The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-30
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN. Director.
washington. d. c.
rHE GUuTY DOLLAR.
washington. D. c.

WdSuluSlOu, L. OSPt. 90 Aos
our shrinking and elusive American
dollar is to blame for nearly all of our
troubles-for the high cost Of living,
for the agitations OF the radicals
which the capitalists now complain
about, and for the profiteering of the
capitalists which the Socialists object
to, for bankruptcy, depression. and
even for the warts the claim adj
vanced by DR.. Irving Fisher OF Yale,
who has published a pamphlet on the
subject. This pamphlet seems to be
the forerunner of a campaign which
has for its purpose to fix the blame for
I, most industrial and social evils on the
unstable simoleon, and to remedy
them all by stabilizing the same
1t is further clear that our cur
reney is one subject which will come
up for consideration after the war,
and that there will be laid before the
public variety OF plans for changing.
if not improving it. The advocates of
more silver money, whom we all
thought were as dead as the Cross of
| Gold, have fired a few preliminary
guns. And there will be other hats in
the ring.
Furthermore, the currency is one
subject about which we all know
nothing. The principles which gov
ern it are obscure and mysterious to
all but experts, and perhaps even to
them. That is why, turnout our his
tory, we have been the prey of green
| hackers, free silver advocates and
various other varieties of unsafe mon
| ey doctors.
Now whether or not Professor Fish
er is successful in blaming the buck
for almost everything, ais he seeks to
do, he certainly offers a convincing
argument to the effect that (1) our
present dollar is not really a unit of
roll at oil
much trouble. and CD that it can be
| made a real unit of value, j. e., can
be SO stabilized that it will always buy
the same amount of food, clothing and
other necessarfes of life.~ This last is
a benefit which anyone can appreciate.
If we can always rely upon a dollar
| to buy a dollars worth of goods, the
problem of life will be simplifed for
us all.
Professor Fisher has been known to
scholars as an advocate of the stabiI-
| lied dollar for many years. He has
studied the subject deeply. He has
obtained for his project the endorse
ments of legion of college professors.
a regiment of journalists, quite few
bankers, and even a handful of our
more intelligent and daring national
legislators. Now, at a time when we
are remaking the machinery Of our
national life, he comes forward to lay
his plan before that all important in
dividual variously known as the COM
mon people. the layman and the ulti-
mate consumer. The least that this
harassed person can do is to sit UP
and wipe his spectacles and attend.
In brief it is the professors idea that
, the rise in the cost of living lis not
due primarily to the, scarcity of food
but to the abundance of money. In
proof of this he. cites the fact that the
,,k cost of living rose steadily from 1896
I to 1914, altho the abundance of goedf
" steadily increased during that time. L,
| is only since the war broke out u
\ 1914 that an actual scarcity of goods
has been a factor in the problem
: True, the great increase in the cost OF
living has also come since then: but
Professor Fisher shows that during
these four trying years, our currenc.
has been steadily inflated-that is the
amount of money in circlation ha.
steadily grown-and that the rise II
the cost of living has been exactl,
parallel to this rise in the flood o
i. hard and paper money, including
cheeks and bonds.
Again, he points out that if the scar
| city of the article were the funda
mental cause of it's rise in cost, theI
all articles would not rise alike ant
i at the same time: When there Is
!, short crop of corn there is q big cFol
. of wheat. If wool is scarce. cotton l
, abundant. 1t is impossible that al
/ commodities should become scarce a
once. and in about the same degree
But the fact remains that most com
modities have risen in price at tn
4 same time, and to much the same ex
tent. This uniform rise, it is argued
must have some cause more uniform
s than the variation in the abundanc
g of the articles in question. Such
uniform cause is found in the expan
9 sions and contractions of the currency
= These may be shown by curves (
v have closely followed the rise and IA
. of prices.
t This is good empirical argumen
t, Anyone can follow it. But, you wi
say, it makes no effort to eliminat
other factors. These are numerous
their Importance in your eyes depend
largely upon your politics. IF you al
a capitalist, YOU wiz point to the III
rest of labor, its demand for more an
more money. If you are a Social:
you will talk about profiteers. TIL
single taxer sees our. system Of Ian
tenure as the cause of the whole tror
BILE. And there are many othe
goats" ready to hand.
Professor Fisher does not specif
y cally deny that these factors enter IL
e. to the problem. He does not clail
that the currency is the only thin
that needs. reforming. But he ash
you for the moment to concentral
your attention upon the America
gold dollar, which 10 called our stat
dard of value.
What is the thing. really? It is 25
grains of gold. And the value of gol
is fixed by the governments at $18.f
an ounce. Therefore the dollar has
fixed vafue-in, gold. But 1t has r
fixed value in eggs. or beef or shoe
or anything else that we use. You CO
always buy ass grains OF gold for
dollar. But naturally, in fact tnevi
ably, the amount of anything else tn
you can buy for a dollar varies An
as we have shown above, it varies a
cording to the number of dollars
Az, circulation.
= II the government had chosen be
er as standard Of value instead of gol
h, and had decreed that five pounds
/. beef always represented a dollar, thu