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embody, and the interference of the legislature would be clearly desirable. The following figures illustrate the growth of building societies. Those under the year 1870 are derived from the commissioners' second report, and are partly based on estimate, those under the year 1888 are derived from the last parliamentary return, dated 23d July 1889. Some societies do not make returns, or only return certain items, but it may be taken for granted that the bulk of the societies not making any return are either insolvent or have no business. The number of societies making returns on each particular item are added in square brackets :

| in comparison with the increase of business done. The figures seem to point to the fact that a much wealthier class of shareholders have come in since the passing of the act. In Scotland there is a marked decrease, in all the figures in Ireland there is a steady increase.

E. S.

BÜLAU, FRIEDRICH VON (1805-1859), a German economist of note, was born at Freiberg, he studied at Leipsic, where he became, in 1833, professor of philosophy, and in 1840 of political science, filling the latter chair till his death. He held from 1837 the censorship of the periodical press. He took a prominent part in the propagation of the doctrines of Adam SMITH in Germany. His principal economic writings are -Encyclopedie der Staatswissenschaften, 1832; Der Staat und der Landbau, 1834; Der Staat und die Industrie, 1834; Handbuch der Staatswirthschaftslehre, 1835; Die Behörden in Staat und Gemeinde, 1836. He was a writer of no mean ability, though taking only a second rank among the economists of his time. "He has not, says ROSCHER, "the keen analysis of HERMANN, the learned thoroughness of RAU, nor the exact observation and creative fancy of Von THÜNEN. Even such of his books as were intended as manuals for instruction have the tone of essays or good leading articles; and he devotes himself rather to the discussion of the practical questions of the day than to the examination of fundamental principles." He advocated the most unlimited freedom of the individual in the economic sphere, and insisted that the state must not interfere with competition, or prescribe to citizens the way in which they should pursue their own interest. He thought the most important office of political economy was to reverse the mistaken policy of the past, which impeded the operation of natural laws. He was, in particular, strongly in favour of removing the legal fetters which, in his time, in Germany restricted the alienation of land. (Roscher, Nat. Oekon. in Deutschland, p. 902).

J. K. I.

BULL. A term usually applied to a buyer on borrowed money. The term on the stock exchange distinguishes the speculator for the rise from the pure investor. The latter buys a stock, pays at the date of settlement; the bull pays a rate of interest in order to "continue" his bargain till the next settlement. "Bull" is the opposite to a "Bear" BEAR and Contango).

A. E.

(see

BULL OF BORGIA. A bull issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI. professing to grant to the crown of Castile and Aragon all lands discovered, or to be discovered, beyond a line drawn from pole to pole, 100 miles west from the Azores the crown of Portugal to have all lands eastward of such line. All lands previously occupied by any Christian king were excepted. The object of the bull was to confer a monopoly

J. E. C. M.

of trade with the new world on Spain and Portugal. [For copy of the bull, see Bullarium Magnum Romanum (Luxembourg, 1727).]

BULLION. The precious metals GOLD and SILVER (q.v.) are generally spoken of as bullion when at or near the standard fineness accepted at the mints of the different countries of the world (see STANDARD). The term is sometimes applied, with some qualifying epithet, to ores containing only a very small portion of the precious metals, which are called "doré bullion" or "base bullion," etc. A statement in the report of Mr. J. P. Turnbull, director of the U.S. mint, on the production of the precious metals in the United States, pp. 14-15 (1887), will explain this. The reference in it is to certain ores found in Mexico more or less argentiferous, the value of which "has been generally estimated in Mexico by the assay of the precious metals, or of silver to the exclusion of the minute proportion of gold" contained in the ore; the base metals not entering into the estimated value. The report then refers to "the small tenor of gold extracted from doré bullion." The metallic compound is then termed "doré bullion" or "base bullion" according to the proportion of the metals of which it is composed-mainly silver or lead, but the term bullion is properly applicable to the precious metals alone (see BILLON).

[See Reports of the Deputy Master of the Mint, London.-Reports of the Director of the Mint, United States, Washington.-Reports on the Production of the Precious Metals in the United States, Washington, etc.]

The

BULLION COMMITTEE, REPORT OF. Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the High Price of Gold Bullion, ordered to be printed 8th June 1810, deserves notice from (1) the circumstances which led to the appointment of the committee; (2) the information and opinions expressed in the Report; (3) the controversy which the publication of the Report called forth; and (4) the influence which resulted on the financial policy of the country. (1) The note circulation of the Bank of England had expanded from an average of about 10 to 11 millions in 1795 to nearly 20 millions in 1809. Specie payments having been suspended 1797, and the paper circulation having been increased, the foreign ExCHANGES became unfavourable to this country, and the paper circulation was depreciated in comparison with gold (average depreciation of value of currency 13.5 per cent 1810.-Mushet); gold in bars being at the price of from £4: 10s. to £4:12s. per oz. in the early months of 1810, at that date about 15 per cent above the mint price of £3:17:10 per oz. (2) The Report expressed the opinion that the divergence then observable between the gold and the paper was caused by an over-issue of the latter, and

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that it was "difficult to resist the inference that a portion at least of the great fall which the exchanges lately suffered must have resulted, not from the state of trade, but from a change in the relative value of our domestic currency.' The remedy then suggested was "That the system of the circulating medium of this Country ought to be brought back, with as much speed as is compatible with a wise and necessary caution, to the original principle of Cash payments at the option of the holder of Bank paper." (3) A sharp controversy was excited by these resolutions of the committee. The directors of the Bank of England had stated to the committee "a doctrine, of the truth of which they professed themselves to be most thoroughly convinced, that there can be no possible excess in the issue of Bank of England paper so long as the advances in which it is issued are made upon the principles which at present guide the conduct of the Directors, that is, so long as the discount of mercantile Bills is confined to paper of undoubted solidity, arising out of real commercial transactions, and payable at short and fixed periods" (Report, High Price of Gold Bullion, § 3). The Report of the Bullion Committee was printed 20th June 1810, the day before the prorogation, hence it was not considered till the next session, when it " was made the ground for a set of sixteen resolutions, moved in the House of Commons 6th May 1811, by Mr. HORNER, the chairman of that committee; the last of these resolutions being in pursuance of the recommendation in the Report, to make it imperative on the Bank to resume cash payments at the end of two years. counter set of resolutions was moved by Mr. VANSITTART; the third of them being the memorable one 'That the promissory notes of the Bank of England have hitherto been and are at this time held to be equivalent to the legal coin of the realm.' The rival resolutions of Mr. Vansittart, including this last, which has been a standing topic of ridicule ever since, were carried on the 9th of May, by a majority of 151 to 75" (Tooke, History of Prices, vol. iv. p. 99). The vote on this occasion was doubtless influenced far more by a belief that it was inexpedient to bind the Bank to resume cash payments in so short a period, irrespective of the question whether peace were restored at the end of that time or not, than by any conviction as to the truth of the opinion which Mr. Vansittart maintained, contrary to the evidence given before the committee. (4) The influence of these proceedings on the financial policy of the United Kingdom was considerable, as they had great weight with Sir R. PEEL in 1844, when introducing the Bank Act of that year. He referred to the appointment of this committee in his speech, 6th May 1844, as follows "In 1810 men of sagacity observed that the exchanges had been, for a considerable

A

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period, unfavourable to this country, more unfavourable than could be accounted for by the balance of trade or the monetary transactions of this country." Sir R. Peel, after defining the pound sterling and the standard, continued his observations on the MEASURE OF VALUE and the coinage, stating "that in using the word money, I mean to designate by that word the coin of the Realm and promissory notes, payable to bearer on demand," adding, "I think experience shows that the paper currency, that is, the promissory notes payable to bearer on demand, stands in a certain relation to the gold coin and the foreign exchange in which other forms of paper credit do not stand. There are striking examples of this adduced in the Report of the Bullion Committee of 1810." Sir R. Peel proceeded to argue, basing his theory on facts shown to exist during a period of suspension of specie payments, contrary, as he admitted, to | "the high authority of Adam SMITH and of RICARDO," that "convertibility into coin at the will of the holder" was "not an adequate security against the excessive issue of promissory notes." Hence we may trace the theory on which Sir R. Peel based the act of 1844, to the interpretation he put on the Report of the Bullion Com mittee (see BANK NOTE, BANK OF ENGLAND, CURRENCY DOCTRINE, etc.)

[Report, together with minutes of evidence and accounts, from the Select Committee on the High Price of Gold Bullion (ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 8th June 1810). For the history of the controversy mentioned see The High Price of Bullion a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank Notes, D. Ricardo, London, 4th ed., 1811, with Appendix, the most complete edition. In this pamphlet Ricardo showed conclusively that the value of the note was depreciated from excess of issue.-Practical Observations on the Report of the Bullion Committee, Chas. Bosanquet, London, 1810; the ablest of the pamphlets in opposition to the Report.-Reply to Mr. Bosanquet's Practical Observations on the Report of the Bullion Committee, D. Ricardo, London, 1811; a complete answer, based on a knowledge both of the theory and the practice of the subject.-The Question respecting the Depreciation of the Currency Stated and Examined, by William Huskisson, M. P., London, 1810, and included in Private Reprints, by Lord Overstone, 1857, with other "Select Tracts on Paper Currency."-History of Prices, 1792-1856, Tooke and Newmarch, London, v.d., see particularly vols. i. and iv., specially interesting as contemporary history.-Thoughts and Details on the High and Low Prices of the Thirty Years from 1793 to 1822, London, Thomas Tooke, 2d ed., 1824; to a great extent incorporated with the preceding, but also interesting. -A Series of Tables Exhibiting the Gain and Loss to the Fundholder arising from the Fluctuations in the Value of the Currency from 1800 to 1821, Robert Mushet, London, 1821; the standard work of reference on this subject.]

BUONARROTI, PHILIPPE (1761-1837), com

munist conspirator and writer, was born at Pisa. He became a student of literature, and was for a time in high favour at the Tuscan court. His enthusiasm for the French Revolution led, however, to his banishment. He retired to Corsica, and served French interests so well there that when he came to France the Convention created him a Frenchman by decree. He associated himself with the Jacobins, and became one of the chief leaders of the conspiracy of BABEUF (q..). For this he was condemned to transportation, but the sentence was never carried out, and, after imprisonment and detention in several places, he was allowed in 1806 to leave France. He established himself first at Geneva, and afterwards in Belgium, where he supported himself by composing and teaching music. In 1828 he published at Brussels his Conspiration pour l'égalité dite de Babeuf, suivie du procès auquel elle donna lieu et des pièces justificatives, etc., which contains the most complete scheme for the actual establishment of communism, as distinguished from the description of a mere ideal state, that has ever been put forward. The author ascribes the whole scheme to Babeuf, but there can be little doubt that this is to a great extent a literary fiction, and that the scheme is mostly his own (see COMMUNISM). He returned to Paris in 1830.

A letter from him to J. Bronterre O'Brien comparing the schemes of Babeuf and Owen is quoted in Holyoake's History of Co-operation, vol. i. p. 258. A translation of his Conspiration was published by O'Brien in 1836, and had some circulation among the Chartists (Holyoake, Hist. of Co-operation, vol. i. p. 44).

E. C.

BUQUOY, GEORG FRANZ, Count, was born at Brussels 1781, and died at Prague 1851. Proficient in several sciences, Buquoy endeavoured to apply mathematics to political economy in his—

Theorie der Nationalwirthschaft, 1815; supplemented by Das national-wirthshaftliche Princip, 1816.-Erläuterung einiger eignen Ansichten, 1817.-Begründung des Begrifs von reellem Werth, 1819.-(The author's ethical and political principles are set forth in Skizze, 1819.His views on currency, in Ein auf echten Nationalcredit fundirtes Geld, 1819).-See Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexicon des Kaiserthums Österreichs.

F. Y. E.

BUREAU OF LABOUR. In large industrial communities the establishment of a department of government dealing specially with the numbers, movements, and condition of the working classes has been recommended for two reasons: (1) in the interest of the state itself, to furnish information which may guide the legislature; (2) in the direct interest of the working classes, that employers and employed may be brought together, and workers may go where they are most wanted and best paid (see BOURSE DU TRAVAIL). The existing bureaux

The

confine themselves to the first object. second seems better secured by well-organised trades societies than by a bureau of labour, which might be used against them in labour disputes. Even a purely statistical bureau, if its figures are to be full and trustworthy, must be above suspicion of collusion with employers; and this requisite seems best fulfilled by the appointment of a representative of the working classes on the staff of officials. England since 1886 has had a "labour correspondent," under the board of trade; and the present holder of the office was a well-known trades unionist. Switzerland has not only a bureau of labour, but a labour secretary of state, in close connection with the trades societies of the republic. Germany has no separate labour bureau, but the collection of labour statistics is carried on by the general statistical bureau with great carefulness, in view of the administration of the workmen's insurance acts. The experiment is being tried on a large scale in the United States, where there is a national bureau at Washington (established 1884), and more than twenty of the states have also established bureaux, the earliest being Massachusetts (1869) and Pennsylvania (1872). (See BUREAU OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES.) The formation of an International Bureau of Labour was suggested in connection with the Labour Conference held at Berlin in March 1890; but the project remains as yet unrealised.

[See Report, Board of Trade, Relation of Wages in certain Industries to the Cost of Production (T. H. Elliott), 1891.]

J. B.

BUREAU OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. History. In 1869 the state of Massachusetts established a bureau of statistics of labour. In 1872 Pennsylvania organised a bureau of industrial statistics. Neither of them seems to have been owing to any demand on the part of labour organisation. But after the great railroad strikes of 1877, bureaus were established in rapid succession in Ohio (1877), in New Jersey (1878), in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri (1879). A little later the powerful organisation known as the KNIGHTS OF LABOUR made the establishment of such bureaus one of their "demands," and they were organised in New York, California, Michigan, and Wisconsin (1883); Iowa and Maryland (1884);, Kansas and Connecticut (1885); Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Nebraska (1887). A national bureau of labour was established 18th January 1885, which became the department of labour in 1887. Its head (commissioner of labour) is not, however, a cabinet officer.

The main object of all these bureaus is to investigate the condition of the labouring class. The Massachusetts statute, which has been followed in most of the other states, reads as follows:

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"The bureau shall collect, assort, arrange, and present in annual reports statistical details

relating to all departments of labour in the Commonwealth, especially in relation to the commercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary condition of the labouring classes," etc.

In many of the states (e.g. N.J., Penn., Ind., Ill., Wis., Ia., Kan., and Neb.) the bureau is also a bureau of industrial statistics, and is expected to collect and publish information relating to the chief industries of the state.

In Wisconsin and Missouri the commissioner of labour is also the chief factory inspector, and in Illinois the board of labour commissioners appoint the inspectors of mines.

The financial resources of most of the bureaus are extremely meagre; the officers consist of a chief and one or two clerks; and only a few hundred, or at most a few thousand, dollars are allowed for the work of gathering statistics.

The legal powers are not extensive; for although in many states penalties are prescribed for refusal to give the information demanded by the bureau, yet these penalties are seldom enforced. Most of the bureaus simply send out circular schedules to employers of labour, a large proportion of which are never answered.

The scientific value of the reports of the state bureaus is very unequal. Those of Massachusetts (twenty-three in number) form an extremely valuable series, and contain the best information we possess in regard to the condition of American labour. The New Jersey and Illinois reports also contain valuable information. The others are of little consequence.

The national bureau (department) of labour is better equipped than any of the state bureaus. It undertakes special investigations and has published reports on The Depression of Trade (1886); Strikes and Lockouts (1887); Convict Labour (1888); Marriage and Divorce (1889); Working-women in Great Cities (1889); Cost of Production (1890); and Condition of Railroad employés (1890).

[Reports of the various bureaus (generally annual, in some cases biennial).-Proceedings of convention of the chiefs of labour bureaus (annually since 1883).-Political Science Quarterly, vol. i. 1886, pp. 45 seq. and 438 seq.]

R. M.-S.

BUREAUCRACY. The administration of many branches of business, public and private, by functionaries centralised in bureaux (whence the name is derived), is the rule in most of the important countries of Europe. It is less the case in Great Britain and Ireland than on the continent, but the complex character of the requirements of modern life, and especially the aggregation of large masses of the population in cities, have called, in recent times, for increased superintendence in matters of health, police, education, etc. W. BAGEHOT, in his work on The English Constitution, describes the advan

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An over-organised "bureaucracy tends to under-government, in point of quality; it tends to over-government in point of quantity." The risk is that it comes to be considered that "the functionaries are not there for the benefit of the people, but the people for the benefit of the functionaries." Yet, though this risk is well known-the weakness of separate individuals when dealing with the organised forces of powerful companies and corporations, has been felt to be so dangerous and the necessity for providing for the health, the protection, and the instruction of the masses, the feeble, and the young, to be so great, that the tendency of the day is towards increasing the power of official superintendence and inspection. In the words of JEVONS (The State in Relation to Labour, p. 166), "there can be no royal road to legislation in such matters. We must consent to advance cautiously step by step, feeling our way, adopting no foregone conclusions, trusting no single science, expecting no infallible guide. We must neither maximise the functions of government at the back of quasi-military officials, nor minimise them according to the theories of the very best philosophers. We must learn to judge each case upon its merits, interpreting with painful care all experience which can be brought to bear upon the matter." The gradual growth of this opinion is characteristic of modern thought. H. Sidgwick (bk. iii. of his Principles of Political Economy, ch. ii. "The system of Natural Liberty considered in relation to Production"), while weighing carefully the advantages and disadvantages of governmental interference, observes " first, that these disadvantages are largely such as moral and political progress may be expected to diminish; so that even where we do not regard the intervention of government as at present desirable, we may yet look forward to it, and perhaps prepare the way for it. And, secondly, even where we reject governmental interference, we may yet recognise the expediency of supplementing or limiting in some way or other the results of private enterprise." Again, on the cognate

in his essay on "Political Economy and Laissezfaire," Essays in Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied, saying, "the maxim of laissezfaire has no scientific basis whatever, but is at best a handy rule of practice, useful perhaps as a reminder to statesmen on which side the presumption lies in questions of industrial legislation, but totally destitute of all scientific authority.' Compare with this the sterner teaching of J. S. MILL (Principles of Political Economy, bk. v. ch. xi., "Limits of the Province of Government")—“ Even if the government could comprehend within itself, in each department, all the more eminent intellectual capacity and active talent of the nation, it would not be the less desirable that the conduct of a large portion of the affairs of society should be left in the hands of the persons immediately interested in them. The business of life is an essential part of the practical education of a people, without which book and school instruction, though more necessary and salutary, does not suffice to qualify them for conduct, and for the adaptation of means to ends" (see LAISSEZFAIRE).

BURET, ANTOINE EUGÈNE, born at Troyes 1810, died at Paris 1842. He wrote in the Courrier français, and the Journal des économistes. But what, during his short career, won for him chiefly the esteem of the economic world, is, notwithstanding the manifest tendencies the book contains towards the opinions of the then rising socialist school, his work, De la Misère des classes laborieuses en Angleterre et en France (2 vols. in 8vo). This book is the expansion of an essay which obtained for the author the sum of £100-the half of the quinquennial prize (Félix de Beaujour), in 1840 awarded by the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques; it is written with vigour, and in a conscientious spirit, and is attractive to read, though the author, by representing exceptional cases as the general rule, has drawn too gloomy a picture. Buret also revised, in conjunction with J. A. BLANQUI, the translation of Smith's Wealth of Nations by G. GARNIER, in the "Collection Guillaumin." A. C. f.

BURGH, a word used in Scotland for the same purposes as the word BOROUGH (q.v.) in England.

BURGHER. See CITIZEN.

E. S.