Note 180-7 — Chapter IV

Thus Friedr. Perthes, in Politz, Jarhbüchern, Jan., 1829, 42, thinks that the publication of scientific books in Germany, since 1800, caused, on the whole, a loss of capital. In the Canadian lumber trade, also, speculators, in the aggregate, lost more than was gained. Yet the business goes on because of its lottery character. (John Stuart Mill, II, ch. 15, 4.) In lotteries, it is certain that the aggregate of players lose. So too in speculation in English stocks, on account of the costs to be paid the state. In the case of frightful losses, which may afford food for the imagination, the reverse is found. Thus, for instance, in England, fire insurance, stamp duties included, was paid for at a rate five times as high as mathematical calculation showed it to be worth. (Senior, Outlines, 212 ff.) Much here depends naturally on national character, which, in England for instance, or in the United States, is much more adventurous than in many quiet regions of continental Europe.