Monday, July 29, 2013

A History of American Currency by William Graham Sumner

Status: One Round of QC (07.29.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!oQFyVAIa!cG2jakRiFQkjKek9edoBIg6SRhgDwAj2GQ5rw0wheuQ

Fix Notes:


I also did a code comparison against the version at OLL:

http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1653&Itemid=99999999

Mises has the 1874 edition, the OLL version is the 1884 edition. The only difference I can spot is a few years/numbers, and only a few tweaked sentences.

Changelog:

Page 11: par. 1: Massachusetts

In 1652 Massachussets set up a mint at Boston to coin this metal and try to keep it in circulation.

Page 13: par. 2: currency

The dollar, or piece of eight, was worth 4s. 6d. sterling, or 6s. New England cur-ency.

Page 29: par. 1: Accidental comma instead of period

A note for $1 payable twenty years hence in gold without interest, when interest is 3 per cent., is worth 55 cents, or, if interest is 6 per cent, 31 cents.

Page 61: par. 1: Massachusetts

One bank in Massa-chussetts had $40 in specie; another nothing.

Page 92: par. 0: Kentucky

[...] much for military prestige as anything, had imbibed from what he had seen of paper money in Tennessee and Tentucky a fierce, but not too intelligent, detestation of it.

Page 113: par. 0: transportation

If the cost of transporation was one per cent., no sovereigns could come until they were down to $4.80.

Page 121: Changed to a vertical table to better fit an ebook.

Page 159: par. 2: relations

This relative inflation in the countries with which our relatious were closest, shielded us from the effects which must have followed if their finances had been in a sound condition.

Page 160: par. 0: communication

As has been said above, the country was new, its natural advantages undeveloped, and only just made available by improved means of commmu-nication.

Page 193: par. 1 (near bottom of page): contemplated

The alternative was not understood because no one distinctly comtemplated the latter course, but it was sure to be the result of drifting under no policy.

Page 218: last sentence: redundant

As the stock exchange was the place at which the redundent currency was employed, [...]

Page 219: last sentence: Massachusetts

We have seen in the history of the Massachusests colony that each new issue was followed in a few years by a new [...]

Page 252: par. 2: phenomenon

Mr. Baring, in his evidence before the Bullion Committee, and Mr. Huskisson in his speech on the motion above referred to, bear ample testimony to the repetition of the old phenonemon of speculation under inflated paper issues.

Page 301: par. 0 (near middle of page): committee

It is true that the proposition of Mr. Western for a committtee of inquiry into the action of the bill was negatived by a heavy vote, but it appeared that there were some active and influential men who wanted to return to paper, and others who thought a great mistake had been made in not accepting the depreciation and reducing the standard, and they were supported by a clamorous party suffering under distress.

Page 331: par. 1: commercial

No nation has ever had the courage to pursue this course except England, and she only entered upon it after two or three commerical revulsions had destroyed a large part of the paper, never immoderately redundant; [...]

Page 373: par. 0 (near middle of page): accommodations

It was natural for the Bank Directors to believe, that nothing but benefit could accrue to the public at large, while they saw the growth of Bank profits go hand in hand with the acommodations granted to the merchants

Page 390: par. 2 (near middle of page): materially

Indeed, the restoration of peace, by opening new fields of commercial enterprise, would multiply instead of abridging the demands upon the Bank for discount, and would render it peculiarly distressing to the commercial world if the Bank were suddenly and materally to restrict their issues.

QUESTIONABLE:

Page 57: par. 1: condemnation

The framers of the document thus fixed their con-demation of the old paper system, and the people, smarting under recent experiences, acquiesced.


NOTE:

Page 357 bad scan

Tables changed around to be less wide: Page 59, 118, 121, 135

Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Anatomy of Criticism: A Trialogue by Henry Hazlitt

Status: One Round of QC (07.26.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!pQ9iWKLR!LIXA9gkDHiArBZBGFYj8uSq-Gwt_4TVscg_2ARGHVPk

Fix Notes:


Page 294: upper right corner of page is missing.
Page 295: upper left corner of page is missing.

Was able to search both of these for snippets here:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=_T8uAAAAMAAJ

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Wisdom of the Stoics by Henry Hazlitt

Status: One Round of QC (07.25.2013)

This book was requested by the commenter Sergio.

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!sEk3jIoS!DTPLrx6lhL7vBQTFbExmtntmrvgOnmmj4_Cx9FSdZF8

Fix Notes:


Page 5: par. 4: copious

Seneca has the most copius vocabulary, is the richest in aphorisms, writes the most finished prose, and appeals by his strong and consistent common sense.

Page 7: par. 1: contradiction

But the quotations do point to an apparent contra-dication in the Stoic system.

Page 22: par. 3: indefatigable

Virtue is free and indefatigible, and accompanied with concord and gracefulness; whereas pleasure is mean, servile, transitory, tiresome, and sickly, and scarce outlives the tasting of it.

Page 24: par. 5: indefatigably

A good man is happy within himself, and independent of fortune, kind to his friend, temperate to his enemy, religiously just, indefatigibly laborious; and he discharges all duties with a constancy and congru-ity of actions.

Page 38: par. 5: Accidental ':' instead of '"'

"If there be a Providence,: say some, "how comes it to pass that good men labor under affliction and adversity, and wicked men enjoy themselves in ease and plenty?"

Page 61: par. 3: harassed

Now, if the outward appearance of anger be so foul and hideous, how deformed must that miserable mind be that is harrassed with it.

Page 62: par. 2: venomous

The law is without passion and strikes malefactors as we do serpents and venemous creatures, for fear of greater mischief.

Page 131: last par.: deity

But if nothing appears to be better than the diety which is planted in thee, which has subjected to itself all thy appetites, and, as Socrates said, has detached itself from the persuasions of sense, and has submitted itself to the gods, and cares for mankind; if thou findest everything else smaller and [...]

Page 152: par. 0: poison

Dost thou think that a false opinion has less power than the bile in the jaundiced or the poision in him who is bitten by a mad dog?

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A Treatise on Political Economy by Jean-Baptiste Say

Status: One Round of QC (07.24.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!Zd1iRDBa!DGCfWCprWKorBoeWXR6U_Wf5LqUkxk7-DyJPhkOxw4w

I did a lot based off of the OLL version here:

http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php&title=274

and an archive.org PDF (slightly cleaner text, horrible artifacts/markings) + the Mises.org PDF (less artifacts/markings, poorer text).

Footnote Explanation:

*, †, ‡ are original footnotes -> changed to [1] [2] [3]
(a), (b), (c) are Translator footnotes -> changed to [a] [b] [c]
(1), (2), (3) are American Editor footnotes -> changed to [#1] [#2] [#3]

Fix Notes:


page vii: par. 0: minuteness (?) (was this an old time spelling?)

Aided, however, by the valuable materials collected and arranged by the labours of his distinguished predecessors, here referred to, and proceeding in the same path, our author, with the closeness and minutenes of attention due to this important study, has succeeded in examining under all their aspects, the general facts which the groundwork of the science presents, and by rejecting and excluding the accidental circumstances connected with them, has thus established its ultimate laws or principles.

Page 80: last par.: looking

But, loooking at the substance, indigo, as a mere primary material of a further or secondary product, of blue cloth for instance; we all [...]

Page 176: Footnote: régime

Under the old règime of the canton of Berne, every proprietor of land was required to furnish, in the proper season of the year, so many bushels of cockchafers, in proportion to the extent of his property.

Page 418: par. 0: downfall

But a mistake of this kind in the government, will entail misery upon millions, and possibly end in the national downfal or degradation.

Page 420: par. 1: befall

Such paltry and mischievous expedients can never long defer the hour of calamities, that must sooner or later befal the extravagant and spendthrift governments.

OLL version:

Page xlii: Footnote: des

Witness Turgot’s Reflections sur la formation et la distribution aes richesses, in which he has introduced various views on both these subjects, either entirely erroneous, or very imperfect.

Page 157: Footnote: slower

In Book III., which treats of consumption, it will be seen, that the slowert kinds of unproductive consumption are preferable to the more rapid ones.

Page 183: Footnote: Missing period

Vide the laws dated 7th Jan. and 25th May, 1791, and 20th Sept. 1792 Also the arret of the government, dated 5 Vandemaire, an. ix.

Page 467: par. 2: fortiori

The direct taxation of the productive classes must, à fortìori, affect the consumers of their products, but can never raise the prices of those products so much, as completely to indemnify the producer; because, as I have repeatedly explained, the increased price abridges the demand, and the contraction of the demand reduces the profits of all the productive agency, that has been exerted in the supply.

Page 469: par. 0: unlooked for

But, if any unlooked-for occurrence should happen to lower the demand for his product, he will be glad enough to take the tax upon himself, for the sake of quickening the sale.

Page 487: Footnote: regularly

Economy in the national expenditure is the only thing that can mitigate the pressure of taxation upon the British nation; yet were economy enforced, how is that system of corruption to be upheld, through which the interest of the minister of the day reglarly prevails over that of the nation?

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Prosperity Through Competition by Ludwig Erhard

Status: One Round of QC (07.08.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!PQhREIJa!Q62H81FbtPnmlbilErJ9dyce2bB4NLSg3C2iURecIhE
Mises Link: https://www.mises.org/document/4333/Prosperity-Through-Competition

By the time I was almost complete with the new EPUB of this book, I noticed that Mises already created an EPUB version in 2011. I compared both, fixed up typos, and overall I believe my version is superior (and much smaller filesize (1233 KB -> 592 KB).

Most of the filesize difference was because of their poor bloated "grayscale" JPGs. I created some proper B&W PNGs, which are vastly superior quality, and much smaller filesize.

Fix Notes:


Page 129: par. 2, second sentence: guaranteed

I oppose cartels in principle, since a sound and well-intentioned social market economy—in which the word ‘social’ is consciously stressed—can only be guaranteeed if as a result of competition the superior achievement gains over the inferior, and if through this form of competition what is needed is supplied in the best possible quality and quantity and at the proper price.

Page 220: par. 2, middle of par.: Keynesian

One should, for example, recall Keynsian principles, ‘deficit spending’, the ‘policy of cheap money’, and all that goes with it, to understand that it will be extraordinarily difficult to arrive at acceptable common action and a unified rigorous policy in this sphere.

Page 140: "vis à vis" changed to "vis-à-vis" to match page 235's usage.

If my conception of cartels is interpreted as enmity vis à vis the businessman, I must doubt the seriousness and honesty of such an interpretation.

NOTES:



Page 67-68: Tables: The tables look to have the same headers (years), and the same exact categories. The numbers are slightly different in both tables, but the second should be a continuation of the first.

Page 254: par. 1: "dirigistically"? I did a Google search and it only found 16 hits. I am not too sure if this is the actual word?

A Europe which is dirigistically manipulated will itself paralyse the powers of resistance against the spirit of collectivism and allow the feeling for the benefits of freedom to perish.

Notes chapter was spread throughout the book so that each footnote was at the end of each chapter.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballvé

Status: One Round of QC + Code Comparison with LFB version (07.09.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!LZRECDpD!YjVkgVf9lu0Uil9H4a6O_0nZnV0QvhGeV1tOsIp_HC8

Mises page: https://mises.org/document/3446/Essentials-of-Economics

I was looking through a backlog of videos, and I stumbled upon Jeff Tucker's review of this book here: http://vimeo.com/55406139. I always spotted it in the pile of PDFs/EPUBs, but never knew one thing about it. Jeff Tucker's description of this book as the perfect follow-up to "Economics In One Lesson" definitely made me excited to take a look back and clean up this EPUB.

Update on 07.09.2013: Compared with LFB version, fixed a few more typos.

Fix Notes:


Page 25: par. 1, about 2/3rds of the way down: himself

If he does not do this and allows himsef to be dazzled by appearances, by the example of other countries or other times, etc., then he runs the risk of obtaining, instead of a greater, a lesser return on his investment, to his own detriment and that of the market.

Page 27: par. 1: adventure

Production, around which all economic life revolves, is, then, the great advenure of mankind: it is the struggle with tomorrow, the struggle with the unknown.

Page 42: number 2: moreover

It is based, morever, on the assumption that money is nothing but a medium of exchange, and that its only role in the market is as a means of payment for goods and services.

Page 50: par. 0: unhappy

This is what the executive authorities of most of the countries in the world say must be done today, and the unhapy results of such a policy are everywhere to be seen.

Page 80: number 4: especially

For the alleged unjust distribution of wealth socialism, in all its various forms, does not seek corrective measures; this is rather the object of the so-called social reform movements, and more especally of the “planned” or “controlled” economy.

Friday, July 5, 2013

This Bread is Mine by Robert LeFevre

Status: One Round of QC (07.05.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!iIon3QwQ!DxHRHknzcSDZaOOGdB5b5wuP2itz5uCHkODVOmUccw4

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-53295

Fix Notes:


Page 14: par 2, near very bottom of page: goodness

There is a sort of goodnesss here, a longing for love and compassion, a belief that men should help each other, a sort of high-minded missionaryism which is aimed at obviating the miseries of the poverty-stricken, the lowly, the poorly paid and the humble.

Page 23: very bottom par., very last line on page: unfortunate

He must be unforunate.

Page 43: par. 2: philosophers

Only the philosopher was to be free, to sit in company with other philosopers and to dream even greater dreams of truth.

Page 103: par. 1: Missing period

Never did they appear as revolutionaries. Instead, they masqueraded as a party seeking only to “do good” The government was the instrument of their crusade and total sharing was their goal.

Page 108: par. 3: parasitic

Socialism is inevitably a parastic development.

Page 222: par. 1: giants

Whether the myths and legends were animistic and totem-istic as with the Eskimo, the Bantu and others, in which the gods and goddesses take on animal and bird forms which appear to be endowed with immortality, or whether the myths and legends depended on gaints, heroes and demigods as with the Japanese, the Hindu, the Greek or Roman, the collectivist concept was absolute.

Page 259: The footnote does not match the superscript format used throughout the rest of the book.

Page 261: last par.: bourgeoisie

In its completely developed form this family exists only among the burgeoisie.

Page 285: par. 2: coercion

It remains for us then to examine the nature of political action or political force, and to recognize that whatever its character and however it is formed, an artificial government is an instrument of political force and coercoin.

Page 314: bottom par.: permissible

When a society begins to advance, when specialization occurs and tools improve, the amount of wasted energy which is permissable begins to diminish.

Page 351: par. 2: wizardry

For sheer political wizardy and compelling behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the adoption of the American Constitution has few parallels.

Page 374: Number 5 is missing a period afterwards.

NOTE:



On page 385 and 388, the "Equation:" section was some HUGE negative indent. I decided to switch this to centered.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Inequality and Progress by George Harris

Status: One Round of QC (07.02.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!7Nw3gSJS!UDH65E0Q4gbeTSoy90HLyBrd8Bc_1sIhovHGSbe1fH0

Fix Notes:


Page 38: par. 0: healthier

It is possible, nay, more, it is practicable, so to adjust the kind, amount, and rewards of labor that large numbers of men would be heathier, happier, wiser, and better than they are.

The Theory of Social Economy by Gustav Cassel

Status: One Round of QC (07.02.2013)

EPUB: https://mega.co.nz/#!rUQj0QLD!YQLJewxRsIzH_WAAJgclQ0K7Bng5qayWmk_hGlvcXrQ

Fix Notes:


Page right after cover where it lists a few books that were reprinted, it says "Also publshed in"

Page 10: bottom par.: general economic

But, as in any gen eral ec nomic inquiry, we have to assume that [...]

Page 48: par. 0, last sentence: Missing ”

The term “money economy’ must not, therefore, be taken to mean something different from the exchange economy, but as something essentially the same, though with special emphasis on the importance of money in it.

Page 77: par. 1, last sentence: particular

When the normal supply of a commodity is cut off as a result of certain extraordinary events, and its price consequently rises to an unusual level, it is found that even those households which hitherto had never thought of restricting their demand for that patricular commodity must now diminish their consumption of it.

Page 226: par. 1: especially

We have to study this substitution, and expecially the significance of the rate of interest in this connection.

Page 412: par. 2: transfers

A payment by means of a cheque tranfers to the payee a sight claim on a bank for money. The payee may pass on the cheque to some other person, instead of paying it into a bank, but this use of cheques is not the customary procedure.

Page 444: par. 0: near middle of page: phenomena

Confidence cannot be restored; the depression, with its accompanying phenonema of reduced turnover and unemployment, deepens.

Page 452: last par. very last line: Missing period

Rather, the general price-level is one of the factors which determined the actual circulating quantity of money To that extent the quantity theory [...]

Page 493: par. 0 and 1: Two Footnote 1s? (Potential Mistake?)

Page 600: Figure 16 caption: The solid/dashed lines are in parenthesis. Throughout the rest of the book there are no parenthesis surrounding them.

Page 604: par. 2: accidental comma (replace with period)

For the group of articles referred to as “metals,” the index number rose from 123.83 in February, 1906, to a maximum of 163.35 in January, 1907, to fall again to a minimum of 119,31 in July, 1908.

Page 629: Figure 18 caption: The solid/dashed lines are in parenthesis. Throughout the rest of the book there are no parenthesis surrounding them.

Page 650: bottom par.: condition

Clearly, this wrong estimate of the future conditon of the capital market would not lead to such a catastrophe if the individual entrepreneur secured in advance the whole of the capital he needs to carry out his plans.

Page 651: very end of page: point

From the general economic ponit of view there can be no such [...]

Page 675: bottom par.: undoubtedly

But such adjustments are, as a rule, undoubtedy of very little importance.

Page 691: Footnote 1: Royal

From Wholesale and Retail Prices, London, 1903, and the Journal of the Roya Statistical Society.

Page 707+: Index: I removed the "emdash indentation", and replaced them with CSS indentation instead.

These tables had their columns reduced (to make it easier to read on a small device):

Page 691: Table I
Page 693: Table III
Page 695: Table V
Page 696: Table VI
Page 699: Table X
Page 701: Table XII
Page 702: Table XIII

Monday, July 1, 2013

Bitcoin/Litecoin Donations

If you have benefited in any way from the EPUBs I have created, please toss a few coins my way.

Every little bit would be a huge help in allowing me to continue doing what I am doing (bringing many high quality EPUBs to the Internet for all to enjoy)!