The Washington herald., 1921-08-14

4, tin. For some purposes the index
numbers would not be sufficient.
The sources are both governmental
and trade. and are presented for
face value without Endorsement The
source Is credited in all cases.
| All of the numerical data Ii not
necessarily accurate In detail. nor
does the figure for an industry take
In all Of the industry In many cases.
There are few complete records OF
either production or movement The
error Il small, however, when so to
rs per cent is covered, and the con-
clusions may safely be applied to
the whole industry.
Figures will later be gathered for
many industries not now included
II this plan meets with wide use in
trade circles. There has been q
great increase in the activity of
trade associations recently in gath
ering statistics. The Department Of
Commerce may be able to aid these
associations in making their sur
veys of the greatest value and in
turn the trade asSociations can aid
the department in making the gov
ernment survey useful to other
The index figures s\used are COM
puted with 1918 as the base equal
to 100. when data are available
extending back to that date. In
many cases this Is not the case
and in such cases 1919 or another
date has been taken as the base.
The use of 1913 has been followed
SO generally since the war that IL
has come to be recognized as a
sort of starting point. There are
reasons for using the average of
several prewar years as a base In
some cases. Crop production is
such a case, since the crops are SO
variable that no single year can be
al average base. In the interest of
uniformity. however. the use of 1918
In this bulletin is justified.
These index figures. less 100,
show at once the per cent increase
or decrease above or below the
base year. The items making up
such index figures as those on the
cost Of living vary according to the
ideas of the person making them.
The components may be learned
from the sources. however, by any
one interested. 1t is important that
we have figures from different
points of view. as this will tend to
uncover any error that may arise
from a single estimate.
The exchange OF trade informa.
tion between industries has been
practiced to some extent in the
past, but the circle in which II
Moved has been very limited. q Gem
eraiiy only those in the larger es-
ADJUSTMENTS could get it. The
present bulletin Is designed to
widely difuse this information SO
that the small operator. dealer and
ouyer may have an understanding
that will lead them to act more in
unity. 1t Is planned to issue the
bulletin monthly as soon as nos
sibie after the goth OF each month
to show the figures Of the previous
month. Graphs and charts win be
used to aid in making the data
clear. The present issue Is merely
a beginning.
As an example Of some of the
facts which an examination of this
survey shows, the following are
of general interest.
The cost of living index for New
York Is 166; earnings in New York,
; 2O7. Here Is seen a reason for the
complaint that wages are not down
in the same proportion as prices,
But from another table we find the
earnings of various industries
stated and the average Is about no
; The difference is that the first is
upon 1914 as basis and the Sec
ond with 1919 as the base. When
all factors are considered II is
clear that wages are down below
the cost Of living in the indus
tries.
Another case is that of the farm
er's complaint that he has suffered
the brunt of defiation in prices,
The index OF general wholesale
prices in June was 14S while that
for farm products was 1o4, which
is A. per cent against the farmer
, giving him good reason for COM
| plant.
When we learn that the revenue
freight of the railroads is repre-
sented by the index 70 we can see
reason why the increase in rates
has not solved the railroad prob
lem.
The steel industry Is reported in
bad way. The index for June a
year ago was 1876 while for this
June 1t was 81, or a drop equal to
100 per cent Of the production OF
1913.
The dependence of one business
on another appears to grow as eco
nomic forces multiply. The whole
country cannot prosper unless the
industries are properly balanced.
To preserve this balance requires a
constant interchange of informa-
ton. Given enough facts as to the
situation, most of the economic
disasters might be avoided or, at
least. the blow softened, IL these
facts are used with good judgment.