Having enjoyed exceptional opportunities of becoming intimately acquainted with the hundreds of details which go to produce the history of an advance in prestige, power, dominions and commercial expansion, such as has been achieved by absolutely no other nation during the present century, the author has com-potently surveyed the Japanese way of living, national and international outlook and beliefs, political aspects and institutions, industrial development, cultural attainments and, by no means least, the way by which the undefeated Imperial Army eventually secured full control over the country's destinies, Although Mr. Young—he appears to be an excellent exponent of pacific sm—has essayed throughout the volume to deprecate the rising power of the military machine and the many terrible and violent upsets that have accompanied it, his studied and pointed criticisms have, it is feared, had just the reverse effect desired on the reader's mind, and one cannot but help thinking that Mr. Young, despite his lengthy sojourn in Japan, is most definitely biassed against his one-time hosts. Nevertheless, he is to be congratulated on an outstanding effort that should be consulted by every live student of Far Eastern affairs, The Root of All Evil A Key ro Money AND BANKING. By William F. Spalding, Fellow and Member of the Council of the Institute of Bankers, London; Fellow of the Royal Economic Society; Associate of the City of London College; Hon. Moderator in Banking and Currency to the London Chamber of Commerce; late Examiner and Lecturer to the Institute of Bankers in Foreign Exchange, and to the. Incorporated Secretaries' Association. Blackie, Mr. William F, Spalding, a distinguished exponent of many theories relative to money and banking, is certainly well-qualified to present his readers with "A Key" to the safe in which bankers store their knowledge, end when he is mentioned by the writer of a Foreword as having experienced "many years of work im an exchange bank dealing mainly with China" he could hardly desire a better introduction to readers in the Far East. This book may be readily divided into two main sections: (1) the origin and history of money, commencing with some crude commodity or token, developing and changing to meet the requirements of civilized man until it becomes such a complicated creation as paper curzency—either good or bad: (2) the birth and history of banking, with a simple interpretation of all those apparently mysterious words and phrases with which every proud Owner of a bank account is faced from day to day.
Devilish invention The history of "Money," to use the word in its general sense, is really the world's greatest romance and nobody could tell its tale better than Mr. Spalding does. In the course of this long and fascinating story we learn that money means a warning as to value, and suggests something that has been minted; that cash is really loose term suggesting the box in which ready money is kept; and that currency is something which runs or flows (as we all know to our cost): but to explain just how wide the word currency can be in its meaning, he shows us how it may consist of cowrie shells, skins, grain, salt, stone, gold, silver or even pieces of paper bearing signatures, It is interesting to note, by the way, that just as stone was not a success os a medium of currency because of its weight and leck of portability, gold bases its popularity on beauty and durability the value of the suggestion that paper money was originally invented by the devil is too obvious to call for comment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.