CT.TRRENT LITERATURE.
The assertion that "the dismal science is dead," variations upon which have been loudly rung within the past few years, has received the most authoritative of all denials in the issue by Messrs. Macmillan of the first number of the .Economic Journal. It is edited by Professor F. Y. Edgeworth, and is the journal of the British Economic Association, which originated in a meeting that was held in University College in November of last year, under the presidency of Mr. Goschen. If the promise of the first number is sustained, then in the Economic Journal wo have a most valuable addition to our quarterlies—for, in the first instance at all events, it is to be published once a quarter—and one which will permit of our more solid periodical literature being com- pared favourably with that oven of the United States. That the Journal is open to writers of all schools of economic thought, is nufficiently proved by the fact that in this first number we have Mr. Courtney descanting eloquently, and almost pathetically, on the difficulties of Socialism ; Mr. John Burnett treating of the boycott as an element—and a terribly effective weapon—in trade disputes ; and Mr. John Rae saying that the impression is irresistibly borne in from all sides that there is growing up in Australia, and very largely in consequence of the eight-hours day, a working class "which, for general morale, intelligence, and industrial efficiency, is probably already superior to that of any other branch of our Anglo-Saxon race, and for happi- ness, cheerfulness, and all-round comfort of life, has never seen its equal in the world before." The "technical" side of economy has ample justice done to it in such papers as that of Mr. Henry Hucks Gibbs on "The Fall in Silver ; " Mr. Price's on "Some Aspects of the Theory of Rent ; " and Professor Wieser's on "The Austrian School and the Theory of Value." More generally informing and no less interesting papers are Dr. Cunningham's on "Economic Doctrine in England during the Eighteenth Century;" Dr. Seebohm's on "French Peasant Proprietorship,"—a delightful article, in which the writer brings forward Millet's works in sup- port of his views as to the results of "the open-field system of husbandry ; " and Professor Richmond Mayo Smith's on "The Eleventh Census of the -United States," This article does not quite adequately explain how it is that the rate of increase in the population of the Union—in 1890 the total was 02,022,250, as against 50,155,783 in 1880—should be decreasing in face of an increasing immigration. In addition to articles, the Economic Journal contains reviews of books, and notes and memoranda on events of immediate interest from the economic point of view, Altogether, this new magazine, which, being beautifully printed, is a delight to the eye, deserves the heartiest commendation. Its success, indeed, seems assured.
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