The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-10-15

I Stabilize the Dollar.
Although other factors have had
a share, 1t is money which, through
| out history has chiefly made price
! upheavals. The appropriate remedy
J for such an evil is therefore a
monetary remedy-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 dol
lar. the yardstick of commerce, has
never vet 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
ward was once as loosely fixed as
dollar is today. Originally a yard
was the girth OF the chief of the
tribe and was called grid af-
forwards the length Of the arm OF
Henry the First was called yard;
then an iron bar was taken as the
standard yard; and finally plat
inum bar was used.
We now have a bureau of stand
ards at Washington to put the fin
est possible point on the standard
ization of weights and measures.
The old rough standards are not
good enough for modern business.
What would a business man today
think of a yardstick which was the
girth of the President of the United
States? What would have happen
ed 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 Masqueradins.
We must not delude ourselves by
fancying that the dollar is standard
lied because it's weight is fixed. The
dollar is supposed to be, and ought
in fact to be, unit of value. But It
is really unit of weight masquerad-
ing as a unit of value. Though its
weight is fixed its purchasing power
is not. We would not tolerate
yard stick which merely pretended
to be fixed in length when in fact 1t
was fixed in weight instead-if for
instance we had a law specifying
that any stick of wood weighing 25.S
ounces should be considered a yard!
We tolerate a false dollar because
we do not understand it.
A Joke on the Dentist.
once asked a dentist jokingly II
the high cost of living had applied
to the price Of his gold. To my sur
prise he did not know and when he
looked it up he could not understand
why the price of gold had remained
exactly the same all the time he had
been in business! / said, 1T is
about as surprising as that the price
of O. quart of milk, is always two
pints of milk" A lump Of gold
weighing ten ounces is always worth
$1S6 simply because out OF that
lump of gold you can cut just 1856
dollars. That is, dollar is simply
that amount of standard gold which
weighs exactly 1-1S6 of ten ounces.
or 25.S grains.
Our present gold dollar. being IN
variable in weight, Is necessarily
variable in purchasing power. The
plan proposed is to reverse this con-
dition and to make the gold dollar
as nearly as possible inVariable In
bi1rchasing power by making 1t
variable in weight. An american
gold dollar is heavier than, and buys
more than a Mexican or South
American gold dollar. If the Mexi-
cans should raise their dollar to our
weight it would evidently buy more
than it now does.
IL, then, we can find some way to
increase from time to time the num-
her of grains in a dollar just fast
enough to compensate for the loss in
purchasing power of each grain, we
shall have a fully compensated
dollar" that is, a. dollar which has
constantly restored to 1t any pur-
chasing power It may lose by gold
depreciation. The rule would work
both ways. of course.
No Coins.
Ha uya
vary the weight of the gold dollar?
The suggestion of dollar of vari-
able wei@ht probably brings to mind
a vision Of ceaseless recoinage re-
sulting in gold eagles Of many diff
ferent weights jangling in confusion
in our pockets.
But let us remember that gold
dollars can circulate otherwise than
in coined form! In fact they usual
ly do; almost all Of our gold even
now circulates, not in the form OF
gold coins but in the form Of gold
certificates" These are paper
warehouse receipts for gold bullion
which lies in the vaults Of the Uni
ted States treasury. Thus, although
gold dollars are essential to our
monetary system, gold coins are
not.
Free Coinage.
We shall suppose, then, that the
literal physical coinage of gold is
stopped and that gold shall here
after circulate exclusively, as it does
now all, but exclusively through
paper representatives. Gold would,
Just as at present, be brought by the
gold miner to the mint (if the gov
eminent office for depositing it could
still be called the minD and he
would, just as at present, receive
paper representatives in return.
This exchange of gold bullion for
bullion certificate would be, in eff
feet as it is at present. the free coin
age of gold. The process would be
virtually flow of gold from the,
mines into circulation.
Redemption.
ON the other hand, the gold bull
lion would serve exactly as at pres
ent for redemption Of certificates.
The jeweller or exporter would. just
as at present, exchange certificates
for bullion at the treasury. Such ex-
change would be the ultimate re-
demption in gold.
Thus free coinage and free re-
demption would go on substantially
as at present. that is, gold would
flow into and out Of the monetary
circulation, as at present.
Varying the Weight of
the Gold Dollar.
With only paper representatives
of gold in circulation it is evidently
possible to vary at win the weight of
the gold dollar. To do so is simply
to vary the quantity Of gold bullion
for which a paper dollar can at any
time be exchanged. 1t would be no
more difflcult to make these varia-
tions in weight than 1t is now for
a merchant to alter the weight of
sugar which he will give for a dol
index Number.
But II will be asked what rule or