THE NEW GOLDEN AGE AND INFLUENCE OF THE PRECIOUS METALS UPON THE WORLD BY R. HOGARTH PATTERSON " AUTHOR OF 'THE SCIENCE OF FINANCE,' ESSAYS IN HISTORY AND ART,' ETC. ASP. PREFACE. I HAVE been not merely a contemporary, but a studious observer, of the important events and interesting incidents of the Epoch of which I now at length write. It is when the Year is closing that we begin to sum up its characteristic features. It is when the trees of the orchard are becoming stripped and bare that we seek to reckon up the fruits of the season. And so, as the Golden Age, which I have watched as a contemporary, is now fallen into "the sere and yellow leaf," it is natural, and for the first time becomes possible, to write its History,-to exhibit and appreciate its effects upon the World ; and also to unravel some problems in economic science, upon which there has been a conflict of opinion and (as seems to me) much serious error,— yet which during this memorable Epoch have been strikingly tested and illustrated by the light of Experience. I was just beginning, partially, and still without 99330 |
