Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-11-11
THOMAS A. EDISON
HAS PLAN TO REDUCE
HIGH COST OF LIVING
Would Revolutionize Modern
Business and SqueIch
SPECTATORS.
GOVERNMENT MlDDLEMAN

GUvEhNMENI miUUIEMRN
Wellesley Hills. Mass. Nov. IL
Thomas Edison has submitted to the
etafr engineers q the Babson Instl-
tute his plan for stabilizing business
and breaking the backbone of the
high cost of living. He has author
lied the following popular description
OF his theory.
With characteristic audacity. he goes
to the heart of economic life. He
proposes to afford the ordinary con-
sumner cheaper commodities, to fur
nish the producer with ready capital
and security and to eliminate such
parasites as unnecessary middlemen
and dishonest speculators-by estab-
fishing the government as the coun-
try's great middleman and by making
ordinary commodities as well as gold
the basis of currency.
The Government on the Job.
Sometime ago. at the suggestion of
Henry Ford and others, Edison devot-
ed himself to study the causes Of eco
nomic unrest. His solution of thie
momentous problem is now under the
business experts at Wellesley.
His plan ia simple and startling. He
would have the government list some
forty basic commodities, such as cot
ton, corn, copper, coal wheat. flax
Iron. and then taking the prices OF
the last twenty-five years as basis
establish an average price for each
This price he would have determined
In terms of gold and called unit oil
dollar.
He would have the government take
over or establish great warehouses
and storage plants. When the pro-
ducer il ready to market his product
he brings 1t TO the agent at the govern
ment warehouse, who gives him a GER
tificate covering his whole deposit ant
at the same time pays him half of the
value of the deposit, as computed or
the 25-year average basis, in cash
The government then stores the pro
duct
When a dealer wants wheat. coal
cotton. 81 any other commodity h
buys the producers certificate on thu
market; he presents it at a warehouse
pays the government back the none,
The government-fixed average prize
safeguards the producer from the raw
ages of dishonest speculation. TIL
half-value payment he receives from
the government affords him read,
capital. The certificate he receives l.
put on the market subject to the ordi
nary laws of supply and demand. Blu
the certificate does not depend on tn,
gold in treasurey vaults but on thu
| commodity in the warehouse. In on
sense the Edison plan is a return e
the ancient system of barter as far al
the complexity of modern life vii
allow.
How the Farmers Would Find II.
Unit money in the Edison plan il no
money IN the popular conception
that is, metal money or money will
a metal basis. The day when meta
furnished the most exclusively prac
teal basis for a medium of exchang
as well as a measure of value has
according to Edison, gone by. Hi
money would still be determined Il
terms of gold. But instead of gold Il
treasury vaults being it's only basis
YOU would have wheat in the Govern
ment bins, coal in the Government
pits, rice in storage, cotton In tn
warehouses, etc.
"All articles deposited in the ware
house." said Edison. bear the sam
ratio when loan of unit money is made
only one kind of unit money is issue
together with the deposit certificate
Suppose a farmer puts in the ware
do
by the Government as No. Red. TIL
average price for % years of TIL
grade, including high war prices i
say s100 per bushel. The farmer
given $500 in unit money--he the
can hold his wheat by means of h
certificate until he thinks the pric
is satisfactory and thus be indeper
dent of the spectators who now S,
the price ahead months before III
crop is reaped. This certificate
bought on the exchange, at mark.
prices now, say Sis for No. Re
The farmer would get s650-as til
wheat is higher than the 25 year aver
age. If, on the other hand, IL wa
selling at &c cents he would only e
$3.50
But the unit money would not var.
II would always be the same, becaus
wheat would not be likely 10 be sold owe
a period # one year for 50 cents. !
other words, the certificate or equi,
would have to be valueless TO impa
the value of the unit money.
The averages are changed ever
year, a new year being added and II
earliest year of the % is dropped.
Backing Up Gold.
"In four or five years the IS We,
average would be less and the thr,
year high war prices VIII bring Il
average down so if wheat sold at eve
50 cents il woId not impair the Walt
Of the unit money,
IF a person wants peanuts he bur
peanut certificates or If he wants ri,
he buys rice certificates, or anythir
else which the Government accep
for storage; hands in the certifica
and the amount of unit money loane
and the commodity is at his order 4