Arizona republican., 1919-10-26
By Frederic J. Haskin


 WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct. 21.-So far as you personally are concerned you probably return an unhesitating negative; but concerning us all, as nation, the question is an important one. Some people believe that we have too much money in circulation and that this abundance of the circulating medium is one of the chief causes of high prices.
 The argument is a plausible one and it has impressed many persons. They invoke the good old law of supply and demand. If there is a great deal of money in circulation in proportion to the amount of other commodities in circulation, then, they argue, the value of the other commodities as expressed in money will rise and the value of money as expressed in these commodi- ties will fall.
 There is also suspicion abroad that our currency is actually inflated-that the proportion of the circulating med ium to the gold that secures it is too large. This last suspicion is put promptly to rest by treasury officials. They point out that every dollar in federal reserve notes issued by dis trict bank to a member bank must be secured by the deposit of forty cents in gold and sixty cents in negotiable securities. All of our issues of cur rency are therefore adequately secured The idea that our currency is in Hated in the sense of being unsound is a mere popular bugaboo and one which should be laid forever to rest.
 But the idea that our currency is inflated in size-that it is too big for the volume of business and thereby raises prices-deserves a detailed an swer There is certainly no denying that the purchasing power of the dol lar, in things we need, has decreased by half in a few years. If you have a fixed income of fifty dollars a week it will only buy you half as much tc eat and to wear now as it would II 1913. The goods have gone up, or th' dollar has gone down. Put it eithe1 way you please, the results are th' same to you.
 Is this diminished value of your dol lar due to the fact that there are tot many dollars in circulation?
 A question along this line wal recently addressed by Senator Georg P. Mclean of the Senate committe on banking and currency, to the treas ury department.
 The treasury department states un equivocally that there is no such thin; in the United States as currency in Hated either in size or in value. goes even further and states that un der our present system of issuing col and paper money, there can be no sucl thing as an inflated currency.
 To get the facts definitely in min it may be said that money in circu lation means money in existence i the United States outside the treasur and the federal reserve banks. Thi is the money in the possession of tn people and used for the transaction c business.
 On the first of July, 1914, just be | fore the war broke, there was $3,419, 203.61O working this way. On April | 1917. on the eve of our entrance int the conflict, there was s4,100, ,9S6,000 i circulation, an increase of more tha l half a billion. On December l, 1yl which may be taken as a date near tn termination of hostilities, there wa | s5.119,9S5, 900 in circulation-a cold in crease of a billion dollars for the wa | period. So, as a matter Of fact, the1 is about one-third more currency circulation today than there was 1914 and one sixth more than thel was in 1917.
 The first point that the treasur makes is that these increased amount of currency, under existing circun stances are not inflations. The Unite States is a going concern and an il crease should be expected. Added the normal increase is the logical il crease necessary in carrying on greatly increased amount of bushes The amount of currency necessal should be greater each year, and e pecially in active years.
 Furthermore, if prices and wag rise, from whatever cause, the amou of currency, under the present sy tenn, has got to rise to keep up wi them. If a man were operating a pal shop and working ten employees 1916, and paying them an average s20 a week. he would have requir $20O on Saturday night Today pays those men s30 a week and T quires $500 in cash.
 The housewife must now take aloi a bigger roll when she goes to mark, The market man must keep mo money in his till to conduct his bu iness Whoever you are and wher ever you live, the bulk of money tn it is necessary for you to use
 greater than 1t used to be. This mea that the mass of money in the nati must be greater than it used to The amount of currency, say treasu officials, has not increased to a great extent than is necessary to take ca of changed conditions.
 Having presented these facts to co