Evening star., 1933-07-24

to the dollar the same purchasing
power that it had In 1918, 1914 and
1915 he would have been required ap-
proximately to double the dollars pur-
chasing power. II the doubling was,
he thought. to be accomplished by in
creasing the gold content Of the dollar,
that content would need to be approx
mately doubled.
In viewing the Presidents task from
another angle and constituting his prob
lem to be that of enabling the debtors
to pay their debts In the same kind
Of dollar that they borrowed. he would
need to increase considerably the gold
content of the dollar In every year from
1914 to 1920. Otherwise the dollar
would be dishonest in relation to
creditors. The debtor who borrowed q
146-cent dollar In 1914 could pay back
q 64-cent dollar in 1920. . 72-cent dol
lar In 1919. q 76-cent dollar in 1918, an
85-cent dollar in 1917 and . 1l7-cent
dollar In 1916 Between 1921 and 1929.
both included. to do justice between
the purchasing power Of the dollar the
President, to meet slight fluctuations up
and down, would have been compelled
to reduce the dollars gold content In
1922, to increase 1t in 1923, to decrease
1t I'm 1924, to increase 1t in 1925. to de-
crease 1t in 1925 and 1927. to increase
1t. in 1928 and to decrease 1t in 1929.
For the dollar values in these years,
measured by the purchasing power at
wholesale of all commodities. were In
192l-$l0 02. 1922-$1.03. 1923-.99. 1924
-sto1. 1886. 1861 90, 1927
81 l.o4, 19281$1.03. 1929-31.04.
in 1892 ($1.5N the purchasing power Of
hn Aol1av sfaa div nd 1ar0A1v irrrea Sed
and debtors whose debts were con-
tracted since 1915 and WHO repaid in
these years paid dearer dollars than
they borrowed.
II the President may be imagined
since 1913 ~ adding to or subtracting
from gold content to do justice between
debtors and creditors and to stabilize
the purchasing power Of the dollar, he
would steadily have increased the gold
content between 1914 and 1920, held
the content With slight fluctuations
from year 70 year practically level be-
tween 1871 and 1929. and reduced the
gold content in 1889. 1881 and 1882.
(lSl3-S1.l3, 1S14-S1.46. 1SlcSl.43,
193o-S1.15. 1s31-Sl.37, 1s32-S1.54.)
The President would thus have In
between 1914 and 1890. held 1t prac-
tically level between 1921 and 1923 and
decreased the gold content in 1889. 1881
and 1892, - that with . decrease In
1891 from 1879 the gold content in
l93l-1s32 became practically the same
~ In 1913-1s14.
The President would have increased
the gold content in one period, held It
level In another. and decreased 1t In
another, until the gold content was
broaghtSback practically to the point
from which It started.
Analysis Of Farm Dollar Change.
The farm dollar, or the dollar received
by the farmer fer produce sold. has ex-
perienced similar ups and downs. With
out any manipulation Of the standard
OF measurement, the Ascent farm dol
lar of 1920 had increased to S6 cents
In 1921; in 1922 it had dropped back to
30 cents and continued this drop until
the year 1925, when it reached value
Of IS cents, then began to rise again to
73 cents In 1926. Somewhere between
1880 and 1881 the farm dollar reached
the standard level of 1913 and 1915, and
from then On increased to the high point
of about 81 last March. II this farm
dollar were now reduced by currency
manipulation to the level, say, Of 1926,