In Sir Lyon Playfair's interesting address, delivered on Thursday, on
the thorny subject of bimetallism, to us the most interesting part was his proof that the fall of prices had been, in his opinion, even 'more due to the enormous economy of mechanical power recently effected in the different trades, and to economy in the cost of transit, than to the appreciation of gold. "While in 1873," said Sir L. Playfair, "a given amount of human Labour produced 3,5, millions of bales of American cotton, a much less amount of human labour turned out in 1887 si millions of bales. The increases in its manufactured products were still greater. In 1873, spindles made 4,000 revolutions in a minute ; they now made 10,000." And the cost of transit had grown so much less since the opening of the Suez Canal and the opening of the Indian railways, that to that cause alone the new importations of Indian wheat must be attributed.
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