has no ground for supposing that the relations were I otherwise than there indicated. The place for caution is in other inferences to be drawn, for careful reasoning on the part of the investigator is here required. Private account-books have obtained in modern Private Ac research a value little dreamed of by the original count-books. makers. The study of economic history, both from the administrative and the social point of view, has found material here in great abundance. Particular topics like the development of prices receive light from comparisons over long periods, while the general social welfare may be closely estimated from the comparative cost of various commodities and the I value of labor. The amount of this material is so great that a volume might be devoted to its consideration, if one were to attempt to specify the weight of each particular form. Accounts are to be found on Assyrian tablets, on mediæval parchments, and in colonial ledgers. Throughout the whole series they are extremely valuable, though less so in modern times when records can be found in books and newspapers. At all times they should be used in connection with the current politics and legislation. Business is facilitated by the political situation, or the difficulties are increased by the war in progress or the tax law in force. Legislation or agreement may counteract the effect of war, as happened in various localities during the American Revolution. One might expect to find an increase of prices for a time, but a study of a country cobbler's account-book in the Berkshire hills corroborates what other information indicates, that local senti ment, if not law, forbade any change from customary charges. The inquiry should include the contemporary currency, the value of which as a relic is best discovered in its associations with other sources. CHAPTER XIX THE NEWSPAPER AS A SOURCE OF HISTORY THE newspaper has become so familiar a part of our daily existence that we are likely to approach it with more or less fixed ideas when searching for historical information. Probably the tendency would be to underestimate its value. We are accustomed to the uncertainties of telegraphic news, and know full well that in the haste to give information the merest hints or conjectures are put for ward as facts, only to be changed or contradicted in the next issue. The partisan character of many editorial pages is so well defined that even the news may be colored by the political bias of the management. The sensationalism of the "yellow journal” is an unpleasant phenomenon in modern newspaper history, and the tendency in many cases to triviality, when not to scandal, gives the thoughtful observer an unfavorable view of that whole branch of literature. Yet, notwithstanding the glaring cases of unreliability, it is not necessary to transfer the bad character of one journal to another, and the problem becomes simpler when one observes that the newspaper is composed of a variety of materials which are to be estimated according to the classes to which they belong. The conscious and the unconscious Object of the Press Laws. testimony can be distinguished and likewise the gradations from one to the other. In any judgment of contents the critic must accept the fact that "news" is the object for which the journal is primarily supposed to exist, and from which it derives its title. Under modern conditions information is gathered by a multitude of assistants who telegraph at the earliest moment to the paper, or to the news agency, the striking events of their districts. First impressions only can be expected in such haste. Names and details are liable to distortion, particularly when an event is sudden and unexpected. On the other hand, when an important convention meets, or a legislature is in session, the news gatherers are prepared in advance, and the reports of speeches and resolutions may appear in substantially truthful form. For political conventions of state or local character the newspaper may furnish the only published record. For legal assemblies the investigator will be likely to go to official documents, or to reports more deliberately prepared than those in the newspaper, for matters occurring in the last half century. The earlier journals had some advantage in depending on letters rather than the telegraph. Their news was very slow in arriving, but was likely to be more deliberately prepared, and the responsible writer was frequently named. Another consideration in estimating the fulness of news is to be found in the press laws in force at the time. The rigorous supervision of newspapers under Napoleon I and the censorship in Russia have affected not only the expression of political opinion, but the presentation of current events as well. Napoleon reduced the number of papers to ∞ mere dozen which could be easily controlled, and used their columns to spread abroad the news as the government would like to see it. Despotic rulers have frequently forbidden all reference to specified matters, and editors have been driven to most ingenious expedients to convey the information in phrases of double meaning. In fact all the way down to the middle of the nineteenth century there I have been on the continent of Europe restrictions of the press in greater or less degree, and it is important for the investigator to take into account the exact limitations at the moment. Under I complete freedom of the press the responsibility for truth lies more heavily upon the journal. In some cases the newspaper may be the re- Record of pository of a public document duly authenticated, Public Acts. as in the following example from the Boston Gazette and Country Journal of March 12, 1770: "The Inhabitants of the Town of Acton, at their annual Town Meeting on the first Monday of March, 1770, taking into consideration, the distressed circumstances, that this Province and all North-America are involv'd in, by reason of the acts of Parliament imposing Duties and Taxes, upon the Inhabitants of North-America, for the sole purpose to raise a Revenue, and when the Royal Ear seems to be stopt against all our humble Prayers' and Petitions, for redress of Grievances, that this Land is involv'd in, and considering the salutary Measures that the Body of Merchants and Traders in this province have come |