One of the most important events which has occurred in China's commercial life for a. considerable time is the issue by the Treasury Department's Bureau of Markets of index figures of the price of commodities, which to-day appear in our com: mercial columns. The Bureau informs us that these are the first of the kind ever tabulated in China, and are probably the only index figures in the world shown on a silver basis. Naturally, as these figures extend over only one year, we do not sce their full value at present, as, for instance, we do in the case of those published by the "Statist," which, as they continue Sauerbeck's figures, carry us back to the beginning of the 19th century. But if the Chinese figures continue to be as carefully compiled as those we publish appear to be, they in due time will assume an_ equal value. The importance of these figures is that they are a sign that China may at length be developing from a. non-statistical into a statistical country. At present all timates in China are haphazard, whether it be in relation to the size of the army or the extent of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.