The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-19
WELLESLEY HILLS
ECONOMICS

lars worth of commodities would ac-
tually require thirty dollars. This
leads us to the general law that the
more rapid the circulation of COM
modities the smaller is the amount
Of circulating medium required, and
the slower the movement Of com
nodities the larger. is the amount Of
the circulating medium required.
However, if there is a rise or fall
in the value of gold, and the value
of other commodities remains as it
was before, the quantity of money in
circulation must fall or rise to the
same extent. This change cannot, by
the most fantastic stretch of the
imagination, be explained upon the
basis of it's function as a circulating
medium, but upon the basis of it's
function as a measure of value, the
universal equivalent by which all
other commodities are measured.
RUT we cannot accept Edie's state
~ ment that there is any indication
OF a shortage of demand deposits,
considering the fact that in the Uni
ted States there is already held the
enormous sum of S1,400, 100000 in
gold that is "sterilized," that is to
say that is held as a hoard and not
permitted to perform its normal eco
nomic function and could easily and
| quickly be released to satisfy new
demands. Also it is known to every
/ observer at all familiar with the
financial position of the United
States that the chief problem of the
bank capitalists is to try to dispose of
the enormous surplus that exists and
is constantly increasing.
Again, granting that all the illu-
sions of Professor Edie are realities,
/ it certainly cannot be maintained that
the value of other commodities would
! remain constant over a long period of
time while there were taking place
changes in the production of gold of
| such a nature as to tremendously in
crease its value. The tendency in
gold production for a quarter of
century has been to lower its value,
which is the principal reason for the
rise in prices, so noticeable over that
period of time. Are there any indica-
/ lions of reverse movement? If
there are Professor Eide is the only
one who has discovered the fact. Ger
tainly it is not in evidence from the
official reports of the gold fields of
the world.
Edie's lecture before the Babson
conference is nothing more nor less
than superficial attempt to glorify
the banking system in general; to
make it appear that the prices of
commodities depends upon the de-
mand deposits in banks and that
value is regulated by these institu-
tions.
If there is permanent fall in
prices it will be due not to the amount
of demand deposits, but due to a
change in the productivity of labor.
The fall in prices that is noticeable
in certain lines today is due, not to
the factors set forth by Edie, but to
the fact that the productivity of labor
is increasing in certain lines and that
in others the products of cheap labor
from other parts of the world are
! penetrating the American market
anu are WeICOnleu by the loan
mongers of Wall Street, whose divi-
dends from the European investments
depend upon the industries they con-
troll in other countries finding mar
kets for their products.
That the textbooks of Edie and
other time-servers of the university
chairs are acceptable at labor col
leges as well as at Harvard and Yale
proves that the virus of class col
laboration as expounded by the ma
tional civic federation, the Greens, the
Wolls and other flunkeys of Wall
Street is being taught in so-called la
Dor colleges in order to produce fu-
| ture labor leaders who will think in
terms of the most subservient men,
tai prostitutes of capitalism
But while heretofore these vulgar
izers of economics have been prac-
tically unchallenged we are deter
mined that henceforth their theories
will be subjected to the penetrating
light of Marxist-Leninist analysis in
order that intelligent, class conscious
workers will be equipped with weap-
ons to expose and discredit their
poisonous sophistry.