The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1920-01-07
PRODUCTION WILL
DOWN H.C.L.. MEEKER
CONTINUED from page ~

, many dollars with which to buy a
: smaller number of commodities
prices are bound to remain high. It
will take long time to deflate the
] worlds inflated currencies or to in
flate the worlds deflated supply of
goods. The profiteer is being blamed
on all hands for the increase in
prices Undoubtedly profiteering of
a most repreheEsible sort has existed
and does exist today, but the profit
tser Is a result of ever-increasing
prices rather than cause thereof.
His influence in boosting prices is
negligible. If all the profiteers in
the world could be apprehended and
thrown into Jail or lined up and shot,
lit would have no appreciable influ-
ence upon prices.
It has been suggested that the alb
normally high prices are psycholo-
gical in origin and that prices will
fall just as soon as the people can
be made to think falling prices. OF
course, psychology is involved in
every price. but the larger quantities
of currency and the smaller amounts
of commodities are physical facts /
that no psychic legerdemain can
overcome.
Prices Up to Stay
see no prospect Of any consider
able fall in prices for several years !
to come. 1t will be impossible for
the governments of the world to pay
off their debts very rapidly On the
contrary, there is every reason to
apprehend that credits must be is-
sued to foreign governments. foreign
manufacturers, and foreign business I
men, in order to rehabilitate the
broken and shattered industries of
Europe. This being the case. we
may expect that larger volumes of
checks and credit instruments will !
be thrown into circulation, thusI ,
boosting prices still higher. If it is
to reduce the volume of
the worlds Indebtedness suddenly, it
Is even more impossible to increase
the quantity of the worlds goods
suddenly. OF course, the worlds
productive forces are being marshal
ed as rapidly as possible in order to ,
Increase the production of the farms,
forests, mines, and factories, but
this is necessarily a slow process, i;
in these times Of great
business instability and labor unrest. 3
The 1918 1aEh crops have spractical-
Iyk<1 beet marketedE ThS oily wayll
that prices can be brought down be-
fore next years crops begin to find /
their way to market is through de- f
tlation Of, the currency. Az pointed y
odt above, still further limitations are il
ffsEurope Is to. xshahilitateI =
her Industries SO, that she can in I
,rease her supply Of material goods, d
and thus. bring about lower prices '
BY increasing goods and decreasing :
debts. 80, Il
European Situation ID
Some business men are, ,apprehen-
sivea that the United States will be
Hooded with European-made goods.
which viii bring prices. down tum-
bling. The price of foreign exchange
it the present moment is such as to
make 1t highly profitable for Ameri- =
IAN business men to buy large guam
lilies Of goods in Europe, especially
ps Germany and Austria ~ European
countries only had the goods to sell. +
Not until Europe has ,rehabilitated
ts Industries may we expect to have !
,ur markets flooded with European 9
goods. That puts off the tumble in
prices several years, The normal 2
drop in prices may be ex-
,ected in 1920. This seasonal drop {
comes much earlier than is generally
imposed. In normal times the low I
,rice level for all commodities com
,ined comes in March, April, or May
These seasonal price changes are re-
atively small and will have but !
title effect upon the housewives
No great and Sudden !,
all in prices seems possible for q :
ong time. ;i''.I1ss s
People are yearning $50 intently
or lower prices that they have not
hought much about the results of b,