Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-09-13
STANDARDIZING THE DOLLAR

frOIessof 1rVuS rlSHeI, OIL 1ae, proposes a pan
for standardizng the dollar which he believes will do
much to prevent the fluctuations in values which are SO
common, one of whose effects we see in the recent adj
vances in the cost of living, not merely during the war,
but before it.
We have adopted gold as our standard Of value.
We have decreed that a certain number Of grains of
gold, of a certain degree Of fineness, shall constitute a
dollar. Therefore we say that the price Of gold never
changes. In reality it does change every time the aver
age money price Of commodities in general goes up or
down. The values are relative, and it is often more
nearly correct to say that the level Of current values re-
main unchanged, and that the price Of gold goes up or
down.
Without taking the space to recapitulate the ar
guments in Professor Fishers very interesting treaties.
his plan may be summarized as follows:
He proposes that instead of keeping the price of
gold stable, and thus bringing about a variation IN ,ae
actual value-that is, the purchasing value-of the dol
lar, the dollar shall remain Of stable value, or nearly
SO, by varying the price of gold, and therefore the guam
tity of gold in the dollar itself. In financial and indus
trial circles the use of what is called the index number
is we'll Understood. The index number is reached oy
taking the current price of a large number Of COM
modities in general use and comparing the average with
the average of a previous date. Professor Fisher would
apply the index number to the price of gold and the SIZE
of the dollar. When it is found that the general price
dVS1dS IcuuS " lO pA4SC VI SOu "oAAu DC
lowered, more grains. of it would be required to make
a dollar, hence the purchasing power of the dollar
would be increased, and commodity prices would tend
toward "a lower level. When there is a tendency toward
a general lowering Of prices the opposite course would
be pursued. In this way, while the prices OF PARTED
lar commodities would vary in their relation to each
other, in accordance with the law of supply and demand,
the general level of prices as measured in dollars would
remain comparatively unchanged, and a dollar would
buy approximately the same quantity of the staples in
cluded in a large list at one time as at another.
In answer to the objection that it would be imprac-
ticable to coin money on such a variable standard, it is
proposed that the actual coinage of gold shall be dis
continued, and that gold shall be held in the treasury
in bars instead of in coin, and that gold certificates
shall be issued against it, which is what is now done in
actual practice with most of the gold bought by the gov
eminent. q
Professor Fishers plan is approved by many
world. 1t is certainly ingenious, and it. appears to have
some very desirable features. It may be suggested,
however, that while it represents a serious attempt to
place our money on a scientific basis, it falls short OF
scientific perfection, in that It requires a continuation
Of the practice Of boarding up in treasury vaults of a
vast quantity Of metal, dug out Of the earth in one
place to be buried in the earth in another, as useless
when so stored, as the Indians wampunn was. A logi-
cal addition to the plan would be the evolution of a
tangible wealth, requiring no token in the form Of a
particular metal and safeguarded by proper authority
against initiation or contraction