The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03
FISHERS STABLE DOLLAR. ;

that the ADVANCE III prizes ~ Jbt uIStS-
stiles of life is traccahle chiefly, il nos
altogether. to the great production OF
gold, and that the means he proposes
I 10 remedy the trouble would cure. lie
wants more gold put into the gold dol,
liar. and still he doesn Z urge rcccin-
age either now or from time TO tins
of all the gold COINS of the country.
He would on the contrary, require the
one taking gold TO the mint to turn in
a greater amount of gold weight than
is contained IN the coins that lie would
receive, Professor Fisher claims that
gold has lost third of its purchasing
power, and yet he does not want cn.
itircly TO recognize this iu his scheme.
He states that his effort is. without
abandoning the gold standard, to a
simulate the gold coin value, 10 the
multiple standard, meaning thereby
the index number OF the cost OF hN-
ing. He thinks this plan would make
the purchasing power of the dollar
constant. lie would, he says, compen
safe for any loss OF purchasing power
of each grain of gold by increasing the
number Of grains which go TO make a
dollar. In other words, his plan aims
to standardi5o the dollar as tho unit OF
purchasing power; "a he says, we
have now gold dollar of constant
weight but Of varying purchasing pow
er; we need dollar OF constant pur
chasing power and varying weight. p
And his plan for reaching this aim is
as follows:
This increase in weight would not be
added 10 the coins themselves, but only
to the bullion out Of which they arc made
m other words, the proposal Is Ia re-
age on gold coinage. Al present there
is no segniorage. Coinage is free. and
the weight of a gold dollar Is as great
as the weight OF the bullion which the
miner takes TO the mint and for which
ne receives back dollar. He now takes
25.s grains of gold bullion 10 the mint
coined dollar weighs the same as the
lincoln ed or bullion dollar" II may use
such term. My proposal is 10 increase
the weight OF the bullion dollar: that Is;
to require % or 27 or % grains OF gold
bullion to be taken 10 the mint 10 secure
25.S grain gold dollar, The coined
dollar would remain unchanged in weight
(co.S grains), but tie bullion required 10
secure the coined dolar-the bullion dol
ar-would be heavier
Charming idea, this II would cor
rect the evils entailed upon the com
munitY by the lack of standardized
dollar By making the gold miner stand
the loss. And yet, while Professor
Fisher claims that the loss in purchas-
ing power of the gold dollar has
.o,,h,5 .. r,unb nc ono.+hird bo would
not fine the gold producer that large
a difference. But whys He does not
seem to have the least scruplc about
deductipe a considerable percentage
from the gold miner s values Why is
it that he does not exact from the gold
miner tho difference which he claims
exists between the present purchasing
power of gold and its former purchas-
ing powers It seems that economists
of the Fisher school always want to
visit the afflictions of the community
at large upon some special class. 4
short while ago it was the aim of the
theorists of tho Fisher order to mako
the silver miner stand the loss Of what.
ever discount they could make upon
silver. The effort was successful, and
silver miners were made to stand the
loss. And now it seems that the same
class of theorists are getting after the
gold miners and want to saddle the
losses of the community upon them os
class.
But is IL true that the increase in
prices of the necessities OF life is due
chiefly, OF in any appreciable degree, to
the alleged over-production of gold'
There is no proof of it, and that whole
theory is denied. IT is denied primar
| lily because it does not generally apply
If it applied, it ought to apply to
raise tho price of silver as compared
with gold, as well as to the rise in
the price Of any other commodity. But
it does not so apply. There has been
no corresponding iucreaso in the price
Of silver compared with the alleged de-
crease in the purchasing power of gold.
And then, we have the word of the
great goldites of Europe that there is
practically famine in gold created by
the great gold demand of India, de-
mand which it is claimed is threatening
the gold reserves of the European
banks, and making keen demand for
new gold to supply the deficiency thus
created. The theory, therefore, of an
oyerplus Of gold apears to break down
at the threshold.
There are two great causes which
tend to increase the prices of food
products, which have no special rela-
tion to the production Of gold or the
gold standard. We would place first
Of these causes the great increase in
population all over the world, which
has outrun the Increase in food pro.
duets. The population of the United
States gained in the decade from 1900
to 1910 some le,000o00, but the pro
duction OF meat did not gain; on the