The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-06-26
THE NATIONAL CAPITOL
By j. T.. Jones

II is significant that in the war pc
riod the money in circulation in the
United States has increased from
$35 per capita to $5456. The eXpla-
nation for this remarkable change in
less than Ave years Is found in the
a billion dollars gold from Europe,
while Federal Reserve notes against
Liberty bonds have been issued to
the amount of more than another
billion dollars; and during this period
the bank deposits have been increased
more than three billion dollars by
loans against Liberty bonds
In view Of these facts ii is certain
that there can be no reduction of
wages in the near future-and most
certainly not until the cost of living
has subsided to such a point that re-
duced payments for labor will give
the workmen as many Of the necessi-
ties and comforts of life as he Is re-
ceiving now for a larger money wage
The conclusion. even though it may
be an unpleasant one to contemplate,
indicates that higher price levels are
here to stay. In the face OF this con-
dition we find every public utility in
the United States conducting its af-
fairs on the narrowest margin known
in its history. Food, as has been
shown in these articles, Is at least
IS per cent above what 1t was six
years ago. Lighting companies and
street railway have made the very
smallest advances in their charges of
any business or industry; and local
officials have held up these enter
prises on the ground that they were
bound by franchise arrangement, and
that "after the war prices will come
down" Nevertheless the readiust-
ment processes show that the results
will be otherwise 1t is very reason
able to presume that the railroads and
the wire lines restored to private
management. will go into the mar
kets to make tremendous purchases
of material needed to bring their en-
terprises up to their normal stand
ards.
Professor Irving Fisher remarked
some weeks ago that "readjustment
waits because we keep on waiting for
! tive have now waited in vain for
over six months" Secretary Red
! field observes that little by little the
! industries of the country "are taking
up the slack, and the country is set.
tling down to the assurance that mat
ters are getting stabilized" His
statement is so recent that it may be
1 construed as the aftermath OF the OBJ
servations by Professor Fisher. The
/ two viewpoints from eminent sources,
emphaticaIly uphold the conclusion
that the higher levels" are here 10
stay.
And whether we wish 1t or not the
prices of all commodities - railroad
street car fares, lighting, rent, cloth
/ ing-luxuries and necessities of all
kinds. including the moving pictures
and the theaters, are bound to be
stabilized at the worlds apex CT
prices.
Another few years may bring about
/ economic, industrial and politica
changes that will lower the price
levels. Such g period was realized
several years after the Civil war. Bu'
the stern reality Of the present might
just as well be faced, because thu
facts are Observation-Disclosures there
isn't scintilla Of reason to hope FOL
anything in the nature OF lower costs
of living under the present existing
conditions. Trim your sails accord
ingly.
Senator Walter e. Edge Of New Jer
sey, propounds the pleasant philoso
ply that since we are all on the higi
price level together there's nothing