L—Hidden Wealth Reappearing—The Influence of the Continental Melting Pot During the last five years world has seen some remarkable fluctuations in the price of silver, and as all who live in China are concerned in the problem it will be of some interest to inquire into the causes which have led to these fluctuations, and perchance to see if such an' inquiry will lead us to a clearer comprehension of what the future may portend. At the outset the writer repudiates all claims to any special knowledge of world economics, and emphasizes that his deductions are purely the. result of personal reflexion. For this reason they may or may not be of value, but as to his own mind they are at least plausible they may be worth stating.
Everybody understands why food, clothing, ships, and manufactures have risen in price, for the causes are the same.
Fewer hands to till} the fields, to weave the cloth,.to build the ships caused a large reduction in these essentials to life, and as there were just as many mouths to fill and people to clothe, a scarcity arose. Scarcity produces high prices, which needs no further postulate. Moreover, the demand for these things is a recurrent incident to life. That is to say, that food once consumed, clothes once worn out, and ships once stink disappear and must be replaced. The—circumstances of the war, therefore, brought about a constant rise in the price of these things, and no one will have any difficulty in' comprehending that the rise was due to scarcity brought about by the war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.