The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-11-21


 Quite the contrary is the case, and today we see with amusement and wonder that when even the sub-
 ject of such a general increase in
 price as the high cost of wheat is considered, economists, government officials and investigators all differ among themselves as to the reason. Some blame it upon the law ot supply and demand, some upon the
 brokers speculations, still others upon the surplus gold production re- lative to other commodities, others again on the trusts, the railroads, | etc.
 It is true that gold has greatly in- creased in production. In 1902 the world production was some fourteen
 million odd ounces; in 1914 it was some twenty-two million odd ounces. And the increase from 1902 to 1914 is no more great than is the in. crease from 1890 to 1902.
 But nevertheless, while this might explain some, it will not explain all of the increased or varying prices, and without a determined effort to l reduce the statistics that are avail able on prices to some better classl- i fed relation, it is impossible to hope that any reason for increased i cost will be much else than conjec- l ture for a considerable time to come.
 A survey of the prices of raw materials such as wheat, wool. cot i ton, sugar and so on reveal the fact that these commodities fiunctu- ated during each year, from time to time with an average that little differed. Thus in each year the difference between the highest price of wheat and the lowest, averages in the neighborhood of five points. i That condition has existed for 1 twenty years, with remarkable steadiness until 1904, when the an- nual highest price and the annual lowest price from that time on car ried an average Punctuation some where around forty points. It would be very interesting to explain the reason for this distinction, and 1t i is not to be done by the so-called science of political economy which takes but little cognizance of the interesting manipulations to which commodities are subjected on the way from producer ot consumer.
 Since 1890 prices have pursued steadily rising course. There have been times when they fell back, but they immediately started upon an ascension which has been maintained at fairly average rate of rise that is very unmistakable. Some of course betray more marked fiuctua- tions than others, and those which are steadiest, it is quite signi- ficant to remark, are those which are trust-controlled. Those commo- ultlcS WHICH III tlic IldL hellllS are hurled recklessly and indiscrmin- ately in the struggle for trade be- tray an astonishing inclination to vary. Yet while the depression is more marked in those commodities which are not controlled, their rise is as certain, although not a steady, as those which are trustifed. The chaotic mental state of the public, the business men, the atatists and government officials ap- preaching the question of prices is therefore not difficult to understand. | No effort is made to determine the | cause for price increases or for price l fluctuations. Men content them | selves with reciting the good old law of supply and demand. That after all is but begging the question, and in political economy as with more exact sciences, general laws afford | a convenient means of concealing ones ignorance of the truth.
 It is to be conceded that no food product and generally but few com modities of any kind have increased in the same proportion as gold. But more important yet, in few indus tries as in the gold industry has the [ cost of production been so decreased It costs much less per cent to pro- duce a given weight of gold than ever before. and even if the quantity