hops are exchanged between Northumberland and Kent on absolutely the same principles as iron and wine between Lancashire and Spain."Ruskin, "Munera Pulveris," p. 84.

205. What determines the value of imported commodities?

206. Why does cost of production fail to determine the value of commodities brought from a foreign country? Does it also fail in the case of commodities brought from distant parts of the same country?

207. It is on the matter of fact that there is not much migration of capital and labor from country to country that Mr. Mill has based his whole doctrine of "international trade and international values." Explain and comment on the above statement.

208. What are the causes which determine for a nation the cost of its imports?

209. It follows from the theory of international values, as laid down by Mill, that the permanent residence of Americans in Europe may enhance the cost of foreign imports to Americans residing at home. Explain in what way.

210. Suppose two countries, A and B, isolated from the rest of the world, and a trade established between them. In consequence of the labor of A becoming less effective, the cost of production of every article which can be produced in that country is greatly increased, but so that the relation between the costs of any two articles remains the same. What, if any, will be the effect of the change on the trade between A and B Does your answer depend upon your using the phrase "cost of production" in a sense different from that given to it by some economists?

211. Show that every country gets its imports at less cost in proportion to the efficiency of its labor.

FOREIGN EXCHANGES.

212. What is the ordinary limit to the premium on foreign bills of exchange, and why?

213. What are the chief effects on the foreign exchanges which are produced by the breaking out of a war? Account for the fact that in 1861 the exchanges on England in America fell considerably below specie point.

214. Suppose that the next harvest in England should be very defective, and extraordinary supplies of American grain needed. How would this probably affect the price of bills of exchange between England and America, and the profit on the exportation of English manufactures to the latter, and why?

215. Trace the process by which the precious metals spread from the mines over the world.

216. Suppose the exchange between England and the United States to be heavily against England, how will this fact affect the export and import trade between the two countries, and why?

217. What is meant by exchanges being against a country?

218. Enumerate the principal circumstances which affect the rate of exchange between two countries. How is the par of exchange ascertained?

219. In what way are gold and silver distributed among the different trading countries? Between different parts of the same country?

220. Trace the effects of large and continuous issues of inconvertible paper currency on the prices of commodities, on importation and exportation, and on the foreign exchanges.

221. State the conditions under which international trade can permanently exist. What will be the ultimate effect of a large movement of foreign gold upon prices, imports, and exports in the receiving country?

222. State the theory of the value of money (i. e., "metallic money "), and clear up any apparent inconsistencies between the following statements: (1.) The value of money depends on the cost of production at the worst mines; (2.) The value of money varies inversely as its quantity multiplied by its rapidity of circulation; (3.) The countries whose products are most in demand abroad and contain the greatest value in the smallest bulk, which are nearest the mines and have the least demand for foreign productions, are those in which money will be of lowest value.

223. The effects of the depreciation of the paper currency in the United States are thus described by Mr. Wells: "It renders it impossible to sell abroad the products which have cost too much at home, and invites from other countries the products of a cheaper labor paid for in a sounder currency. It exaggerates imports, while destroying our ability to pay in kind." State how far you agree with the deductions here drawn, assigning your reasons where you differ.

224. When the foreign exchanges are manifestly against a country, and a balance of indebtedness is the cause, the equilibrium can be restored in two ways. State and explain the operation of each.

225. What are the conditions which determine for a country a high

range of general prices? How far is this advantageous?

226. What is the effect of the imposition of a tribute by one country on another upon the course of trade between them, and the terms on which they exchange commodities; and why?

227. For what reasons may a nation's exports habitually exceed or fall short of its imports?

228. Explain the real and nominal exchange.

229. Expound Mr. Mill's theory of the influence which a convertible currency exercises on foreign trade.

230. What is the effect of a depreciated currency on (1) foreign trade, and (2) the exchanges?

INTEREST.

231. How does the general rate of interest determine the selling price of stocks and land?

232. Is there any relation between the rate of interest and the value of money?

233. What are the relations of interest and profit? On what causes does the rate of interest depend?

234. "High interest means bad security." Comment on this saying. 235. Is the rate of interest affected by the supply of the precious metals?

236. What determines the rate of interest on the loanable funds? Is the "current [or ordinary] rate of interest the measure of the relative abundance or scarcity of capital"?

237. What are the chief causes that determine the rate of interest? 238. If it be true that in America every man, however rich, is engaged in some business, but that in England many rich men have no trade or profession, how is the rate of interest in each country affected in consequence, and why?

239. How does a fall in the purchasing power of money tend to affect, if at all, and why, (1) the rate of interest, (2) the price of land, (3) the price of government bonds, (4) the price of gold and silver ornaments and plate?

FOREIGN COMPETITION.

240. Explain the grounds of Mr. Mill's proposition that general low wages never caused any country to undersell its rivals, nor did general high wages ever hinder it from doing so. If you think the proposition needs qualification, give your reason.

241. (1.) What is the true theory of one country underselling another in a foreign market? (2.) What weight should be attributed to the fact of generally higher or lower wages in one of the competing countries?

242. Discuss the question whether a high rate of wages necessarily lays the commerce of a country under a disadvantage with reference to a country where the rate of wages is lower.

243. What are the conditions under which one country can permanently undersell another in a foreign market?

244. Point out distinctly the connection between the money wages of laborers in the United States and the productiveness of the soil.

245. In the Eastern States iron-molders earn from fourteen to seventeen dollars a week; in California their wages run from twenty-one to twenty-seven dollars. Account for this variation.

PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.

246. What are the reasons for the change in the normal values of manufactured and of agricultural commodities, respectively, during the progress of society?

247. Wages and profits in different employments and neighborhoods are not uniformly proportional to the efforts of labor and abstinence of which they are the respective rewards. Classify the circumstances which prevent this correspondence, and show how far their effect is likely to be reduced (a) by general economical progress, and (b) by the extension of the division of labor.

248. What is the law of diminishing returns? Can you point out any connection between this law and the following phenomena ?—

(a.) Density of population.

(b.) Rate of wages.

(c.) Rate of profits in different countries.

249. Sketch the influence on rents and profits of an increase of population and capital concurrently with a stationary state of the arts of production.

250. Is there reason to believe that Mr. Mill has underrated the powers possessed by man of extending the area of production and facilitating the market of food? If such a statement has been made, to what extent is his theory of population modified, and the risks he had indicated rendered distant?

251. Compare the effects on rent, profits, and wages, of a sudden improvement in the production (a) of food, (b) of some manufactured articles largely consumed by the working-classes.

252. Trace the connection between Ricardo's theory of rent and the decline in the general rate of profits as a country increases in population. Explain clearly the connection which exists between wages and profits.

253. What effect is produced upon rents, profits, and wages, respectively, in a country like France, where population is stationary and capital advancing?

254. If capital continued to increase and population did not, explain the proposition that "the whole savings of each year would be exactly so much subtracted from the profits of the next and of every following year," if improvements were stationary.

255. How does social and industrial progress tend to affect the prices of land, raw produce, and manufactures, respectively, and why?

256. The capitalized value of land rises, in the progress of society, from two causes-from one which affects land in common with all investments; from another which is peculiar to land.

257. "The tendency of improved communications is to lower existing rents." How far is this true, and in what directions is it true?

258. What would be the effect on profits, wages, and rents of an improvement in a manufacutured article consumed by the laboringclass?

259. Explain the doctrine of the tendency of profits to a minimum, the cause of that tendency, and the circumstances which counteract it.

260. What was Adam Smith's doctrine as to the decline of profit in progressive communities? Criticise his argument.

261. Mention some of the principal causes which, in the ordinary progress of society, respectively tend to increase or to reduce the current rate of profits.

262. Why do profits tend to fall as population increases, and how may this result be retarded or prevented?

263. What is the effect of a general rise of money wages, apart from the consideration of a greater efficiency of labor, in prices, profits, and rent? Give reasons for your answer.

264. How does the general progress of society in wealth and industrial efficiency tend to affect the rate of wages, the rate of profit, and the rate of rent, respectively?

265. What is the general effect of the progress of society on the landowner, the capitalist, and the laborer?

FUTURE OF LABORING-CLASSES.

266. Examine the influences of machinery on the economic condition of the working-classes.

267. Mention and discuss some of the popular remedies for low wages, and especially the effect of the subdivision of landed property among peasant proprietors.

268. Explain briefly what is meant by co-operation, and indicate the more prominent forms assumed by the co-operative movement.

269. What is meant by the co-operative system of industry? Show ways in which this system may affect, for good or for evil, the productiveness of labor; and mention any moral benefits, or the opposite, in which it may be expected to issue.

270. What are the difficulties in the way of co-operation for the production of salable objects?

271. Explain the advantages of industrial partnership, in which the employés share, in proportion to the wages received, half the profits of the business beyond a certain fixed minimum which is assigned to the employers.