This Week's Books
mi. J. TAYLOR PRIMIE undoubtedly has a weighty case to state in his The Cause of Economic and Social Unrest (with the alluring sub-title of " How to Reduce Income TaxIto is. ad. in the £," from Longman, Green. 2s.). He etalins that we are spending a cool £219,000,000 more than we need, owing to our obsolete Bank Charter Act, passed eighty-three years ago. Gold, says Mr. Peddle, should be retained as a measure of value only, to meet the claims of bill exchange in London ; it has reached its maximum production (he says, but Mr. Goodenough would not agree) and prosperity cannot return until we have a freer currency, based on the Federal ReserVe Bank system of America, where credit can be expanded to meet trade requirements, more or leis independently of gold. Undoubtedly our policy of deflation has caused suffering and unrest. Mr. McKenna is against our pure gold standard, like Mr. Peddie, but he is a free-trader, while Mr.. Peddle is an ardent protectionist. The average man must move warily between conflicting authorities, but Mr. Peddie's little book is packed with facts and reasoned, temperate statements. It is well worth reading, but we shall not commit ourselves to support his views without further consideration.
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