Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-11-16
TO LOWER THE
COST OF LIVING
THOMAS EDISON, FAMOUS IN
VENTOR. SUBMITS START
LING OUTLINE TO BABSON.

Institute his plan for stabilizing
business and breaking the backbone
OF the High Cost of Living. He has
authorized the following popular des-
cription of his theory.
With characteristic audacity, he
goes to the heart of economic life.
He proposes TO afford the ordinary
consumer cheaper commodities, TO
furnish the producer with ready cap
ital and security and to eliminate
such parasites as unnecessary mid
dlemen and dishonest speculators-
Ly establishing the government as
the country's great Middcman and
by making ordinary commodities rs
well as gold the basis of currency.
The Government on the job
Sometime ago, at the suggestion
of Henry Ford and others, Edison
devoted himself to study the cause
Of economic unrest His solution Of
this momcnious problem is now UNI
der the scrutiny Of the ablcst econom-
lists and business experts at Wclles-
ley.
His plan is simple and startling.
He would have the government list
some forty basic commodities, such
as cotton, corn, copper, coal, wheat
flax. iron and then taking the prices
OF the lst twenty-five years as bas-
is, establish an average price for
each. This price he would have de-
termined in terms Of gold and called
unit or q dollar.
lie would have the government
take over or establish great ware
houses and storage plants. When
the producer is ready to market his
product he brings it to the agent at
the governments warehouse, who
gives him a certificate covering his
whole deposit ard at the same time
pays him half Of the value of the de
post, as computed on the 25-ycar
average basis, IN cash. The govern
ment then stores the product
When a dealer wants wheat, coal
cotton, or any other commodity he
buys the producers certificate On
the market; he presents it ut the
warehouse, pays the government back
the money he advanced, and takes the
produce away
The accommodated average
price safeguards the producer from
the ravagcs Of dishonest speculation
The half-valuc payment he receives
from the government affords him
ready capital The certificate he re-
celvcs Is put on the market subject
10 the ordinary la~- of supply and
demand. But ihe certificate docs not
depend On TIE gold in Treasury
vaults, but on the commodity in the
warehouse. I'm one sense The Edison
plan is a return 81 the ancient SYSTEM
Of barter as Ear az the completely Of
modern life viii allow.
How the Farmers Would Find Il
Unit money in the Edison plan is
not money in the popular conception,
that is, metal money or money with
metal bass. TIE day when metal
furnished the NEST exclusively pract-
ical basis for a medium Of exchange
as well as q measure Of value has, ac-
corjing - Edison, gone by. Ills
money would still be determined in
terms Of geld. Eut instead of gold
liz Treasury vaults being its only
basis, you would have wheat in the
Government bins, coal in tlc Govern
mcnt pit5, rice in storage, cotton in
the warehouses, ct.
"All articles deposited in the ware
houses said Edison, "hear the same
ratio when loan Of unit money is
made, only one kind of unit money is
issued together with The deposit Ger
t.ficatc.
"suppoge farmer puts in the ware
house 1000 bushels of wheat graded
by The Government as No 1 Red. The
average price for % year OF this
grade, including high war prices is,
say @1.00 per bushel. The farmer is
given $500 in urit money he then
can hold his wheat by means Of his
certificate until he thinks the price
is satisfactory and thus BE- indopen-
dent of the spectators who now set
the price ahead months before the
crop is reapcd This certificate is
bought on the exchange, at market
price now, say $1.15 for No. Red
The farmer would get S650- as the
wheat is higher than the % year
average. IF, on The other hand, il
was selling at 90 cents he would on
IS get $iG0.
Out the unit money would not
vary It would always be the same,
because wheat would not be likely to
be sold over a period of one year
for 80 cents. In other words, the
certificate or equity would have TO be
valueless 10 impair the value of the
Unit money.
"The averages are changed every
year, new year being added and the
earliest year If the % is dropped.
Backing Up Gold
an or year, the % year aver
age would he less and the three year
high war prices VIII bring the aver
are down so if wheat cold at even 80
cents IL would not impair the value
of the Unit money.
r.r,nt~ t,oopttf- 10