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Show ' - t ' r T' 1-J ' CJ-l.i-E I -J.J-i - z- - l Today's Prices Approaching Normal Level i i - - 47-,t .r ntrr j ita KtOMT , I sjajtjjirMjf-aiJif-Sf b i; yys ma mviQtfiv g--c-g-sL-v $ q a m m m m r jjTTP wtewg psttAii cwHdbmis f mI i ! i llnnr::4::F I 1 . I I --ri"HF: """"f"1 mam rcn am njxNisHEQ or us ocpror LAoaztrr Fill pyy ' i j j 3pi - - f 1 nttPAxro by I I - mi yJMife , , a ' I I 1 r i LwicnT P. Uodinson & CoxrA-vt rt 1 ! f r"rl ' ! fH z Ilk ji e4Bj-gj jEEE-i M i ij Eg-"" m Jt j j I j j j m nu rninm pioc)rmaoi ciicam I I' " j K 1 "J 'iOr " ZtZ i TTi irregular black line is the average ; Zj : S J cr rco -p ) f j price for all commodities from 1860 to Dc- " j Qtt - Tzipzzoo 7 1 ' p r - j j 1 - cember 1, 1921. The dotted line shows the ; Tfe "Y 7j pz:-3 rz::r: gradool price increase from 1896 to 1914 1 ; ti zj pr r j -11 t projected to 1925, indicating what the nor- rHp: j H wi IS9 T"""" -CrT'p'T'" j mal price level would have been if the war tt - 1 VP V "T i -f r nacl not intervened. (j- f"T H pigillllifjmTi I i 1 MOt 1 J St 7 4 3 MM il i 4 J f 7 4 3 MB I J -i 4 3 t T 4 9 MB I 23 4 5iltBtOI I 3 J 3Bllll&l4lSltni40 KOI 1 i BB ! OMMODITY prices on the av- j K. rage are sppjvrmtly ipproacb-lng ipproacb-lng a normal lcrrl after war-Itlme war-Itlme inflation and the consequent deflation de-flation of IfM. Thui Ls ghenfn br the above chart jfr all commodities which was plotted by Dwigbt P. RobLnaen A Co, lne from offlcJaJ flgnres of the United States Department of Iebor The dotteJ line drawn from throngh 18T4 chArts the gradnaJ rle in .prices folhrwlng the panic of 1898 odH Indicates Indi-cates gTadajdlv ImproTed standards of Uvtttg and wage conditions. This price moTcment, which t rntlrrlT normal, would doubtless have contin- ued if the war had not intervened. Therefore In seeking to determine a normal price level it Ls more logical to base considerations on the prolongation pro-longation of this 1890-191 line rather than on the average for 19H, which Ls shown on the rh.irt to be 100. The doited line re.ichrs 115 in 192"2; therefore there-fore the price index of 19 for December De-cember for all commodities i.s onlv 84 points above the fair level which might have been normal but for the war. Considering economic conditions condi-tions throughout thr world, this in-creae in-creae Is not considered so unreasonable. unreason-able. Substantial price deerea-se.s from the peak of 1920 took place in J o' I in almost Indirect ratio to the per-ceDtngc per-ceDtngc In which the ratio of the gold reserve h.i.s been increased bv the recall of federal reserve notes This gold ratio increased from 8.8 per cent, to 100 7 per cent. In 1921, probably prob-ably Indicating complete deflation in the rnrrencv Prices of several classes Of commodities which fell rapidly during dur-ing 1921 have now apparently become somewhat stabilised Por Instance, the price index for lumber and build ing materials on December 1 showed an increase of ." points over the figures fig-ures for November 1, thereby registering regis-tering the first Increase in Ifl months This rise In the index is uniloubtedl v the result of the steady demand for building materials Indicated y the litrst construction reports available for 1921, which thotv a total volume only ilightly below 1919 The Similarity between the price curves for the two war pcrloo; ls itm strikingly shown by the chart, the up- "Wt ward trends In each case being almost exactly alike. Price conditions dur- ing and following the Civil War were . entirely the r stilt of the business and B flnaneisl situation In N'orth America, I while lle rrcrrit intlnt.on anil miIm-- 09 quent deflation requiting from the iLbsh ('rr.it War were general with few r- ""u mtTam ccptions throughout the countries of B the world. ' The products included In the term "all commodities'1 are farm products, food, cloths nnd clothing, fuel and lighting, metals and metal products, lumber and building materials, chemicals chem-icals and drugs, house furnishing goods and misccllnneous products as i sSM reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the V. S. Department of !abor. |