Page:Stabilizing the dollar, Fisher, 1920.djvu/272

This page has been validated.
218
STABILIZING THE DOLLAR
[App. II

these same fluctuations; but it shows also other fluctuations, mostly upward, due to the movement in general prices, which means the opposite movement of the


Fig. 13. The Price of Wheat in Terms of Gold and in Terms of Commodities

The curve for "wheat in gold" represents the movement of the actual market price of wheat.

The curve for "wheat in commodities" is the same as that in Figure 11 and represents the real purchasing power of wheat.

The curve for "all commodities" is repeated from Figure 10. We may say that the upper curve is a compound of the other two, the lower curve containing the monetary element and the middle curve the wheat element. The year to year fluctuations in the price of wheat seem to be due chiefly to wheat, while the general upward trend is chiefly due to money.

The middle curve shows how the price of wheat would behave if the dollar were stabilized. This price would fluctuate almost as much as it does now.

dollar. The upper curve is compounded, as it were, of the two lower curves, one representing changes in wheat, the other representing changes in the purchasing power of the dollar.