The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-24
PROFESSOR FISHER DISPUTES.

We have from Professor Irving
Fisher, Professor of Political Economy
at Yale University, a slip in further
ance of his standard dollar proposi-
tion which was considered in The
Tribune on February ard. Professor
Fishers idea with regard TO the dol
lar is that there is too much gold IN
the world, and that any one who has
the gold would be obliged to put up
more gold than is in this standard
dollar OF 25.S grains, to get one
of those dollars, this excess of
gold going from % to % grains to the
dollar, or logically, according to Pro
fessor Fishers idea that the purchas.
ing power OF gold is not more than
twothirds of what it was, the amount
of gold which one would have to pay
to get a gold dollar might go as high
as SO grains. This, as we pointed out,
would be shifting the community s bur
den upon the gold miner and requiring
him to pay the assumed cost Of the
difference in the purchasing power ct
the gold dollar now and the purchas-
ing power Of a gold dollar in the times
Of greatest gold scarcity. A gross in
justice.
We pointed out that the assumption
which Professor Fisher INDUCES in or
the great overproduction Of gold, is
rot agreed to by economic writer's in
general as the reason why the cost Of
living has so greatly advanced. There
are other reasons altogether aside from
the production of gold that would more
perfectly account for the increase in
the cost Of living than Professor Fish
er's theory would do. For, first of
all, applying the test to silver, which
is as fair a test as to make an ap'
plication OF the gold test, we
find that the purchasing power of
gold as applied to silver, has not
changed, as Professor Fisher s theory
would require it to change. That is
to say, the price of silver has not risen
to the decreased pur-
chasing power OF gold. Therefore, as
applied to its fellow royal metal, there
has been no decrease in the purchasing
power Of gold
Again, the speculative combines are
in control of the markets, as every one
knows, and the price of commodities
are fixed, not by reason of the rule
Of supply and demand, nor by reason
of the ovcrproduction of gold, but
merely on the speculative basis, for
the profit and convenience Of the COM
bines that are in control of the mar
kets. We are firmly convinced that
these combines are very largely re.
5ponsiblc for the advance in the prices
Of the necessities of life:
1t cannot he forgotten, either, that
in many articles Of food there has
been no corresponding advance in the
production with the advance in the
total Of population. In beef, for
instance. there has been an actual de-
crease in the number of beef animals,
while there has been a very great in
crease in the population that would eat
beef. And so, to a greater or less
extent, with regard to farm products.
There has been such a shift of popu-
lation to the cities that the products
Of the farms do not bear any such re-
Iation to the total population that they
did, say, twenty or twenty-five years
ago. That is to say, where there were
ten bushels of grain per capita raised
on the farms, say, in 1890 and in years
prior TO that, the amount of grain
raised per capita has fallen off at
least nefourth. This also has caused
the stoppage of our exports Of bread.
stuffs so that where formerly we sent
abroad scores of millions of dollars
worth of such foods, we now send
mere fraction of the former amount.
These causes are sufficient to ac-
count for the increase in the price OF
food products without saying anything
about the decreased purchasing power
OF gold, which decreased purchasing
power is itself matter Of dispute
On the matter of the overplus Of
gold, Sir Morgan Schuster and Sir
Edward Holton have recently given
out, as we noted in our former article
in reply TO Professor Fisher (and now
Mr.. Charles A. Conant, the greatest
authority of all, joins them in express.
ing the same opjnion) that there
is not an overplus, but an actual scare
ity of gold. These authorities have
shown that India has taken for the
past year all the available gold that
the world has produced. They argue
that the great need of the time is
further increase in gold supplies, to
keep pace with the demands on banks
for credits. 1t is to be noted, also,
that whenever a gold shipment arrives
in London from South Africa. there is
keen competition TO buy that consign.
ment. France bids against Germany,
and India bids against both, and gener.
ally India gets il. There has been no in
crease TO amount 20 anything in the