The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-15
SIXTH AND LAST LECTURE.


er's sixth and last lecture on the higi
cost OF living was chiefly devoted TO his
own remedy. which remedy. he explain
ed, applies only 10 that part Of the high
cost Of living which is due 10 the In
stability OF the monetary unit. He said
in part:
Stabilize the Dollar.
Although other factors have had a
share. IL Is money which. throughout
history has chiefly made price upheav'
ais. The appropriate remedy for such
an evil is therefore monetary rem.
edy-to "standardize." or stabilize" the
dollar. We have standardized every
other unit-the yardstick the pound,
the second. the ampere, the volt. etc.
But the dollar. the yardstick of com
merce. has never yet been standardized
as a unit of value. And yet the dollar
enters into every contract. whereas
other units enter into only some.
Other Units Standardized.
II Is interesting TO find that the
yard was once as loosely fixed as a
dollar is today. Originally a yard was
the girth Of the chief OF the tribe and
was called grid: afterwards the
length Of the arm OF Henry the First
was called yard; then an iron bar
was taken as the standard yard: and
finally a platinum bar was used.
We now have a bureau OF standards
at Washington to put the finest pos
sible point on the standardization Of
weights and measures. The old rough
standards are not good enough for mod
ern business. What would a business
man today think Of yardstick which
was the girth OF the president of the
United States? What would have hap
pened to business contracts made in
terms Of yards" when. a few years ago
We changed from the Taft girth to the
Wilson girth?
The Dollar Masquerading.
We must not delude ourselves by
fancying that the dollar is standardized
because its weight is fixed The dollar
is supposed TO be, and ought in fact to
be, a unit of value. But it Is really
a unit Of weight masquerading as
unit Of value. Though its weight
is fixed its purchasing power is not |
w z iAON toiti atC a
merely pretended to be fixed i'm length |
when in fact 1t was fixed in weight in. |
stead-if. for instance. we had a law |
specifying that any stick of wood |
25.s ounces should be consid- |
.red yard, We tolerate a false dollar |
because we do not understand it.
A Joke ON the Dentist
I once asked a dentist jokingly if
he high cost of living had applied to
lis gold To my surprise he did not
,now and when he looked it up he could
lot understand why the price of gold
lad remained exactly the same all the
ime he had been in business, | said:
1t is about as surprising as that the
rice of quart of milk. is always two
ints of milk A lump of gold weigh ,
lg ten ounces is always worth s1S6
imply because out Of that lump of
old you can cut just 1s6 dollars. That
!. adollar is simply that amount of ,
tandard gold which weighs exactly !
1se of ten ounces. or 25.S grains +
The Plan. e
Our present gold dollar. being invar. ]
bic in weight is necessarily variable v
purchasing power. The plan pro I
osed is to make the gold dollar as I
Early as possible invariaable in pur-t
lasing power by making it variable in
eight. An American gold dollar is
eavier than. and buys more than
exican or South American gold dollar
the Mexicans should raise their dol
r TO our weight il would evidently
~ more than it now does.
IT, then we can find some way to
crease from time To time the number
grains in dollar just fast enough
compensate for the loss in purchas-
g power Of each grain. we shall have
fully compensated dollar" that is. a
liar which has constantly restored TO
any purchasing power il may lose
gold depreciation The rule would
rk both ways of course.
No Coins
But. how. il will be asked. can we III
ry the weight of the gold dollar? The
question of a dollar Of variable weight
1bably brings to mind a vision of
useless recoinages resulting in gold
,les of many different weights jang- III
< in confusion in our pockets.
But let us remember that gold dollars
4 circulate otherwise than in coined
m, In fact they usually do; most Of
r gold even now circulates. not in
, form of gold coins but in the form
gold certificates" These are paper
rehouse receipts for gold bullion
ich lies in the vaults of the United
ties treasury Thus although gold
lars are essential to our monetary II
TEN. gold coins are not.
Free Coinage.
We shall suppose. then. that the lit
physical coinage Of gold is stopped
that gold shall hereafter circulate
lusively, as IL does now all but ex-
sively, through paper representatives.
d would, just as at present. be
ught by the gold miner to the mint
he government office for depositing
sould still be called the mint and
would. just as at present. receive
er representatives in return. This
,ess would be virtually flow of gold
n the mines into circulation.
Redemption.
n the other hand the gold bullion III