The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-03
NOTtD ECONOMIST TO OEsAvER
sTEIEs or ILLUMINATING
s.E(TUREs ON sUBSECT.
WORLD BEW|LOtRtD
-Four Questions In Problem. he says
ana They are What Is II! Why Is
ns :. hat OF IL! What Are we 80
ine 10 DO About u!
LECTURE No. -

-
.s.,,,,., Professor Irving Fisher OF Yale
.r.,,,.o-.i,, gave the FIRST Of his Hitch
eoct ,ec,ures on price Movements
His subject WAS Price MovemeiHs oe'
fore the Great. War" He said IN part
0efore the war the whole woIfd was
ringing with complaints OF tire "hish
cost of living" and aithdHgh the war
., arst nut the question: in the hack
,,,onnd the fiRi,l eject has been to MAKE
4, more promiaeRt thar ever. Fhe
,evsr,a p.rs are agaiH fuil of theories
a. 10 the cause OF THIS He~ eieeatnii
of prices. as well as of proposed rem
edics The country se~sHs now IN
reasonably. to. expect Mr. HooFer F"
perfo.rn miraculous cure.
Public Mind Bewilslefed-
= an. the whsIe discussion shsSVs be-
v,ilde.inen in the public mind. While
there WIS never Eose n@ee oi seisiRh'
thinking than now. W'thsut II w" are
AM, 10 attempt the ifnPosssitsse o. TO
hanc the wrong naR 70 the lamp post
We. have in this probfen. as IN most
great probfefns, four chief questions 10
answer: What is It? WHY is itY What
OF 81? What are we goiTg to de- about
NJ In other words. we Eust Study the.
facts. the causes. the evils and the
remedies The first two lectures VIII De
on the facts about price movements
the present one being Oh the history
NJ price movements before the war and
the second on their history during the
war.
Index Namhers."
We can get a very chear and exact
picture OF the average increase in
prices or the cost OF living by means
OF the now familiar Index number or
prices The prices OF various articles
do not move together but scatter or
dispense like the fragments of burst
ing shell Yet there is always a defin-
ite average movement. II therefore
becomes important to know exactly
what has been this average change. lie.
to measure the general level OF prices
at one time as compared with another.
IL. during. say. the last month, one
commodity has risen 4 per cent and an
other has risen 10 per cent. the average
rise Of the two. ogether has been mid
way between per cent and 10 per
cent. or per cent That is, 107 is the
index number of the two as compared
with 100 last month as a base of com
parison The same method applies to
more than two prices
Meeker's Index Number.
Probably the best general index
number in use in the world today is
that recently adopted for wholesale
prices by Dr. Royal Meeker commits
sioner of labor statistics at Washing
ton There are three hundred prices
used in making up this index number.
~ Is so calculated that the prices of
the more important articles tas judged
from their consumption in the last cen
sus year. are counted more heavily or
given more weight" in making up the
average than are those of less impor-
tant articles. Coal counts more heavily
in the average than matches and wheat
is given more weight than peanuts.
II is a curious fact however that the
most scientifically constructed index
number does not greatly differ from
the simple average" index number. nor
does it generally make much difference
whether very many or only a few com-
Inodities are inclHded.
The Distant Past.
Index numbers are q comparatively |
modern invention. Not many coed
ones extend back Of 1890, and still few
er have been computed back of 1860.
.Ievons, the English economist, who. |
more than any other made the index- |
number idea practicable, computed al
eooi index number for England back to
1852.
Others have competed rough index |
numbers. back TO tire thirteenth cen
tury, and with some breaks, back even |
10 the eighth century.
Fire "ediet sf DioeletioR" in 3ol A. d. |
affords data for a still mere ancient and |
stip roueher comparison. The prices
tlleit mentioned Of eleven kinds Of
foods are found tby Prof. Ferguson Of /
Bryan Mawr1 To be on the average so l
or Go per cent of the prices in the Unit
ed States in 1912 In other words the |
index number of prices for Rome in