanthropists, to business men, and to all others interested in the economic and social condition of the country. Passing by, therefore, the consideration of the technical organization of such a service, with which the officials at Washington are competent to deal, I purpose to point out briefly some of the scientific advantages to be attained.

There has been much dispute as to whether the statistical activity of a government should be directed solely by adminis

591 trative considerations of the usefulness of the statistics for directing state action in the narrow sense, or whether an effort should be made to gather information solely or predominantly of scientific interest. In many cases the two functions are combined. Thus, the enumeration of the population of the United States is primarily for the purpose of assigning representatives; but the minute classification of the people, according to race and nationality, birthplace and nativity, sex, age, conjugal condition, etc., is for scientific purposes and sociological information. Again, the statistics of imports and exports are the direct result of the activity of the Treasury Department, and form a basis for taxation and tariff legislation; but they are also of interest to the commercial world and to the student of economics. The statistical office must meet the first requirement, and in all civilized countries strives as far as possible to meet the second. The interesting problem for us is to decide how far it is possible to meet the second without neglecting the first, and what is the best organization for doing it.

The statistical activity of governments seems to have been inspired at first mainly by administrative reasons. Military and financial considerations led to an enumeration or estimate of the number of the people, or to a description of landed property and the status of the owners and occupiers. Block1 says that Sully organized in France, towards 1602, "un cabinet complet de politique et des finances," which may be considered as the first bureau of statistics. The reports demanded by Sully embraced the condition of the army, of the marine, of the finances, and of a great number of branches of administration. Louis XIV, toward the end of his reign, demanded from his intendants detailed memoirs concerning the condition of the provinces, including their population, finances, industry, etc., and the collection in manuscript filled forty-two volumes. François de Neuchateau, Minister of the Interior, organized in 1796 a bureau of statistics, but it does not seem to have survived the changes of the revolutionary period. Under the Restoration, the Ministry of War commenced a useful publication concerning 1 Traité de Statistique.