The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-06
HIGH COST LIVING
BLAMED On MONEY
ALLEGED VARIOUS ECONOMIC
CAUSES IN PUBLIC MIND
HAVE LITTLE EFFECT.
WHY PRICES SOAR
When There are Violent Changes In
Quantity Of Money. As At Present,
There Are Corresponding Changes In
Price Levels, Says Lecture.
rTIIliD LECTbREl

rTHIRD LECTURl1
Berkeley. Cal. oct. G.-In his third
lecture on price Movements" irving
Fisher of Yale spoke ON Causes OF the
High Cost OF Living" lie said in part
How are these facts about the high
cost OF living to be explained?
We find in popular discussion great
variety OF causes assigned for the high
cost of living, such as speculation, the
middle man, foreign demand, destruc-
ton from war labor unions, short
hours Of labor, trusts, the tariff. cold
storage. longer hauls ON railroads
marketing by telephone the free de-
livery system. the individual package,
the enforcement OF sanitary laws the
tuberculin testing of cattle, the de-
struction of tainted meat. sanitary milk,
advertising. unscientifc management,
the elimination OF renoyated butter and
Of "rots" and spots i'm eggs, food
adulteration. cxtravagance. concentra-
ton Of populations In cities, impover-
ishment OF the soil, the displacement OF
the neighborhood farmer. the fact that
farmers' wives no longer compete in
butter making or poultry raising
diouth. and OF late. boarding of house
wives
While some OF these alleged causes
are important factors In raising par
ticular prices. not single one OF them
has much to do with raising the general
level of prices.
Money Dominates.
There Is fundamental common
cause underlying the general upheaval
and that cause is money. Few realize
that the quantity of money has any !
thing to do with the price of Il COM
modify. still less that the quantity Of
msney has anything to do with the gen
eral level OF prices. Since we talk al
ways in terms of money and live In n |
money atmosphere, as II We're we be- |
come as unconscious OF II as we do of |
the air we breathe.
Even the war, which is at bottom the
chief reason for the high cost of living |
has. the facts show, raised the price |
level far more through monetary in |
tlatlon than through causing a scarcity |
Of goods Throughout history and even
during war, the present one being no
exception, changes of the price level
have, in general, corresponded 10 the |
in the monetary circulation
and its-credit substitutes.
Price Movements and Gold and
Silver Mining.
Whenever there have been great out
from mines. following discov-
cries of the precious metals used for
as during the sixteenth century
after great stores of precious metals
had been found in the new world, after
the Californian and Australian gold min
Ing of the flfties and after the Alaskan
and Cripple Creek mining of the late
we have found rapidly rising
prices
Prices and Paper Money.
Again. whenever there has been arti-
fetal monetary Initiation through issue
Of paper money such as occurred dur
ing the French revolution. during our
)wn early colonial history. during the
american revolution. during the Napo-
comic wars in England, during the
American civil war. and during the
present war in Europe, there has been
1 rise Of prices in such paper standard
Countries.
On the other hand. while such money
$ being Withdrawn. as during the sew
,nties in the United States. prices have
allen.
Price Movements and Monetary
Standards.
Then there is "a remarkable family
esemblance between the price move.
ncnts of ali countries having the same
standard. The price move
nents in all gold Standard countries
re striklngly similar, such as in the
Inited States and England since 1921
xcepting lS62-7S when United States
vas not on a gold basis So too the
'rice movements in silver countries
how strong likeness as india and
nina from 1873 to 1898.
Contrasting Standards.
Again countries with different none
airy standards show corresponding dl- |,
'ergences i'm their price movements. !,
'hus during our greenback days, 1862 !
s. the price movements in this country
we're unlike the movements of foreign
rices.
We find also a great contrast be-
ween gold and silver countries. Speak
ng roughly. we may say that between /,
S73 and 1896 the price level in gold
ountries fell % per cent and in silver
ountries rose 80 per cent.
Close Agreement.
Finally we find that when there are
iolent changes in the quantity OF ,
money there are corresponding changes /,
n the price level The present war
uppiies such a case. The quantity OF
money in circulation month by month
nd the monthly index number Of
rices run strikingly parallel. 1t was
a August 1915. that the quantity of 4
money In the United States began It's |